As previously mentioned here multiple times, I am forever on the hunt for things to post about, and when I see something that sparks my imagination, I usually grab it and set it to one side, so to speak. Quite often, those images (or videos or links or whatever) result in a windy rumination in the form of a blog post. Other times, however, whatever context I had in mind gets lost, and the item in question just becomes one more heavy file eating up space on my beleaguered MacBook Air.
I recently discovered that my laptop is sorely in need of a OS upgrade, but that I lack the space and memory to install the most up-to-date version. As such, I’ve been purging large piles of stuff and relegating other crap to the iCloud, Dropbox, external drives, etc., although I’m still dubious I’m going to be able to create enough space.
In any case, along the way, I came across the three photos below, which I’d obviously set aside to write about at one point or another. I’m relatively sure I had whole posts mapped out for each of them, but those are now lost in the mist of time. In re-discovering them now, I’m going to take a stab at whatever I might have had in mind for them.
I regrettably have no idea who took this photograph. The only information I have about it is that it was saved under the title “1982,” which sounds, at the very least, accurate. This is, of course, the Astor Place cube or, more precisely, Tony Rosenthal’s sculpture “Alamo.” Honestly, I’m more inclined to believe that I zeroed in on this photo not because of the sculpture, but more in that it showcased the lot behind it with the sort of lightning-bolt mural on the north-facing wall in the background. Beyond being a parking lot, this open space also served as an ersatz flea market. Today, of course, while the cube is still very much an Astor Place fixture, the space that was that lot is now occupied by a big condo tower that I used to say looked like a shampoo bottle, which a Chase back on its ground floor.
Similar to the photo of the cube, I seemed to save this photo with the title “1983,” although this image handily comes with the photographer’s watermark. Taken by one Tom Langton, this is, of course, the exterior of Sounds on St. Marks Place and the Grassroots Tavern on the garden level. Zoom in closely and you’ll see the album covers of Singles Going Steady by the Buzzcocks, Dare by the Human League and Dance by Gary Numan in the window, all of which predate 1983, so who knows? In any case, it’s an iconic shot. Today, both the Grassroots and Sounds are long gone, with nothing having taken their place.
Snapped by one Joe Clementi allegedly circa 1985, this is a shot of the exterior of an old St. Marks Place bar on the corner of Avenue A called Alcatraz, although I honestly cannot remember if Alcatraz dated back that early. I vividly remember going to Alcatraz in the late 80s, so it very well may have been there in 1985, but I cannot swear to it. I wrote about it briefly here, but Alcatraz had sort of a biker/rocker vibe. I seem to remember hearing lots of Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction there, back in the day. In later eras, the space became a sushi bar. Not quite sure what’s there today, actually.
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