This week’s special mental health elixir was a walkabout in the East Village. Nearly finished with early punk rocker Richard Hell’s memoir I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, I found myself waxing nostalgic for my early, good old, bad old days in New York. I had one appointment on a warm October weekday, around which I indulged going with the flow of memory back into the seedy, dangerous, yet authentic past, with no evading what is the here and now.
I arrived in Hell’s Kitchen early September 1971, and two months later was living with my art school roommate in a fifth floor walk-up on 2nd Street between Avenues A and B. “Home Sweet Tenement!” was how we felt–in other words, ecstatic! On our way to becoming real Noo Yawkers.
Cuchifritos have caved to vegan everything, and the area I explored (below 14th Street and above Houston, from 4th to Avenue A) remains oxymoronic in who and how it nurtures and casts its spell. When I lived there, squatters and junkies ruled. Scattered into the sidewalk cracks were shoots of new growth, spawned by the artists and musicians who could afford no other neighborhood. They would add cachet for future generations–and end up as graphics on T-shirts sold to tourists. I peered into faces that looked to be about my own age, and could almost recognize who they once were. Reflecting who I once was. I looked at the buildings. At the streets. At life. The East Village will always be a symbol of survival. I wonder if it will survive all this.
Sadly, the neighborhood is a construction zone. As buildings come down and the texture changes, I know that tipping points have already been reached. No going back.
Happily, some relics exist, or co-exist with the new kids on the block.
I watched triple bills of 1930s screwball comedies here, and the footprints of some of those stars grace the sidewalk–Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy–all added in the ’70s.
My favorite pit stop – DeRoberti’s Caffe. Since 1904.
THE place for a punk cut in the ’80s. I indulged once, and almost did again this day. How cautious we become as we age!
Since I am now almost dairy-free, this is less of a temptation.
The low-rise tenements on the cross streets contain architectural detail unlike what we will ever see again–exquisite, fragile, tough.
This is the entry to my 1971 apartment building. Certainly spiffed up!
Now looks like a place you could take your mother – the Hell’s Angels headquarters.
More Wheels
Well, of course, you gotta shop!
Shiva on black velvet. Ommmm…my…..
I’ll take a pair with licorice laces
Where there’s a wall, there’s a way.
See ya later, East Village!
photos copyright Sharon Watts 2013
Dirndl Skirt Gatherings 
FANTASTIC! My favorite: DeRoberti’s Caffe pastry cooler floor as a food-marketing presentation.
Thank you! I caved here and had an iced cappuccino–so much for my no coffee, no dairy!
Loved this, both words and photos, and so glad to see that Trash & Vaudeville is still there. I am currently working on a piece that mentions a black-silver ’50s suitjacket that I bought there in the 80s. It has been some time since I’ve been in NYC and I am prepping myself not to recognize much. Also thanks for the tip about the Richard Hell book — didn’t know about it and that’s one I must read.
Glad you enjoyed! I have a pair of almost sharkskin, almost zoot suit brown pants from T & V– haven’t worn them in years but can’t toss. I hope you can still find what you remember–it’s what I do when I visit. And I found Richard Hell to be quite a good writer!
I enjoyed reading this post. It can be so much fun to revisit old haunts..
Sheryl~ Thanks! So much depends on the mood and the day, but you’re right! If I have no agenda and my camera, I usually have a ball.
This post was like a short trip to the East Village in NY, where I have never been. But while reading I felt that I fly over all these photographed places like in the time machine. Thank you!
Than you for visiting! The East Village has a history of being populated by Polish immigrants, and there are still a few places, like Veselka Coffee Shop (established 1954), that I hope will survive all this!