Matzos and Mohawks on the L.E.S.

They’re heroes for some and clowns to others, but I’ll probably always consider San Francisco’s Rancid to be something of a guilty pleasure. Sure, they look the part and their pedigree (at least two former members of Operation Ivy) is pretty unimpeachable, but there’s always been something so slavishly derivative about the band. They’ve worn their adoration of The Clash and The Specials on their spikey sleeves, but hey – if you’re going to emulate a couple of bands, you’d be hard-pressed to pick two better. I also sorta love their dogged insistence on dressing like 1982 never ended.

In any case, “Time Bomb,” -- from Rancid’s 1995 effort, And Out Come The Wolves -- came up on a random selection on my iPod recently, and its video immediately sprang to my mind. Though Bay Area to the core, for some reason they chose to film the clip for this irrepressible, hiccupy ska number in New York City. The action takes place on the Lower East Side, rife with fleeting shots of Rivington Street (the home of art/activism/social center/punk hangout, ABC NO RIO), and featuring lots of likely extras and in punk-revivalist and rudeboy finery.

That’s nice and all, but when I think of Rivington Street, the first place that springs to my mind is Streit’s Matzos. It’s not that I’m a big fan of matzos – although I certainly have nothing against them – it’s just that I always admired their signature signage, which makes a couple of cameos in the Rancid clip (00:49 and 01:40). I wonder what Streit’s employees thought of all the commotion when this video was being filmed.

I took this shot of the corner of Rivington and Suffolk sometime in the mid-90’s,…probably right around the same time the video below was filmed.

Today – almost twenty (!!) years later -- Streit’s is actually still on that corner, but their sign is not. Not sure why they took it down (maybe it was damanged in Hurricane Sandy? I’m reaching), but it’s gone.