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.  

Memorial Day on Avenue A, 1991

Bob Arihood posted this on Memorial Day 2007 at Neither More Nor Less…

This was Memorial Day 1991 : the spirit of the time was somewhat more rebelious than it is today . This night ... disorder ruled .

This is your avenue A without the boutiques , bars and restaurants . There were no doggy pastry shops on avenue A : none in the entire neighborhood for that matter .

Visit Neither More Nor Less here for more photos and Bob's narrative.

Bob Arihood and Crow's omen at St. Brigid's

No one has chronicled the neighborhood better than Bob Arihood. Here is a repost from Neither More Nor Less dated July 28, 2006 and titled Crow's omen.

As men washed themselves of the filth of a night and day of demolishing the interior of St. Brigid's , a crow sat cawing and harried by small but agitated and persistant birds atop the Gaelic cross at the peak of the facade of the 1848 landmark church of " Mary of Gael ", St. Brigid , the mother church of the Irish immigrants of the middle 19th century .

I am not a soothsayer and thus can not say what the presence of a crow cawing on a cross at a time like this does presage . Is there some dark fate and certain final loss with this church that we must without choice come to know and if so, should we not protest such fate extremely ? Shall this landmark and icon ,our connection with our past , just perish ? Today , the demolishers punched a hole in a stained glass window for fresh air as they demolished the precious interior and then punched a hole in the back wall of the church to defecate the brutally demolished interior of the church into the lot behind the church .Tommorow all will return to court to decide finally whether this demolishing shall stop .

The community wants this church to be saved ...preserved . But it seems there are now powerful forces dead set against saving this church ; powerful forces , the archdiocese , the bishops and the Cardinal , it seems , want St Brigids reduced to ruble . I do not truly understand why . Some say offers to purchase the church at a fair market price and then return St. Brigid's to the community have been made . It is said that the Cardinal has said no to such offers ,thus , can it be that there is more than just the money value of St. Brigid's demolished that is of concern to the archdiocese . The civil courts and the Landmarks Preservation Committee so far seem to be powerless to save this church . Finally ,why has some one not sought in canon law a path to the good grace and aid of His Holiness the Pope and the mother Church when the community now needs them most ?

Find more of Bob's St. Brigid's-related posts here.

Remembering Bob Arihood

Bob Arihood died last Sept. 30. One year later, his presence is still felt along Avenue A ... where an awning hangs at Ray's in his honor ...

... and a clipping about his death from The East Villager is taped to the front door of Lucy's.

I miss my email exchanges with Bob. His assessments of what was going on in, say, Tompkins Square Park. His theories. I'd occasionally ask for advice about a story. He'd offer wisdom. He sometimes seemed to be looking for some, mentioning that he was getting too old to be doing his site, Neither More Nor Less, and later, Nadie Se Conoce. (Both sites have been preserved, and are an invaluable resource about the East Village.)

Then I'd see him perched near the entrance to Tompkins Square Park at East Seventh Street and Avenue A talking to some regulars. Camera strapped around his neck. He would never be too old.

I miss his photos, his brand of journalism and the narratives that captured another side of the neighborhood. The side that has been on its way out, but still holds on despite the ongoing changes.

Every person who I talked to about Bob in the past few weeks leading up to this anniversary said how much they missed him. His best friend, Mike, said that he thinks about him every single day.

In recent weeks, a law office relocated from Avenue B to the storefront apartment that Bob lived in on East Fourth Street.

I hesitated to post the photo. This is a situation where I'd ask Bob what he thought.

For further reading:
Many people wrote tributes about Bob last year. Here are some of them.

Slum Goddess

Gothamist

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

The Gog Log

Marty After Dark

Runnin' Scared

NY Through the Lens

East Village Corner

BoweryBoogie

Shawn Chittle

DNAinfo

The Villager

[Dave on 7th]

Bob Arihood briefly appears in the February Harper's

The February issue of Harper's includes an article titled "Some Assembly Required" by Brooklyn-based writer Nathan Schneider. The piece examines the rise of Occupy Wall Street.

And Bob Arihood makes a brief appearance early on in the article, where Schneider describes the scene last Aug. 13 during a General Assembly meeting in Tompkins Square Park. As you may recall, some of the attendees requested a ban on photographs... and how Bob explained "the nature of public space."

[Bob Arihood]

Bob wrote about the episode here at Neither More Nor Less. The post attracted many comments.

And the Harper's piece reminded me that Bob died just as Occupy was really just getting started.

The Harper's article is online, though you must be a subscriber to access it.

Thanks to Pluto for letting me know about the article.

About Bob Arihood and the future of Neither More Nor Less

[Aug. 4, 2006. By Bob Arihood]

As you know, Bob Arihood died back in September. His friend Mike sent along word last night ... Mike and Bob's family are maintaining the sites — Neither More Nor Less and Nadie Se Conoce — and they have also been able to "rescue" or conserve the vast majority of his work. The sites will be left up indefinitely, providing a treasure trove of photos and stories that captured the continuously evolving neighborhood.

There's also a new introduction at Neither More Nor Less that talks a little about Bob's past and what he meant to the neighborhood. Per the new intro:

He began photographing in a casual way in the 1960’s and 70’s, using a Leica M3 part of the time (and later M6). He never intended to become a photographer; it was never his dream, just a hobby, but he became more and more meticulous about this ‘hobby’. His main business was still building things, generally off of his own new ideas. After his last major venture ended circa 1994 or 1995, he became a full-time photographer, basically hanging out on the corner of Avenue A and 7th Street. There was no grand plan, just a commitment to becoming a master of what he did, and to keep evolving, to keep improvising himself out of scratch.

