I was recently rewarded with a new iMac at my office. Once installed, I wanted to get rid of that desktop display photo of El Capitain (or whatever majestic mountain it is) in favor of a selection of various NYC shots that speak to my sensibility. I tried a few different ones out, but finally settled on a Matt Weber photo (you may remember me mentioning his fabled street photos most recently on this post, also of the Bowery) of a shot of the Bowery at Bond Street circa 1985. I initially chose the shot because I miss the lot that used to abut the Amato Opera house (complete with that great mural). Here’s that photo now.
Upon assigning Matt’s photo as my desktop pic, however, it blew it up with new detail and I was able to notice a few more items, my favorite being a bit of graffiti on the street-light pole on the traffic island on the far right. Here’s a close-up.
Yep, it’s a scrawl of “LOUD FAST RULES,” a trio of words you might remember from that old photograph of East 7th & Second Avenue. Here’s that photo again...
“Loud Fast Rules” is both a single and album title (well, cassette title, technically) by proto-NYHC punk band, The Stimulators, who famously featured a disarmingly youthful Harley Flanagan (later of the Cro-Mags) behind the drum kit. Harley later looked more like this.
Here’s that single now, featuring then-still-little Harley on the sleeve.
Today, the lot next to the Amato Opera house is occupied by a genuinely ugly NYU dorm. The Amato Opera House is technically still standing, but I’m not sure it’s still in operation. The building between the Opera House and what had been CBGB has been remodeled. The Palace Hotel is now home to the Bowery Residents Committee. CBGB is now a pricey outlet for John Varvatos (who, you may remember, I took my most recent potshot at on this post). The lot at the far end of the street at 1st is now occupied by a condo with a Chase Bank on its ground floor.
Harley Flanagan, meanwhile, is alive and well and about to release his memoir…
Here, meanwhile, is another shot from that same era, taken by one Ferdinando Sciannaa, of the lot next to the Amato Opera House...
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