All right, just got in this new photo about Tompkins Square park back in its late 80s heyday. Back before it was just another Disneyfied greenspace where couples in matching Northface can bring their dogs to listen to a band hired specifically to play for dogs (this actually happened a couple weekends ago, they were doing really bad Cream covers, like with audible errors in the guitar and drum parts). I cannot wait to crack this sucker open and gorge my rods and cones on all the cool old weirdos you never see around in this day and age. Bet there’s going to be some choice “old-school” East Village art scene, Tommy Turner types to bite fashion ideas from.
Like the bums. OK, so maybe this guy isn’t exactly at the top of his game aesthetically, but you can’t do a book on the “Old New York” without at least acknowledging a bit of the old grime, all right? That’s a given. Anyways, let’s see who else we’ve got in here…
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Oh, some more bums… OK, flipping on…
More bums… OK, look. The point isn’t that Tompkins Square was a bum-ridden wasteland that most locals avoided for fear of contracting Hep C from the numerous dirty needles lying everywhere. The point is that the past was far more awesome and real than we in the present could ever hope to be and there’s nothing we can do to change that. Try thinking about that next time you’re drinking some fucking coffee drink or something and not being harrassed by crazies.
NED KOCH.