Godlis at Night

[Image via @GODLIS]

East Village-based photographer David Godlis has a new book, "History Is Made at Night," which chronicles the heyday of the scene at CBGB between 1976 and 1979.

There's a publication party tomorrow night with a slideshow and talk at 7 in the Howl! Happening space, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

In a special airing Friday from noon to 2 p.m. (ET), Godlis will be my guest during an East Village Radio program. We'll be joined by Marc H. Miller, co-curator of "Hey! Ho! Let's Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk" going on now through July 31 at the Queens Museum. We might talk about the Ramones.

Listen in via dashradio.com/EVR or the Dash Radio app.

Godlis will also be out at the Queens Museum on Saturday for a day billed as Ramones Mania. Details here.

Updated

The EVR show plays again today...

ICYMI, @evgrieve w/Marc H. Miller & @GODLIS_photos, listen Saturday (6/25) 12pm ET/9am PT & 8pm ET/5PT on EastVillageRadio. @RamonesOfficial

— East Village Radio (@EVRadio) June 24, 2016

About 'Gay Arms,' a new photo exhibition by Grant Shaffer

East Village resident Grant Shaffer, a frequent contributor to EVG, is having a photo exhibition starting tomorrow evening.

Here are some details:

For the exhibition, "Gay Arms," Grant Shaffer presents a body of nearly 100 new photographic works. The series is documentary in style, with its subjects pulled from the artist's life.

Shaffer describes his artistic process as a means of understanding: "When I'm taking pictures, I think of myself as an alien who's here for a while, trying to understand the experience of my sliver of life on this planet. It's hard to say what my photos and this show are about. It's just intuitive. It's me trying to take in the world and asking people to notice or consider something."

La MaMa Galleria
47 Great Jones St.
(between Lafayette and the Bowery)

The show runs from Feb. 26 through March 13. The opening is tomorrow (Friday!) night from 6-9.

And here's one of my favorite photos of Shaffer's that I posted at EVG... from Tompkins Square Park in January 2014...

In the cold, cold night

East 11th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C by @georgygirlnyc

Cruise control

Second Avenue at East Houston by jdx

The 1970s NYC photography of Camilo José Vergara

[Photo on Avenue C by Camilo José Vergara]

Mashable has a photo essay on Camilo José Vergara, who started taking photos in the the South Bronx and Lower East Side in 1970 while a grad student at Columbia.

Read the essay and browse the photo gallery here.

A found collection of photos from the 1980s East Village

The Wall Street Journal today has a short feature on Tony Mangia, a photographer who found a long-lost collection of his photos from the 1980s East Village. (He believed the photos were destroyed during a fire.)

His work, he said, is from the Other Paper, a twice-a-month community newspaper that covered the neighborhood from 1980-1982.

The collection ranges from quiet images of dilapidated buildings to the Ninth Precinct narcotics squad (a crew usually donning Yankees caps known on the street as the “Baseball Team,” according to Mr. Mangia) making a drug bust. The images are reminiscent of a time when the city was “dirty, dangerous and way more interesting than today,” Mr. Mangia said.

You can find the article and a selection of the photos here.

Catching up with legendary street photographer Flo Fox

We've written about the prolific street photographer Flo Fox in the past … Today, at age 69, Fox, despite blindness, multiple sclerosis and lung cancer, continues to take photos on a daily basis thanks to her attendants, friends and sometimes total strangers.

Curbed has a new interview with her, which you can read here.

Do you find today's New York less photogenic than it was in the 70s and 80s?

No. It's always a place to be. I am a tourist every day in my own town. I don't miss the '70s and '80s, but the '50s and '60s. The doo wop. The rhythm and blues.

Meanwhile, check out her interview on Tom Snyder from 1980...



You can watch part 2 here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Watch this 10-minute documentary on the amazing street photographer Flo Fox

The photography of Flo Fox

A 1980s 'Night Walk' in downtown NYC

[Screengrab from the "Night Watch" trailer]

The Times has a feature today on Ken Schles, who spent part of the 1980s living and taking photographs in the East Village.