In addition, the videos that Bob had been filming of late are back on the site. Being so meticulous, Bob wasn't thrilled with the quality of the work. However like with his photos, he didn't always realize how much people valued his work.

Reminders today: Concert in Tompkins Square Park, tribute to Bob Arihood

Also, as we mentioned, the organizers are going to have a table set up with a memorial for Bob Arihood. The organizers are looking for photos to mount on a huge poster board that they'll have at a special table for Bob. These can be shots of Bob and/or photos that Bob has taken over the years....

You can print them out from Neither More Nor Less or Nadie Se Conoce and bring them along...

Starting soon...

Mass tomorrow for Bob Arihood

The mass is at 5:30 p.m. at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

At Bob Arihood's memorial this afternoon

[Photos by Shawn Chittle]

Under way now at The 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden.

Reminders today: Memorial for Bob Arihood

Also this afternoon, a free concert in Tompkins Square Park organized by Jay "Blonde Boy" Wilson and sponsored by The Shadow.

Chico creates tribute for Bob Arihood at Ray's Candy Store

Yesterday after, we posted photos of Chico working on a mural for the Ray's Candy Store awning on Avenue A ... Single Linds Reflex, who worked with Chico on the concept, was there to watch it happen ... Here's a sort of Blogger time-lapse with the final work ...

And later... Chico talks with Lucy and Ray...

Chico creating a mural honoring Bob Arihood at Ray's Candy Store

In progress now on Avenue A. We understand that it will be a portrait of Bob on one side... and Ray on the other side. Photo via Single Linds Reflex.

And here are two more in-progress photos... via @biggayicecream ...

'There is still community in the East Village'

East Village resident (and reporter) Lilly O'Donnell wrote an essay on last night's Bob Arihood memorial for Gothamist. An excerpt:

[T]here was a sense that one more piece of “the old neighborhood” was gone. "I hope this is not a wake for the East Village itself,” said Eddie Dunn, who has lived in the neighborhood for half a century. “He represented something that’s disappearing.”

But the crowd that gathered in front of Ray’s Candy Store on Avenue A proved that there is still community in the East Village, no matter how much people like to say otherwise.

Read the whole essay here.

At the memorial for Bob Arihood last night

Community members gathered last night outside Ray's on Avenue A to honor their friend Bob Arihood, who recently passed away... Several people, including Ray, John Penley, Clayton Patterson and Chico, talked about their longtime friend...

Bobby Williams was there and took these photos...

...and Jewels even pulled down his pants in Bob's honor... an act that Bob caught on film many times through the years.

BoweryBoogie has more here ... including a video. Jill posts her thoughts from last night here. Patrick Hedlund filed his report for DNAinfo here.

One attendee remarked how strange it was not to see Bob there, standing in the background, chatting, observing ... and taking photos... a sentiment that we'll likely be thinking at every local event in the weeks and months to come...

There's talk of a memorial concert in Bob's honor Saturday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park. We'll pass along the details once organizers finalize the plans.

Updated:
Dave on 7th passes along this photo from 6:15 this morning... candles still burning brightly...

Avenue A, 8:09 p.m., Oct. 4

At the memorial for Bob Arihood outside Ray's. More photos tomorrow.

Photo by Faces.

Bob Arihood obit in the Daily News; plus a gathering tonight at Lucy's

Bob Arihood's obituary appears today in the Daily News, though it's not online.

The feature includes a quote from Bob's brother Leslie, his only surviving relative, and offers other biographical information, such as that he graduated from Purdue University in 1968. Bob lived in Chicago briefly before settling in the East Village in 1970. Said his longtime friend Jefferson Siegel: "He was the conscience of the East Village."

According to an autopsy cited by the Daily News, Bob died of cardiovascular disease.

In addition to the candlelight vigil tonight at 8 outside Ray's... we received the following information:

There will be a gathering of Bob's friends tonight at 7 at Lucy's at 135 Avenue A near Ninth Street.

A memorial is being planned, possibly for this weekend.

Reminders: Candlelight vigil tonight at Ray's for Bob Arihood

Shawn Chittle and Lindsay Wengler are organizing tonight's vigil. Per their message:

We wanted to put together a candlelight vigil for Bob in front of Ray's at 8 pm.

Please tell people to bring a candle and or flowers, photos of Bob or photos Bob took. We all think instead Bob would want people to just buy something from Ray's in his memory!

We are presenting Ray with a framed portrait of Bob to hang up so he's always watching over Ray.

Meanwhile, many people have written tributes to Bob. Here are some of them.

Slum Goddess

Single Linds Reflex

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

The Gog Log

Marty After Dark

Runnin' Scared

NY Through the Lens

East Village Corner

BoweryBoogie

Shawn Chittle

DNAinfo

The photography of Bob Arihood

Bob Arihood died last week. (You can read reaction and tributes to him here.) I spent a good part of the weekend revisiting his posts at Neither More Nor Less and Nadie Se Conoce. I hope that his photos continue to inform and inspire people for years to come. His work inspired me on a daily basis.

Picking a few shots to showcase proved to be a challenging task.