There are a few markers attached to the paper. Someone wants people to share: What's your memory of Tompkins Square Park? (There is a Twitter account written on the poster, though it doesn't appear to be too active.)
I wasn't sure what to expect for answers. The poster made it through the night. For the most part, people seemed to seriously respond to the question (though it's still early) ... I didn't spot any jokes or expletives...
Love the fact that Bob's name is on their. There should be a permanent tribute to him in that park.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha Police Raid at the Leftover Crack Show AKA Donut Riot. I started that one.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea people!
ReplyDelete1. Bob Arihood introducing me to Bobby Williams
2. 2008 20th Anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park Riots Punk show
3. Planting a cherry blossom tree and watching it flourish. (It's just to the right of the sign here.)
4. Watching little Puerto Rican kids watch it amazement as white ladies lay topless sunning themselves in the middle of the park.
john penley, you take credit for a riot?
ReplyDeletehow positive is that?
Meeting Bob in the park.
ReplyDeleteAlso, last Christmas spent chasing four hawks around as they fought with each other. Just like family!
The time I really had to pee, so I went into the TSP bathroom and OH GOD NO PLEASE ERASE THE MEMORY OF WHAT I SAW
ReplyDeleteHeavy petting in the wee hours of the morning and didn't realize the NYPD has closed the park and we got locked-in there. Had to flag the cop car to open the gate let us out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, rave at the park. http://vimeo.com/9373087
[Have to be anonymous since I don't kiss and pet and tell]
The way the park stank in the late 1980s when you walked down Avenues A or B in the hot summer and smelled the unwashed homeless encampment in it. You had to hold your breath.
ReplyDeletemy two year old running through the ground pool in the playground last Summer.
ReplyDeleteTom LaGarde's National Inline Basketball League...
ReplyDelete...dunking from rollerblades
Summer evening stroll in the park late '60s....running into Phil Ochs sittin' on the grass arguing politics with some guy in a suit....thought he was gonna clock the guy.....man could righteously RANT!
ReplyDeleteMiss him.
The time I found a penny from 1889 on the hill (which was created by the city needing a place to dump some dirt) in the center of the park. I would guess it was sometime in the mid-80's when there was mostly dirt on that hill. I was watching my dog run around early in the morning when I kicked something; looked down and there it was.
ReplyDeleteWigstock gathering of course, by the way its spelled "T A double BB double OO, oooh. Tabboo.
ReplyDeleteco-sign the summertime stench. you know, manhattan used to have a particular smell in the hot weather that it lacks nowadays. a potpourri of fast food grease, urine, diesel exhaust, brake pads, baking concrete and god knows what else. i don't think it's just a psychological perception that the city has been sanitized.
ReplyDeleteThe day my photo of lots of marijuana plants growing in the park made the cover of the Daily News with the headline PARK GOES TO POT.
ReplyDeleteMuch too much to list here, esp. the naughty parts, but here's a few:
ReplyDelete• The Tompkins Square Police Riots of July 30 + August 6, 1988, that brought our community together like never before
• Concerts at the band shell and continuing at the site of where the band shell was
• Political discussions with friends and neighbors
• Bob ("Camera Bob") Arihood
@Anon 11:02 - And don't forget how in the summer, areas of the nabe east of Avenue A used to smell like an unchanged cat litter box, thanks to all the feral cats living in the abandoned buildings and empty lots. I still remember in the late 1970s/early 1980s, the crazy British lady who used to feed them - she was about 5'2", with a big blond pompadour, and she would come along with a cart filled with softballs of raw meat, stand in front of empty buildings, and lob them into the empty window embrasures with a pitch Andy Pettite might have envied.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was on crutches due to a broken foot, hobbling across the park, some guy kept trying to get my attention. I, of course, ignored him, until he yelled, "Hey, cripple with the tits!"
ReplyDeleteI waited until I stumped my way out of the park before giving way to helpless laughter.
Sitting and chanting with the krishnas under the big tree.
ReplyDeleteDates with cute skateboarders.
Howl fests, wigstocks, dance parades, punk shows (especially leftover crack).
Smoking you dont even want to know what on the hill in the middle of the day without a problem.
Jazz bands & drummers in the summer.
Hanging out with Bob.
Hanging out at night with all my friends after shows ar Charas.
And of course, watching the crusties, punks & street dudes intimidate the stupid yuppies - a past time that never gets old.
Winter, 2003: I had been released from prison that summer (after 13 years), was going to NYU (trying to get my shit together), making new friends, getting drunk, it was Zero Dark something, when two of them (new friends) and I walked passed the locked park, gave each other that look, and hopped the fence simultaneously, running, screaming through the park, and hopping the fence back to the sidewalk on the other side. Heres to you Eric Meyer and what the fuck was her name, that crazy Jet Blue stewardess? JB NICHOLAS
ReplyDelete