1980s Treasure Trove

Every so often, someone scans a bunch of old photos of the lost city and puts them up on Flickr--and that is a glorious day. When Yvonne B. got in touch with me and shared the photos she took of the Meatpacking District in the 1980s, I got excited. And she had more. Now they're all on Flickr.

The photos mostly span the East Village, Greenwich Village, and the High Line (with whole lost chunks of 14th Street). Some of my favorites from the more than 100 images include:


A burned-out car on Crosby Street, and the crapped-out corner of 2nd Ave. and 5th St.


A lost theater on 2nd Ave. and 4th--does anyone know the name of it?



A mural on 8th St. at 1st Ave., along the side of what was once the St. Mark's Bar & Grill.


Rescued Estates, before the "Crazy Landlord" rented the place to The Bean coffee shop. And "Mambo Mouth" in the days before STOMP took over the Orpheum Theater on 2nd and 7th.


Here's a spindly, stand-alone piece of the High Line that has since vanished, never to be greened and surrounded by glass.


And a lovely, shadowy luncheonette beneath the old High Line--can anyone place this location?


There are so many more--coffee shops, gay bars, famous clubs, crumbled warehouses, scorched tenements, places familiar and forgotten. Yvonne can't name them all--visit her Flickr page and help identify some of the locations.

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