Bennett, a native New Yorker who now resides in Los Angeles, recently shared more photos from the era. He grew up in Greenwich Village and lived in the East Village from 1979 to 1988. (You can read more about him here.) He gave us permission to post these EV street scenes from the 1980s. (Top photo is outside the former Love Saves the Day on the NW corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street.)
Here are a few more shots from his archives (click on the image to go big) ...
St. Mark's Place...
Second Avenue at Seventh Street...
Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place (NW corner) ...
Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place (SW corner) ...
Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
Fifth Street at Avenue D ...
Fifth Street near Avenue C...
There are some more photos here.
If you liked these, perhaps we can have an encore one of these days. Thanks to Peter for sharing!
41 comments:
Wow !
How Fabulous !
Those were the days !
Forgot about some of those places.
Thank You for the memories,
it was nice to go back in time.
I love seeing pics of NYC from the past, before Times Square became a neon Disney Land lol. I especially enjoy seeing pics of the LES when it was a lot more gritty.
Great shots. More please.
Thank you. I so remember the "thursday only" store.
I don't know how people who have been here ten years or less react to these, but these pictures take my breath away!
Reminds me that I have some old color negs from the same period that I need to go through.
I miss the 2nd Avenue Cinema. Haven't seen 'Cry Uncle' since it closed.
@susan
I remember Jersey eggs, too, but the egg farms are all gone.
WOW!
I had forgotten how "burned out" some sections of the East Village were. I'm gonna have to go back and view Jim Jarmusch's early films to refresh my B&W memories. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Amazing what a difference 40 forty years makes!
I still own punk albums with Freebeing stickers on them. super cramped space, great selection, and the music -- usually something like discharge -- would be blaring out of the enormous speaker behind the cash register. good times.
Does anyone remember if that "Feliz Navidad" building (picture not here, but on the photographer's site) was on the corner of second and B across from gas station? Or maybe 3rd - I remember walking past it all the time in the early 90's.
My second apartment was on that dead end street (E 5th) snuggly located behind the school on Ave B. "Green light, blue light" always greeted me on my way home each evening. What a time.
Just amazing. A time where storefronts still looked the same from previous eras... Fresh Eggs! No phones, internet, or iphone zombies, throwing out glass and cans in regular home trash.... I could on...
I would've liked to have fond memories of free being too but I still remember the Piece-of-Shit who owned the place chucking a HEAVY ashtray at my 12 year old head for viewing his albums and not buying (couldnt afford the 2.99 price)
So what was the deal with the "Thursdays only" store?
The egg store was on 7th between 1st and 2nd Aves.
Dude just laying on the newspaper stacks of the Gem Spa newstand, keeping comfy
These photos are great, please keep 'em coming Grieve!
Absolutely riveting. My mind is blown away. As a resident of Alphabet City, none of those photos resemble our current reality.
Love these, more please! *and* the stories in the comments!
How are the streets cleaner in these photos than they are nowadays?
I was younger, sigh…rent was $150 on 10th street
Ohmygod, FREEBEING. The first record store I ever went to in NYC! <3
I remember Freebeing being on the other side of 2nd Avenue, by the Orpheum. Was it ever there or is my mind just going?
Fewer people
thanks for this grieve so many memories the egg shop st marks cinema only hing missing is Sachs' daily 3pm turkey!
@12:14pm: Streets were cleaner b/c (a) *people weren't such slobs then, AND also (b) people were not walking around "having" to eat/drink all the time. No plastic water bottles, that's for sure! If you had a drink or an ice (in the summer), it was in a PAPER cup and you used the city trash cans on the corner.
Sidebar: I well remember the high stacks of thick Sunday NY Times newspapers at ALL the places like Gem Spa and other newsstands. Those were the days, indeed! I liked this neighborhood a hell of a lot better back then, than I do now; that's partly b/c back then, there were fewer bro-tastic poseurs swanning around.
and when the place changed hands there was a sign "no more eggs."
These made my day! It took me back 40 years to when I was younger...if not quite young! Although I think the photos did make me feel young! I'll take my late afternoon walk on this oddly warm February day and do a constant then & now in my minds eye - and I know I'll re-appreciate the early 1980's, but I'm determined to appreciate what I see now in 2022 as well!
I miss those days.
Incredible photos, and not just for the amazing walk through history. Thank you Peter for sharing.
Well the crime is back.
Well how lovely to see a photo of my old haunt, Free Being. Of course I'd love to grow young again and go back in time (who wouldn't) but to be honest I have no feelings of being overly nostalgic. I enjoyed my life then and enjoy my life now. I feel incredibly lucky to have witnessed a historical moment in EV 77 - 81 that changed the world through art and music and indeed its effects are still being felt today. Funny thing, pre- internet, people have no idea what a small scene it was. One literally had to pick up a copy of the Village Voice to see who was playing at CBGBs or Irving Plaza or come across a poster on a wall. The downtown art scene consisted of 420 West Broadway and maybe 10 more galleries scattered about Soho. To quote Lou Reed "Those were different times"..................."Standing on a corner, suitcase in my hand".....................
It was a far, far better world back then; if I could go back there I would.
That Gem Spa shot is priceless!
it was Gail Kessler's mostly Indonesian crafts store No More Eggs that later moved to two different locations on 9th Street.
Older Historian and XTC i like your positive attitudes!!:)
They sold delicious apple cider and fresh eggs.
I love in that building next to the school on east 5th, still a great place to call home
All hail gringo gone but not forgtten
Sigh. Remember when you could get newspapers and the best selection of magazines at Gem Spa? And who remembers Little Ricki and It's A Mod Mod World on First Avenue? And the pierogi store on First just south of St Marks?
I love these, it takes me back to when the avenues in Alphabet City had nicknames:
A- Afraid
B- Brave
C- Crazy
D- Dead
The world seemed a lot more authentic then. Thanks for sharing these pictures!
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