He now has a follow-up to his 1988 book "Invisible City" titled "Night Walk."

Here's a description of the book:

Schles revisits his archive and fashions a narrative of lost youth: a delirious, peripatetic walk in the evening air of an irretrievable downtown New York as he saw and experienced it. Night Walk is a substantive, intimate chronicle of New York's last pre-Internet bohemian outpost, a stream of consciousness portrayal that peels back layers of petulance and squalor to find the frisson and striving of a life lived amongst the rubble.

Here's a trailer for the book...



Schles, who now lives in Fort Greene, "rejected the recent tendency to view the East Village of the 1980s as a golden age of louche glamour," according to the Times. "A lot of dysfunction has been romanticized," he said.

The book "is dedicated to the memory of those who died in the scourge of AIDS and violence that gripped the East Village during the 1980s."

East 11th Street in photos at the 11th Street Bar

Longtime East Village resident Jack Smead has been taking and collecting photos of the neighborhood since 1969.

Neighbor Ruth tells us that he has gathered his favorites, focusing on East 11th Street, "into a terrific collection" showing at the 11th Street Bar, 510 E. 11th St., between Avenue A and Avenue B.



The photos are up as of tonight. We're looking forward to stopping by to check them out...

An East Village then-and-now photo project featuring 1984

[222 E. Third St. then and now]

Earlier this week, East Village resident Daniel Root shared a new photo project with us, a Tumblr titled EV NY: 30 yrs and now.

The site is pretty straightforward. Per its description:

Photographer Daniel Root documented the East Village in 1984. Today, he revisits the locations and documents their current state.

In addition to the then-and-now shots, Root added a photo of the contrasting scenes at the sites.




[119 Avenue C]

How did all this come about?

"I have been living here since the summer of 1984," Root told us via email on Tuesday. "At the time a friend of a friend wanted to write a book about the changing East Village and she wanted some photographs to pitch the book. The book was never written. Last year it occurred to me that those photographs were about to be 30 years old and I thought to hang them approximately where they were shot. The Tumblr site was a relatively recent addition prompted by a friend."


[174 Avenue A]


[141 Avenue A]


[307 E. 8th St.]

"I think what struck me the most while looking at the 'then vs now' shots is how much cleaner, neater and orderly things looks now," Root said. "On the other hand, a number of places don't look that different. For example, the Pyramid and the southwest corner of Tompkins Square Park."

Find more of his then-and-now shots here.

14 photos of the 1980s East Village

[Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 6th Street/John Fensten]

In recent months, EVG Facebook friend Susan Fensten has posted photos that she and her father, John Fensten, took around the city in the 1980s. Of particular interest to us: The shots of the East Village from that time period.

Susan, who grew up in the neighborhood, gave us permission to post these photos. (Unfortunately, we do not have exact dates and locations for all these.)

Updated to note proper photo credits.


[West side of 3rd Avenue between East 10 and 11th Streets/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north from East Fifth Street/John Fensten]


[Random wall from 1984/Susan Fensten]


[Tompkins Square Park/John Fensten]


[East 5th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[First Avenue/John Fensten]


[Union Square/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north on 3rd Avenue at East 13th Street/John Fensten]


[Astor Place/John Fensten]


[Avenue A near East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[Behind East Fifth Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[Leshko's on Avenue A and East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[East 4th Street with the Merchant's House on the left/John Fensten]

A new book with a 'Point of View' on NYC

East Village resident Janko Puls has a new book out titled "Point of View New York City," featuring photos of well-known NYC landmarks taken from unusual angles.

Tomorrow night at 6:30, he'll be giving an "Illustrated Talk" at the Mid-Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library. Find more details here.

At Vanishing New York today, Jeremiah Moss talks with Janko about the book and NYC. Head here for the Q-and-A.

Meanwhile, here are two aerial shots of the under-construction 51 Astor Place that Janko shared with us in April 2012

That late 1970s show

[St.Mark's Place 1979]

Alex at Flaming Pablum uncovered a cache of photos from Patrick Cummins, a Canadian archivist. Of particular interest is his set of 250-plus photos on Flickr dubbed "NYC 78-83."

