The timing isn't excellent, I have to say. On the same day my friend basically accuses me of fetishizing the past, I uncover a cache of my old photographs from the 1990s that had been sequestered away in my storage space. Truthfully, I'm still smarting from our exchange and have been feeling pretty gun-shy about doing any further posting here. As I said back on this post, this weblog has garnered its fair share of detractors over the years, -- and I usually ignore and/or laugh them off -- but every now and then, one well-placed bit of cogent criticism is capable of taking all the wind out of my sails. As such, I'm feeling extremely cautious about what I'm putting up here.
In any case, the following pictures are just a handful of ones I picked out of places and things that are simply no longer there. Some may have resonance for you and some may not. These were shots that, for reason or another, never made it into any of my photo albums (what an antiquated notion), so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of documentation about them. All I can say is that they were taken between approximately 1996 and 2000. I thought they were kind of interesting. You, of course, may beg to differ. Click on them to enlarge.
295 Bowery, otherwise known as the former site of McGurk's Suicide Hall
The marquee of the Art Greenwich Twin movie theater at 97 Greenwich Avenue. This was torn down in 2000. A massive health club now stands in its place.
"Casa-O-Muerte," seen hanging from a squatter's house somewhere in Alphabet City.
The Hog Pit's original location on 9th Avenue in the Meatpacking District. I believe this spot is now a Ralph Lauren shop, but I can't be sure.
The sign for The Village Idiot, an old divey roadhouse on West 14th Street frequented by all-day drinkers and an aquarium inexplicably populated by live snapping turtles.
The entrance to The Manhole, a gay/bondage bar on 9th Avenue just to the north of the Hog Pit.
Rocks in Your Head, inarguably Soho's best music shop (not that it had all that much competition). Sorely, sorely missed by yours truly. It's now a real estate agency.
The window of Stooz Records on East 7th Street. Not the greatest shop in the world, but there were bargains to be found here if you were patient. Now a Greek restaurant, if memory serves.
The closed gate of Wetlands Preserve on the corner of Laight Street in TriBeCa, the epicenter of the dreaded "jam band" scene, but also an excellent live venue for myriad other artists. I was fortunate enough to have witnessed everyone from Dread Zeppelin through Britpop also-rans Echobelly in its intimate interior. I want to say its some sort of high end furniture outlet now.
That's all for now, although there may be more coming soon. We'll see.
Hey Alex, please keep up the awesome posts! Picked up on your blog with the Vanishing Downtown stuff and have been hooked ever since. Let em' have their Kindles and John Varvatos'es!!! Too many people I feel don't how much NYC has had to offer in the past, and what has been lost. "Without knowledge of your past, you cannot determine your future" ...
Posted by: Joe Western | July 30, 2010 at 12:57 AM
Alex, your friend RK is kind of a moron. He's obviously not exactly a mental heavyweight, since he can't separate nostalgia (everything was better when I was younger...) with objective observation (the city has less local character and individuality as a city than it used to...).
I don't share a lot of your musical passions, but I admire your passion and respect your opinion.
RK is full of hot air. You would know that right off, but you're a nice person with enough humility to have self-doubts and to be self-critical. Plus, he's a friend, so you listen. Don't. He sounds like kind of a prick! lol
Posted by: dark1p | July 30, 2010 at 08:34 AM
Shit. I didn't mean to set him up as a punching bag. Honestly, he's no moron. A bit intense, yes, but birds of a feather flock together, as they say. I just think it was a valuable lesson for me that perhaps I'm not always conveying my message properly.
Anyway, thanks for the support.
Posted by: Alex in NYC | July 30, 2010 at 08:58 AM
FUCK anyone trying to stop you from doing anything you want. Are you a punk or not? FUCK HIM! and keep up the good work, thank you.
Posted by: GEF | July 30, 2010 at 11:17 AM
i love your memories, and wish they were mine.
Posted by: ken mca | July 30, 2010 at 01:06 PM
and ya, keep em coming.
Posted by: ken mca | July 30, 2010 at 01:13 PM
The Village Idiot. Yes. Sawdust on the floor, and lots of space for bar fights.
The meatpacking district sure has changed a lot in a very short time.
Posted by: JR | July 30, 2010 at 07:15 PM
send us more your "friend" is an idiota!
"your only as pretty as you feel"
Posted by: artdog | July 31, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Alex..OK, I take back the names I was calling your buddy RK. Just don't take him too seriously, all right? I think he's kind of missing something important in his critique.
Stay cool.
Posted by: dark1p | July 31, 2010 at 12:01 PM
You, who could publicly defend Yes as a great band, is cowed by a friend who can't tell the difference between critiquing the vast, fast and extreme change you've witnessed, and childhood nostalgia?
Of course there was plenty of crap going on in the past to critique, and if you had a blog then I imagine you would have had something to say then too about that big weird glass condo that went up next to the 59th Street Bridge and then started losing windows, the lack of any kind of policing in places that really needed it, the Marriott on 42nd Street that killed prom goers when the balcony fell down, the downfall of the 86th Street movie theaters, when the Upper East Side was totally invaded by the same people who have now invaded the East Village crowded into tiny apartments, getting strangled in Central Park by preppy boys and so on and so on.
But now is now and then was then, so you talk about the present. Snap out of it.
Posted by: Jill | July 31, 2010 at 05:50 PM
hey please post more. just 'cuz you (and of course a lotta us) are noticing like nyc is really, really vanishing, doesn't mean it's a conservative view. and to those who say nyc is always changing, what's happening now really really is a different kinda change. like JVY sez that whole vongentrified thing. it's just becoming more and more closed to the everyday person.
Posted by: sg | August 01, 2010 at 10:29 PM
excellent documentary photographs, keep posting please
Posted by: chukdo64 | August 02, 2010 at 03:57 PM
These are so beautiful. Thank you. I could look at pictures of that time period forever. Also, I had no idea that the Idiot, the Manhole, the Hog Pit, were no longer there. Ugh.
I knew the Wetlands was gone.
Posted by: Lisa | August 16, 2010 at 02:02 PM