Bande a part: New York Underground 60's, 70's, 80's

Without a doubt i think the last big cultural explosion in the U.S. took place in New York City during the mid-20th Century. The music scene was not only intense, but also has a lasting greatness with bands like The Ramones, Television, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Heartbreakers (no not Tom), Blondie, and others. There was also things happening in the film and art world as well. "Band a part" is an excellent sampler of great images from that era. New York Dolls to R. Hell, to Warhol, to Bowie. All of it captured by photographers who were part of the wall paper that was NYC. Lee Childers, Billy Name, Anton Perich, Maripol, Roberta Bayley, Godlis, Bobby Grossman, Danny Fields, Stephanie Chernikowski, Marcia Resnick, and Gerard Malanga.

NYC: Tuesday June 26, 2009

For those who are curious about what happens to a bookseller when they go to a major American City to attend the world famous BEA, well.... read somewhere else! No, no I am just kidding.

The image down below is the JFK Airport, named after someone who dated Marilyn Monroe and various other actresses. And strange enough this is exactly what the airport looks like!



After settling into our hotel near the Brooklyn Bridge:



We went to have dinner at one of New York City's top restaurants: White Castle.



For me this was an exotic place to eat. It seems like you can't get a full-sized hamburger here. All the hamburgers are super small, which personally makes no sense to me. I was extremely impressed by the graphics of the store, which is very 1930's Depression, and of course fits in with the new Economy of 2009.




We then had a drink at a well-known hotel in Manhattan called the Algonquin. It is here where Dorothy Parker and various theater people had drinks and goofed off after a hard day working on various poems either in the hotel bar or across the street, which is the New Yorker magazine.



We also saw the famous cat who lives in the hotel. I have been told that this is the same cat who has lived at the hotel since 1906. It seems hard to believe because he (or she) looks very young.



The books I purchased for this trip:


NFT New York 2009 edition

and to read in bed:


Richard Stark's "Lemons Never Lie"

To be cont.












Ti