A quick trip to St. Mark's Place circa 1978

[Click photo to go big]

This photo has been making the rounds in recent weeks... and several readers have forwarded me a copy via the Dirty Old 1970's New York City page on Facebook.

The photo by Manel Armengol faces east on Saint Mark's Place at Third Avenue, circa 1978.

And a fairly half-assed attempt to make a now-then comparison...

A walk in Alphabet City in 1978: 'I was in love. I stayed.'

EVG reader and East Village resident ilyse kazar recently shared a few photos from 1978... Shot on East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.





I asked ilyse if she had any memories to share with the photos. Here's what she said:

In 1978 I took a long walk with my camera, heading eastward from my apartment on 2nd Avenue. As I strayed farther and farther into the burnt out and rubble-lot blocks of Alphabet City, I was simultaneously shocked by the desolation and desecration and urban neglect and conditions people had to live in, and awed by the subcultures and the bright and energetic spirit of the people.

Here and there the community was beginning to claim this land and these buildings that had been redlined by banks, burned down by owners, and ignored by government. Some lots had been cleared, some little gardens started. Amidst the drug dealing and desolation were murals and interesting stores and kids playing stickball.

Spray-painted on the side of one building alongside a rubble-filled lot was "Milagro de Loisaida," with a big flower springing up from the destruction.

I was in love. I stayed. I raised my kids here. I'm growing old here. I cling to the little scraps of evidence that the renegade, tenacious, creative spirit still lives amidst the alarming suburbanization of my neighborhood.

Looking forward to seeing more of ilyse's photos from this time...

[Photos © by ilyse kazar. Reposted with permission]

Revisit the Lower East Side/East Village of 1978: Screening of 'Viva Loisaida' this Sunday afternoon

You have a chance Sunday afternoon to catch a screening of "Viva Loisaida," Marlis Momber's 1978 documentary about life on the Lower East Side.

Per the Facebook invite:

VIVA LOISAIDA, chronicles what life was like for the director and her fellow immigrants in the mid 1970s. The film opens with a scene in the old Tompkins Square band shell and goes on to highlight the huge murals, the many grassroots art and political organizations which contributed to the EV/LES's a cultural diversity.

The screening starts at 3 p.m., at the Tu Casa Rehearsal Estudio, 95 Avenue B (East Sixth Street). There's a suggested donation of $10.

Previously.

A journey through the East Village and Lower East Side in 1978 [Video]

Thanks to Alex at Flaming Pablum for this link to "Viva Loisaida 1978." (The link has been making the rounds on Facebook.)

The description via YouTube:

Produced by "Gruppe Dokumentation" & "Tylis" and filmed in Loisada, by Marlis Momber, this 10 min. commercial gives a brief preview before gentrification occurred in Lower East Side in the Fall of October, 1978 with Chino Garcia & Bimbo Rivas.

Then/Now: UWS

The latest entry in David Dunlap's Then/Now series in the Times take us to the Upper West Side, Broadway between 74th and 75th. In comparing photos of that block from 1978 to today, Dunlap notes: "The time traveler recognizes Fairway and Citarella, of course, but the crowd looks younger, more prosperous and less diverse, and there are more children underfoot."

A Cheap Trick post-concert party from 1978

In case you have 28 spare minutes today...here's a video of a post-Cheap Trick concert party from 1978 at the Palladium. Susan Blond interviews the likes of Linda Blair, John Cale, David Johansen and, of course, Cheap Trick.



[Via Anton Perich on YouTube]