Tuesday, April 4, 2023

RIP Leonard Abrams

Photo from March 23 by Stacie Joy 

Leonard Abrams, the editor and publisher of the East Village Eye, the legendary magazine published from 1979 to 1987 that covered the neighborhood's arts, politics and social currents at the time, died suddenly on Sunday, according to several of his longtime friends. 

Abrams, who started the publication at age 24, had recently announced — much to his delight — that the Eye's archives, consisting of documents, manuscripts, artworks, videos, ephemera and a complete run of the original printed publication, had been purchased by the New York Public Library. (This article in The New Yorker has many more details about the archives.) 

On March 23, Abrams presided over a celebration of the acquisition at the Bowery Electric, an evening that included a performance by the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. 

His friends shared some thoughts on social media about his death... His post-Eye career included opening Hotel Amazon, which brought warehouse-style parties to a former LES school featuring, among many others, De La Soul, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys. He also made the documentary "Quilombo Countr," narrated by Chuck D, about a community founded by escaped slaves in Brazil. 

However, in recent years, his main ambition was to find a home for the Eye archives.
As he wrote
NYPL's acquisition of the East Village Eye archive is the perfect outcome of our years-long search for the best home for these materials. I can't think of another institution with the breadth and depth of interest, the institutional strength and the dedication to the common good that compares to the New York Public Library — not to mention where it lives. New York deserves to keep this essential trove of materials. It covers a time when it wasn't always easy to love New York City, but we always knew how important it was to bring these voices to the public and to preserve them, even if it meant dragging them from one storage space to another for some 35 years.
In a 2012 interview with EVG, he discussed the legacy of the 72 issues of East Village Eye
I'm most proud of having gotten so many of them out. And hearing someone say something like "I moved to NY because I read the Eye in my home state." I was gratified to have published columns by David Wojnarowicz and Glenn O'Brien and Cookie Mueller and Richard Hell. And to have been told that the term "hip hop" was first printed in the Eye. And to have presented so many idiosyncratic voices in such a deadpan manner, as if what they said was as obvious as the weather. That was fun.

11 comments:

Simon E said...

Awful news. The EVE was critical reading for young me from 1983-1987, and I was a regular at the Hotel Amazon.

RJJNY said...

Condolences to his loved ones and friends. Feels so cruel that this happened right after the great news about the archives.

Trixie said...

Sad news, but I am glad that he got to put his baby to bed, so to speak, before he left us. And I trust that his archives will be in safe hands with the NYPL.

Anonymous said...

sudden and unexpected

Anonymous said...

Leonard and I did pop up club Milkyway…first location roof of Quando then Rivington which he morphed into Hotel Amazon. Came to East Village from North Carolina after reading Eye article about after hours scene

Anonymous said...

I was so sad to hear this news. I’m glad that his legacy will live on I. All our memories and the NYPL

Anonymous said...

Yeah, last time I talked to Len at Bowery, he seemed happy, place was sold out; I wrote article about David w for eye in 86, its mentioned in David’s Whitney book now it’s in nypl. I also was both a kind of impresario as well as performer at hotel Amazon . A great friend, this still very much hurts. Michael Carter

Anonymous said...

Milkyway! Those were the days. Leonard was (difficult to put him in the past) a true visionary, through and through

Unknown said...

I was very sad to hear of Len's passing. He was always enthusiastic about starting on a new adventure and we went on a couple of trips together to Mexico, Los Angeles, and NO to do volunteer work after Katrina. It was thrilling to hear the archive would go to the NYPL. I considered calling him and then, he was gone. He is on to another adventure. He went everywhere I invited him and met people with an open heart and sardonic sneer. And he was a deeply caring and compassionate person.

Unknown said...

I was shocked and saddened to hear about Leonard's passing. He was the right man at the right time when the East Village needed him most to tell the world what our ground-breaking community was all about. When I first showed up at the Eye office in 1980, when it was upstairs in that old PS on East 9th at Tompkins Square, he greeted me with a wry grin and put me right to work. His openness and his creativity were an inspiration to behold, and I'm so glad he gave me the chance to see my story ideas run in print. I got such a kick out of all the people I met at the Eye, especially my closest companions. I will treasure what he gave me for the rest of my life.

Anonymous said...


I was one of the models featured in the Fashion / (2nd) issue of The East Village Eye (June 15, 1979) and remember Leonard as being a respected force for good. How thrilling to learn of his dedication and service all those years and the recent NYPL acquisition of the archives that Leonard had so carefully preserved.

Rhonda