His work, he said, is from the Other Paper, a twice-a-month community newspaper that covered the neighborhood from 1980-1982.
The collection ranges from quiet images of dilapidated buildings to the Ninth Precinct narcotics squad (a crew usually donning Yankees caps known on the street as the “Baseball Team,” according to Mr. Mangia) making a drug bust. The images are reminiscent of a time when the city was “dirty, dangerous and way more interesting than today,” Mr. Mangia said.
You can find the article and a selection of the photos here.
13 comments:
Back then everyone dressed like they were in an extra in the Warriors. These days they eihter dress like they are doing the laundry or like Taylor Swift. So tell me, whoo wore it better, the 80s or the millenials?
Not surprisingly, the WSJ commenters take exception to Mr. Mangia's remarks that the neighborhood was "way more interesting then".
Sure, bro, your "fave nabe" was a bit more dangerous, but that's what kept the likes of you from ever stepping foot in it. Funny how someone who was never here "then" knows it's so much better now.
When I started hanging out in the East Village in 1986-87 (as a recent high school grad from Staten Island) all I heard was how much cooler things were before me and my friends started showing up.
The point being things were always cooler "before". I mean, do you realize how short-sighted and cranky you guys sound talking about the good ol' days?
Sincerely,
A 47 year old Staten Island native now living in the East Village with his family.
It may have been dirtier and dangerous, but it was certainly not more interesting.
There's a Pitbull in the left pic.
I somewhat agree with Anonymous 2:24 PM, as I myself am a 50 year old Staten Island native who's lived in the EV since 1987. Even when I started hanging out in '78-'79 as a snotty barely teen, I was told I "missed it all"
That being said, what I DO miss now is having a neighborhood with neighbors I know, who look after each other and places to go that aren't full of those types. We were loud and snotty in our 20s but we weren't fucking SantaCon.
So yes, miss the culture and camaraderie , but acknowledge things change.
Take it away, Al:
I can still remember good old Mr. Fender
Who ran the corner grocery store
Oh, he'd strolled down the aisle with a big friendly smile
And he'd say "Howdy" when you walked in the door
Always treated me nice, gave me kindly advice
I don't know why I set fire to his place
Oh I'll never forget the day I bashed in his head
Well you should've seen the look on his face
Let me tell ya now
Those were the good old days
Those were the good old days
The years go by but the memory stays
And those were the good old days
very nice share
The guy at right in the "CBGB" photo looks like Alvin Robertson, original Bad Brains roadie, who ran a studio in the 8th Ave Music Building throughout the 1990s where P-Funk, Cro-Mags, Mephiskapheles, and others used to rehearse.
On August 18, 2015 at 2:24 PM Anonymous said...
When I started hanging out in the East Village in 1986-87 (as a recent high school grad from Staten Island) all I heard was how much cooler things were before me and my friends started showing up.
The point being things were always cooler "before". I mean, do you realize how short-sighted and cranky you guys sound talking about the good ol' days?
When I had just moved here in the fall of 1980, I was down on the corner of Prince and Wooster on a sunny Sunday, and overheard two people remarking about how the people in that neighborhood used to be a lot cooler.
(As an aside, I miss the SoHo of the 80s, because it was nothing like the shopping mall it has become!)
At 2:31 PM, IzF said...
There's a Pitbull in the left pic.
Remember Petey from Our Gang? He was a pit bull too.
Agreed. I got here in 1981, and was told that all the cool stuff had been cleaned up or moved away. It was the day after Simon and Garfunkel tried to revive their careers in Central Park - a sure sign that they had jumped the shark, too.
ALL the guys in the Rivington dance crew pic above were in Paul Morrissey's Mixed Blood (1984), a film I was an actor in. I recognize them all; they were all a part of the rival Puerto Rican gang that fought the Brazilian gang at center of the fim. The dude in the middle was even wearing the same sweat pants and fishnet basketball cutoff.
PLUS, that film was John Lequizamo's screen debut...as an extra. TIME WARP.
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