[Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 6th Street/John Fensten]
In recent months, EVG Facebook friend Susan Fensten has posted photos that she and her father, John Fensten, took around the city in the 1980s. Of particular interest to us: The shots of the East Village from that time period.
Susan, who grew up in the neighborhood, gave us permission to post these photos. (Unfortunately, we do not have exact dates and locations for all these.)
Updated to note proper photo credits.
[West side of 3rd Avenue between East 10 and 11th Streets/Susan Fensten]
[Looking north from East Fifth Street/John Fensten]
[Random wall from 1984/Susan Fensten]
[Tompkins Square Park/John Fensten]
[East 5th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]
[First Avenue/John Fensten]
[Union Square/Susan Fensten]
[Looking north on 3rd Avenue at East 13th Street/John Fensten]
[Astor Place/John Fensten]
[Avenue A near East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]
[Behind East Fifth Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]
[Leshko's on Avenue A and East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]
[East 4th Street with the Merchant's House on the left/John Fensten]
Oh, man The Dugout! I LOVED that place
ReplyDeletePitchers of beers some pool and great blues bands before heading to the Ritz or mud club. Sweet memories! Thanks
DeleteLiverwurst sandwiches at The Dugout!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gift! Thanks for sharing Susan!
ReplyDeleteLook how empty the streets are...and not a single bro or ho to be seen. So I really WAS living in Paradise!
ReplyDeleteThat last shot of East 4th Street looks pretty much the same today (I took a similar shot earlier this year).
ReplyDeleteLoved The Dugout. Nice pictures. Thanks for the memories, once again.Does anyone have any pictures of the garage that used to be on the corner of 5th & Bowery. There also was a pizza place betw. 5th & 6th Streets. Of course, then everything had to make way for that atrocity they call The Standard. Fittingly, they turned their logo upside down now, which is exactly what they did to the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteThe first image looks like the NE corner of 7th Street. Traffic is west-bound. It's still a grocery store today.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm not the only one who shouted "The DUGOUT!" when I saw that picture. I lived on 13th between 2nd & 3rd in the 80s (We jokingly referred to it as the "Upper East Side" because it was the farthest North & East that we had ever lived in NYC)
ReplyDeleteIt was a fairly nasty block then, but man, the $3 pitchers at the Dugout (and usually the 3rd pitcher was a buy back)...good times.
Walter, the cross-lot bracing over the McD's is visible to the left of the photo. Also, it is two 20' (+/-) wide lots on the corner with two seperate buildngs instead of the 45' (+/-) wide lot with the single building that's on the NE corner of 7th. That grocery store turned into a laundromat at some point, then into the Baskin Robbins.
ReplyDeleteI miss the neighborhood of the '80's. Leshko's! Even though I didn't trust the food particularly (although I had better experiences there than Odessa!)...I used to go there for the shear theater of people.
Forgot all about the Dugout until I saw the pic. great place right next to the not so secret gay porn theater and pentacastal church. Those were the days. But now we have the Brazen Fox - oh joy
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school I used to go to the Dugout at lunchtime. I'd bring in a slice, order a 50¢ frozen mug of beer, and read the NYT. When we'd go there at night whoever amongst us had the heaviest beard would go to the bar to order, but I honestly don't ever recall a single one of us being carded there. Ah, the Dugout. Ah, old NY. Anyone have photos of the inside of The Dugout?
ReplyDeleteHi E.V.! Thanks for posting these pictures.
ReplyDeleteHere are the proper credits:
1) 1st Ave & 6th St. / John Fensten
2) 3rd Ave Bet. 10 & 11th Sts. /Susan Fensten
3) Roof East 5th Street / John Fensten
4) Posters and dumpster / Susan Fensten
5) Tompkins Square Park / John Fensten
6) laundry from roof on E. 5th St. / John Fensten
7) Man in front of store on 1st Ave. / John Fensten
8) S. Klein on the Square / Susan Fensten
9) Variety Photo Plays / John Fensten
10) Astor Place / John Fensten
11) Skinheads on Avenue A / Susan Fensten
12) Backyard E. 5th St. / John Fensten
13) Leshko's / Susan Fensten
14) East 4th St. / John Fensten
The Dugout
ReplyDeletehttp://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2012/09/dugout.html
Great link ^ Thanks!
ReplyDeleteolympiasepiriot said... Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's just been so long that sometimes I forget what things looked like. It later became an Indian Restaurant that then moved up the block. I believe it's an Italian place now. I rarely pass by that stretch of First Avenue completely sober. But I clearly see the bracing above McDonalds. Thanks for the correction.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos!
ReplyDeleteLeshko's! I had many a pierogi there over the years.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about the lower east side for those of us who lived there then was that we were thirty years younger. I live in the same apartment now that I lived in then. Good to see photos of some of the old places but the reality of the old neighborhood was that we paid for out cheap rents by accepting a lot of danger and fear in the night: nobody went into Tompkins Square Park after dusk unless one was desperate for a flop or a fix.
ReplyDeleteDitto to what everyone has said. I miss this place.
ReplyDeleteSusan. Thank you so much for sharing these. Very illuminating. Wondering if you'd be willing to share them for a pop-up exhibit at Tompkins Square Park? Contact swoodruff @ gvshp . org if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the cool photo memories. I did an art installation with the help of 3 friends at Avenue A Japanese Restaurant. Very cool experience. I'd love having a photo for my website.
ReplyDelete