Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Gutting 207 E. 4th St., onetime home of Bob Arihood

Workers recently started gut renovations at 207 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B... the five-story building is now (presumably) vacant ... 
Posted permits note an interior-exterior renovation for the 15-unit building... no mention of any type of vertical or horizontal extension.

The building last changed hands in 2018 for $3 million, per public records.

No. 207 was also the longtime home of Bob Arihood, a photographer-journalist who lived in a ground-floor unit until he died in 2011. 

As I wrote at the time:
Bob chronicled the comings and goings of the East Village on Neither More Nor Less. His site was essential viewing every day. He seemed to deem himself a social scientist more than a journalist at times. His work was invaluable for showing the changes in the East Village ...
Thankfully, Neither More Nor Less is still online, and you can view his work here. His other photo site, Nadie Se Conoce, is also online here.  
at

6 comments:

  1. Laura GogginMay 25, 2022 at 9:00 AM

    I really miss Bob, and think about him a lot. He taught me a new way to look at the world and was always kind and supportive of my endeavors. His portraits of the people of Tompkins and the EV were invaluable and when we lost him, it felt like we lost an entire part of the community. RIP.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 25, 2022 at 9:47 AM

    Christ, is it that long already?

    Small comfort, but at least they aren't tearing it down to build another frathouse - I mean, luxury apartment building...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eden BeeMay 25, 2022 at 1:15 PM

    Bob was one of my closest friends and I still miss him everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 25, 2022 at 6:46 PM

    There's a long stretch of Arihood's work that reminds me of Ai Weiwei's East Village photos. Both of them see remarkable people/places that most of us miss, misinterpret, or take for granted. The art in their photos flows from their subjects, and the photographer is there to catch, not take the photo. Looking over Arihood's work now, it strikes me as arguably the best recent history of the neighborhood. Sure, you can read the Villager or Gothamist (or Grieve!) and understand a lot of what's happened here over the few decades but Arihood (and Weiwei for a few years) captures the surface changes _and_ a lot of what the last years have _felt_ like, good, bad, and otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  5. drewMay 25, 2022 at 10:02 PM

    rip bob. so happy you documented this history what a treat it is to revisit. also rip jewels a total pain in the ass but what a soul!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMay 26, 2022 at 9:09 AM

    I miss Bob. Our talks. His quest for the perfect espresso! His legacy lives in the artists featured in Grieve. He was a "social scientist." Hopefully, a book and film will be coming in the future. He had a soul. And, constantly questioning the role of a photographer and a subject.

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.