[St.Mark's Place 1979]
Alex at Flaming Pablum uncovered a cache of photos from Patrick Cummins, a Canadian archivist. Of particular interest is his set of 250-plus photos on Flickr dubbed "NYC 78-83."
Let's quote Alex's post on the photos:
Everyone talks about how “gritty” New York City used to be, and it’s almost become this quaint little descriptor that people blithely toss around, but Cummins’ photographs hit you like a sooty, graffiti-slathered stone. His remarkably composed black and white shots of various city spaces can be chilling and stark, revealing a great city in decline. Suddenly, your eye fixes on some random architectural flourish or landmark, and you recognize the location. More than a few of these pictures had me positively gasping.
Here's a sampling of the photos from around these parts (his photos span from Harlem to Coney Island) …
[Looking east on Union Square from 1979]
[Bleecker at the Bowery, undated]
[Crosby and Bleecker 1978]
Jeremiah posted a selection of Cummins' photos on Thursday at Vanishing New York.
Find this set and a lot more at Cummins' Flickr account.
5 comments:
One bonus reason to go to Chinatown is it still looks, smells and feels like the New York I remember from the time I move here in 1981.
roger that about chinatown, anon @ 9:27 AM!
the one big, positive, change has been the plentitude of the formerly dollar, now 1.25+ food carts. good street eats!
I came to the city in 1980, so I remember—and miss—the old abandoned S. Klein "On the Square." Does anyone else think Zeckendorf Towers is a piece of sh!t?
Trash & Vaudeville reminds me of the clothing store in the movie "The Time Machine" (1960) where the guy sits in the time machine and watches everything change around him but the model in the store stays the same.
Long live Trash & Vaudeville!
I remember being dragged around S. Klein as a kid for clothes.... jeez I feel old
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