[Photo of Elsa and Clayton from 2011 courtesy of Curt Hoppe]
As you may have heard, longtime neighborhood documentarian Clayton Patterson and his companion Elsa Rensaa are moving away from the city.
In an article from the Times yesterday (online Friday) titled "Last Bohemian Turns Out the Lights," Patterson discusses his decision to leave after 35 years on the Lower East Side.
Early this winter, to the shock of those who knew him, he made an announcement: He was leaving New York. This was news in what remained of the creative underground that sits below 14th Street. After all, one of the last men who could credibly claim the title of Manhattan’s last bohemian had not only decided he was quitting the city, he also figured he could find a richer existence 4,000 miles away — in the Austrian Alps.
“There’s nothing left for me here,” said Mr. Patterson, who, at 65, is still a physical presence, with his biker’s beard, Santa Claus belly and mouth of gold teeth. “The energy is gone. My community is gone. I’m getting out. But the sad fact is: I didn’t really leave the Lower East Side. It left me.”
Read the whole article here.
