By James Maher
Name: Pamela Joy
Occupation: Integrative Astrologer
Location: 10th Street and 3rd Avenue.
Time: 2:30 on Thursday, March 20
I’m one of the few New York natives. I was born and raised in Canarsie, Brooklyn. I went to the Professional Performing Arts School so my time in Brooklyn kind of ended when I went there on West 46th Street, in the original building. Manhattan is where the action is and Canarsie was far away.
I went there for acting but I’m really an actress-singer-dancer. I’m one of those people who came from a very complex background, where there was a lot of torment. It was tough being both an actress and a sensitive one, so I ended up in the world of psychotherapy. I don’t know if I would have been happy in the business of show. Not enough substance for me, perhaps.
What’s happening right now is that I’m in a transition. The artist and therapist within me who I have become are better able to serve and be served as an astrologer. I help people. I am grateful that my quest has taken me through two wonderful alternative programs where I received my training.
I live on East 10th Street, diagonally across from the Russian & Turkish Baths. I moved down here around 35 years ago with my boyfriend, who was living on East 6th Street. When that relationship ended, and this is the strangest thing, I lucked out and ended up getting my apartment right across from what used to be a jazz club called Princess Pamela, where the cafĂ© is now. So it was meant to be and I’ve been there ever since. I’ve lived there for over 30 years.
It was very different in the beginning. First of all, I never walked down 10th between 1st and 2nd. People would actually have bullets go into their living rooms. It was like the Colombian Cartel. And then it got cleaned up and now you can see it’s an amazing street. I love walking up and down that street. Loisaida really changed; the Lower East Side has really changed; my block has really changed. It’s interesting how all these little relics have moved around but change is part of life.
It was a good place to be while I was trying to nurture my inner spirit. It was a good place to be while I was trying to blossom into adulthood. In fact, today I was thinking that my home, my unconscious choice of home, was like a reclamation. It feels like the first home I’ve ever really lived in. I feel like what’s been ebbing out of that is that I’ve been helping a lot of people. So I’m very happy about that.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.