I feel like this photo’s been making the rounds for a while, now, but the above image was snapped by one Peter van Wijk, capturing an unknown band playing a soundcheck on a stage in the middle of West Broadway at White Street in the Summer of 1979.
It’s a cool shot for a number of reasons. For a start, I love how it speaks to how informal that neck of town used to be. A million years ago, I did gopher work for a graphic designer who used to say that on weekends, people who lived off West Broadway used to string a volleyball net across the expanse of the avenue and play pickup games. There was so little traffic, at the time, that it wasn’t a hassle for anybody. This imaged exudes that same sort of vibe, or to me, at least.
Secondly, New York nostalgist trainspotters might note both Teddy’s and Tier 3 behind the band (on the easterly side of the avenue). I spoke about Tier 3 quite recently here. Teddy’s, of course, later became El Teddy’s (I’m assuming it had something to do with new management and/or a change in cuisine?), and famously hosted a replica of the Statue of Liberty’s crown on its roof. I took this picture of same at some point in the late `90s.
Thirdly, of course, the looming towers of the former World Trade Center are a stark, sobering reminder of the neighborhood’s since-altered topography.
I have zero idea of who this band might have been. I appreciate that the guitarist in the center appears to be playing a lovely Gretsch, hollo-body White Falcon (the weapon of choice for The Cult’s Billy Duffy, among a few others).
Here in 2023, nobody seems to set up impromptu concerts in TriBeCa. The space formerly occupied by Tier 3 (where bands like the Bush Tetras, 8 Eyes Spy, the Stare Kits and even Bauhaus and The Pop Group played) is now an Italian restaurant. The building that housed El Teddy’s was raised to erect yet another condominium with a pricey hardware store in its ground level. I have no idea what became of the giant Liberty crown.
As of this morning, this very spot in Peter van Wijk's photograph looked like this….
This neighborhood -- arguably the "main drag" of TriBeCa -- is also all over the video below, a widely maligned single by Lou Reed which I've written about before...
Recent Comments