Let's quote Alex's post on the photos:

Everyone talks about how “gritty” New York City used to be, and it’s almost become this quaint little descriptor that people blithely toss around, but Cummins’ photographs hit you like a sooty, graffiti-slathered stone. His remarkably composed black and white shots of various city spaces can be chilling and stark, revealing a great city in decline. Suddenly, your eye fixes on some random architectural flourish or landmark, and you recognize the location. More than a few of these pictures had me positively gasping.

Here's a sampling of the photos from around these parts (his photos span from Harlem to Coney Island) …


[Looking east on Union Square from 1979]


[Bleecker at the Bowery, undated]


[Crosby and Bleecker 1978]

Jeremiah posted a selection of Cummins' photos on Thursday at Vanishing New York.

Find this set and a lot more at Cummins' Flickr account.

Watch this 10-minute documentary on the amazing street photographer Flo Fox

A friend introduced us to the work of acclaimed photographer Flo Fox several years ago. Her life and work make for a remarkable story... and Brooklyn-based filmmaker Riley Hooper has captured Fox in a 10-minute short titled "Flo: Portrait of a Street Photographer."

Here's the film's description:

This 10-minute documentary explores the life and work of photographer Flo Fox, who, despite blindness, multiple sclerosis, and lung cancer, continues to shoot the streets of New York City. No longer able to hold a camera, she instructs her aides to take photos for her. She’s an incredible woman with a feisty spirit, sharp wit, and dirty sense of humor.

We asked Hooper a few questions about the project.

How did you first learn about Flo?

I met Flo in 2011 as she was preparing a solo photo show at Gallery 307 in New York City (now the Carter Burden Gallery), where my friend was working. The gallery represents artists over the age of 60. I was immediately drawn to her photography. Her witty captions especially grabbed my attention. I think she and I have a similar sense of humor

What are your thoughts about Flo after having the chance to spend so much time with her?

There's obviously a lot of wisdom and inspiration to be gleaned from this story. On a personal level, it's sobering to think that Flo bought her first camera when she was about the same age as I am — and that four years later she would be diagnosed with MS. Yet it's inspiring to see that her positive outlook and intense passion for her work has allowed her to persevere. It's a motivating reminder to never take anything for granted in my life, or make excuses in pursuing my filmmaking. Those are, of course, cliched maxims. Yet they're ones I now resonate with on a deeper level, and I have Flo to thank for that.

Do you think they'll be more to Flo's legacy than just her incredible body of work?

Oh, certainly! I hope that people remember Flo not only for her photography but also for her incredible drive and positivity. She's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Hooper recently released the film.

You may watch it right here.

A quick step back into the early 1990s East Village

[East 5th Street]

Gregoire Alessandrini has once again updated his excellent blog, New York in the 1990's Photo Archives ...

We thought we'd share a sampling of his latest uploads here from the early 1990s...


[East 7th Street]


[St. Mark's Place]


[Second Avenue]


[Astor Place]

Spend the rest of your day checking out all his photos here.

Some background: As a student here in the early-to-mid 1990s, he always carried a camera around with him ... and he has been uploading the photos from that time to his blog. He lives in Paris these days.

Previously

You have a few days left to see the work of East Village photographer Sally Davies

East Village-based photographer Sally Davies has been showing her work from around the neighborhood at the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery (37 W. 57th St. at 5th Avenue) this month. Here's your last chance to see it… The exhibit has been extended an extra day… today and on Tuesday…

You can see her work like this…



The gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Closed Sunday and Monday)

James and Karla Murray pick their favorite pics from 2013

Photographers James and Karla Murray have selected a few of their favorite photos from 2013... and the East Village is well-represented ... including the two in this post ... Check out all the photos here.



The urban documenters have several books to their credit, including "New York Nights" and "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York."

It was all upon a foggy night...

Last night's fog provided a stunning backdrop for photos in Tompkins Square Park … these shots are from EVG regular Grant Shaffer…









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…and an aerial view via EVG reader Anna…