As a late birthday present, my sister recently gave me a copy of the revised edition of Marcia Reiss' excellent photo tome, "New York: Then & Now." If you're not familiar with the book, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect; vintage shots of fabled New York City locales juxtaposed with images of their more contemporary incarnations. For a rampant New Yorkophile like me, it was the perfect gift.
One entry especially struck me, that being the section devoted to Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. It's, of course, a richly iconic, signature landmark of New York City. Bethesda Fountain and its surrounding terraces and environs have made cameos in films like "The Hunger," "Hair," "Godspell" and "The Spanish Prisoner" through music videos ranging from Funkadelic through the Spin Doctors (I want to add that there's a Notorious B.I.G. clip shot there as well -- I seem to remember an image of the portly rapper standing precariously on the second tier of the fountain). The angel atop the fountain's famously inspired Tony Kushner's celebrated "Angels in America" and even graces the cover of the reunion album by Bauhaus, Go Away White.
While I practically grew up in Central Park, I don't think I spent too much time around that area until I was in high school in the early-to-mid 80's. According to Reiss' book, however, during the 1970's -- like much of Central Park, let alone New York City as a whole -- Bethesda Fountain was in a state of disrepair. Moreover, it was nicknamed "Freak Fountain," being that it acted as meeting place for hippies, heshers and hemp-heads during that hirsute period (which might explain its cameo in the Funkadlic clip I cited).
I'm so used to Bethesda Fountain being the picturesque destination it is today, so I was intrigued to find further documentation of this chapter. Lo and behold, I found an amazingly detailed image of the fountain -- riddled with graffiti -- from 1975 on the excellent Shorpy Historic Photo Archive. It's the image at the top of this post, but click here to see it in rich, vivid detail (220 roll film loaded in a Bronica). It's an amazing photograph by all standards.
As I was piecing this post together, I suddenly remembered another bit to share. A couple of years back, my mother gave me an old print. At first glance, it didn't look like anything special, but upon further scrutiny, I quickly realized it was a depiction of the upper terrace of Bethesda Fountain. The only information on it are the words "Circa 1872" written on the back. I completely cherish it. See below.
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