Saturday, April 26, 2025

Videos: 4 minutes on St. Mark's Place in the 1980s

The Kinolibrary Archive Film Collections uploaded a clip to YouTube this past week titled "1980s Summer in East Village, New York." (Thanks to the tipster for the link!

We don’t know much about the four-minute clip — who filmed it or who the people are. It opens with a group of friends on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place, a carefree bunch sporting a yo-yo, a boa, and a portable cassette player. They eventually wander along St. Mark’s Place past Second Avenue, where the slice of life comes to an end.

8 comments:

editrrix said...

People were so much more FUN back then.

cmarrtyy said...

I watched hoping to see the EV i the 80s as opposed to some selfish selfcentered weekend warriors. Oh, well.

Grieve said...

Someone suggested this was a Nelson Sullivan production... I don't think so... plus, he was usually in the videos

Richard said...

I would have found these guys insufferably smug back then, exactly the same way I do now.

Alex in NYC said...

Yeah, "insufferable" is a good word for it. Something about the yo-yo, boom box, snake combo... just reeks of trying a little too hard.

2ndAvenueSilverPanther said...

I was on those blocks then -still am. And I recognize posers like that trying SO hard to be "freaky". They lost me when I saw she didn't know how to use a yo yo - flipping it out of your hand backwards. Cool seeing a bit of the streets - especially the St.MarksTheater, but, overall, yawn.

hywel dda said...

Ditto! Much like today's young people, they are only interested in themselves and they have no interaction with the neighborhood or it's residents. Waste of film.

Trixie said...

Some good stuff in the background though: the dry cleaners, Gem Spa, etc.