Delancey Street

I spent about 4 hours on the street today photographing the Lower East Side. In 1980 I worked in collaboration with Ed Fausty–he and I took the pictures together using a view camera–but this time around I am on my own. I first walked to Rivington Street to see the demolition of the synagogue that has caused such a stir. People, alone or in groups, stopped and stared at what seems universally regarded as an unmitigated disaster. I took a picture with the view camera, but wasn’t pleased with the light. Maybe a cloudy day, or late in the day will be better.

From there I walked down to Delancey Street taking in the new Lower East Side skyline punctuated by the hotel Thor, and Blue, the apartment building designed by Bernard Tschumi, currently under construction. In the photo above you can see the scene with my view camera on its tripod. It was a beautiful day with clouds scudding rapdily across the sky. Rather blustry, but very crisp and clear.

After lunch at a favorite café on Orchard Street, I walked through the projects on Grand Street and the Vladek Houses further to the south. I’ve always felt that these areas were underrepresented in my pictures. The projects comprise a large area of the Lower East Side, but because of their scale and relatively dead surroundings, I’ve tended to avoid them. But today, I took several pictures that I think do some justice to those areas. The Vladek Houses are rigorously modernist in concept, and despite precious little architectural detailing, create a very strong presence. The grounds around them are also well-maintained, tree-shaded, and to my eye, quite lovely.

Vladek Houses

I then walked to Corlears Hook, a sharp bend on the East River, once a slum and dock area. Some believe the word “hooker” originated as a description of the denizens of this neighborhood. The tenements and warehouses were cleared years ago by city planner Robert Moses, and replaced with the Vladek Houses, some other large apartment projects, and Corlears Hook Park. In 1980 the park was rundown and desolate as was the bandshell across the bridge spanning the FDR Drive, which was covered with graffiti Nowadays, it is all in good shape, though very quiet on a cold March day.