Another beautiful day, patchy clouds, 70 degrees. I decided to give some attention to the thus far neglected Third Avenue border of what I am defining as the Lower East Side. Old timers still think of it as part of the LES, but newcomers are likely to know it only as the East Village. Whatever the case, I began by walking uptown to East 4th Street where the Bowery turns into Third Avenue. I took a few pictures on 4th Street just to the east of the avenue, the block I lived on when I first moved to New York in 1977. At that time, the block was considerably more rundown, although the buildings were fully occupied, unlike the desolate area east of Avenue A. Extensive renovation has since taken place, and the storefronts have been rented out to an interesting hodepodge of small businesses.

East 4th Street

Walking up Third Avenue I noticed that demolition was taking place on several old buildings between 5th and 6th Streets, a new residential tower the likely replacement. I stepped into Cooper Square Park and made a picture looking toward that block, and then another shot looking further north with the Cooper Union Foundation Building rising up on the left. The low rise Cooper Union building across 3rd Avenue is scheduled to be replaced by taller glass structure by Thom Mayne of the LA architecture firm Morphosis.

At St. Mark’s Place with its cacophanous jumble of cheap shops and restaurants I did a photograph from within the fenced outdoor seating of Starbucks, one of three such coffeeshops in the same number of blocks. An employee informed me that photography was not allowed, but I had already gotten my shot, as well as a frappacino. The tables were full of people enjoying the warm afternoon, dozens of people streamed by on St. Mark’s, and I leave it to the observer whether to interpret the scene as idyllic urban street life, or as further evidence of the cultural decline of the neighborhood.

Back in 1980 the stretch of Third Avenue between St. Mark’s Place and 14th Street was a distinctly uninviting area with a series of parking lots known for harboring prostitutes and drug dealers. Today, the parking lots have been filled with NYU dormitories, and at least two new apartment buildings appear in the offing. I walked down Stuyvesant Street with its distinguished row of early 19th century houses, and made a photograph of one facade draped with wisteria, the spire of St. Mark’s Church in the background. I then entered the churchyard of St. Mark’s and took a couple of photographs that included the columns and statues at the church entrance.

East 13th Street

Walking back to Third Avenue, I made a right on 13th Street and stood opposite a large vacant lot with two construction trailers nearby. No signs indicated the apparent future development of the site. I climbed the stairs of a tenement, and did a wide shot of the lot with the buildings of 14th Street rising up beyond. From there I trudged up to the lab on 20th Street and dropped off my film.