[Photo on Avenue C by Camilo José Vergara]
Mashable has a photo essay on Camilo José Vergara, who started taking photos in the the South Bronx and Lower East Side in 1970 while a grad student at Columbia.
Read the essay and browse the photo gallery here.
12 comments:
Vergara took some gorgeous images of the city; you get a real feel for its grit and local color. I especially love the Ave. C photo illustrating the story. What a wonderful treat of a time capsule! Reminds me of the late great Helen Levitt.
Thanks for the pictures. I arrived here on 9/11 (!) 1970. It was a Tuesday, I believe...and it was excruciatingly hot. Rented a room at the George Washington Hotel on Lex and 23rd Street.I was an eager young man of 20 years.
There was only 1 tower at the WTC and it wasn't completed yet.
I'd go back in a heartbeat.
Beautiful Pics, reminds me of growing up on Ave C, 1st Ave and moved on up to St Marks Place.
Wonder if its possible to go to the exact locations like the first picture and see what the area looks like today and nicer if its possible that the same people could be photographed today.
Oh, what a trip, these pictures are so great, the cars, the Wonder Bread, the dogs fucking, what an eye this guy has, fantstic!
Oh, and that junk man, imagine going around the streets of 1970's New York City in a horse and wagon collecting scrap? I love it! Anyone remember the scrap metal man on e 12th Street between A and B? Always piled high with radiators, pipes and what-all. I miss that place.
The whole collection is so moving. Wonderful photos.
Some of those look pre-70s? Based on the cars?
p.s. I have totally forgotten that it was okay, at one time, to dump cars in empty lots!
The only thing I remember on East 12th Street was a place called "The Nursery". I believe it was a tree orchard where there were afterhours parties taking place. All I remember is that it was extremely damp and hot. But, it was a long time ago. Does anyone else have similar memories?
It wasn't just cars, Anon. 4:23, it was stoves, refrigerators, toilets, furniture, and at one point, in the lot that used to be across the street from my building, an old boat. It sat there for decades waiting for someone to put it back in the water before being set on fire.
Great pics!!
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