"Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks"

[Photo by Q. Sakamaki]

The Times features photographer Q. Sakamaki today, who has a new book out on Tompkins Square Park. (I did a short piece on it for Curbed today, too, and there was quite a bit of feedback on the topic...)

Upon arriving in the city in 1986 he settled in the East Village, where he was alternately charmed and horrified by what he found. Dilapidated and abandoned buildings lined the streets. Entire blocks were filled with little more than rubble and bricks. Heroin was sold in candy stores, and gunshots sounded in the night. In the morning he sometimes spotted the bodies of people who had been killed or had died of overdoses.

Also, in this week's issue of the Voice, Lynn Yaeger goes on a walking tour of the neighborhood with Sakamaki.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the Tompkins Square Park riots in black and white

Looking at the Tompkins Square Park riots in black and white

As the week's issue of The Villager notes:

Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots, East Village photographer Q. Sakamaki is releasing a book of his dramatic black-and-white images bringing that turbulent period in neighborhood history back to life.

[Photo by Q. Sakamaki]

Also in The Villager this week: An editorial asks for "die yuppie scum" protestors to lay off Red Square developer/Christodora House resident Michael Rosen.

And:
Bobby Steele on Why "Die Yuppie Scum" must die: It’s hate speech

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking back: Red Square and gentrification