"NEW YORK IN THE 1990's PHOTO ARCHIVES" ON THE WEB - SELECTED REVIEWS AND ARTICLES - PART 2 - Updated December 2nd 2020
On this page, a
frequently updated selection of reviews, posts and articles about "New
York in the 1990's Photo Archives" found on various worldwide internet
sites and blogs.
If you have ever wondered what New York City was like during the
1990s, then look no further than the incredible collection of
extraordinary photographs taken by French photographer Gregoire
Alessandrini. Born in the late 1960s, Gregoire grew up in Paris and was
introduced to music and films at a very early age due to his parents
working as rock critics, and though his early memories of watching live
performances of Blondie, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie from the
shoulders of his father have since faded, the memories from his visit to
New York in the 1990s have loyally stayed with him.
otsoNY recently caught up with the acclaimed photographer to find out
what attracted him to the city. "It had always seemed an obvious
destination for me," explained Gregoire. "New York was a place I already
felt I knew through a personal exploration of the American movies ‘Taxi
driver’, ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and ‘Manhattan’ to name but a few."
Upon his first visit to New York in the late 1980s, Gregoire explored
the entire city taking pictures with his AF35 Canon camera that his
mother had given him as a gift. "New York was just as I had pictured
it," he smiled, recalling the memory. "As soon as I could afford it, I
bought some better camera gear; a Nikon FM2 and a F3 HP wich allowed me
to take pictures discreetly with its removable viewfinder. I had a 35mm
and a 50mm lens which were perfect for the type of images I was taking.
Kodachrome and Illford HP were always my favourite kinds of film."
In the 1980s and 90s New York City went through a period of change, and
it was during this time when Gregoire began to take more and more
photographs as he felt like he
had the intuition of being witness to a vanishing world. "Here and
there, I could see the remains of a golden era, of a certain idea of New
York, a mythical time that
I dreamt of, where I could stumble into Basquiat, Patti Smith or Debbie
Harry at the corner deli. It was a period where everything seemed
possible, cheap, simple and wild!"
Gregoire continued, "I would turn a corner and enter any downtown
dive bar where I would find signs and remains of this legendary New
York. Just like if the city was waking
up with a bad hangover from all the past parties and eccentricity. You
could just point your camera and here you went…old Keith Haring murals,
empty lots, graffiti and RIP murals, crazy people and wild parties,
cinematic atmospheres in the desolate Meat Packing District,
42nd street sleaze still alive, old signs and store fronts."
As the decade neared its end, Gregoire returned to Paris and stored all
of his negatives and colour slides in an old suitcase. It wouldn't be
until 2012, some 20 years later before they would once again see the
light of day following a brief return to New York. "I had the chance to
go back to New York for film shoots and what I witnessed was just how
much the city had changed," explained Gregoire. "This sudden
transformation of downtown Manhattan had started before the twin towers
went down but it seemed to have accelerated at an incredible pace. I was
shocked to see just how much the Meat Packing District had changed.
Yes, it was clean and nice and all... but I felt like it had lost so
much of its character, of its great cinematic personality.” The
cobble-stoned streets and loft apartments of the Meat Packing District
featured heavily in the 1987 thriller, “Fatal Attraction” starring
Michael Douglas as a happily married New York City attorney who engaged
in a one-night stand while his wife and child were out of town. The
woman played by Glenn Close, who had an apartment on Little West 12th
Street, refused to end the affair and subsequently terrorised the
attorney and his family. This area has since been redeveloped and many
of the storage rooms have been replaced by trendy restaurants, whilst
lofts have been modernised. Other film projects to have used the area
include “Coyote Ugly”, “Living Out Loud” and “Sex and the City”.
Photo by Gregoire Alessandrini
Full web article here _________________________________________________________
UNTAPPED CITIES
10/29/2016
NYC Vintage Photos: 1993 Greenwich Village Halloween After Parade Street Party
Over 40 years after its advent, the Greenwich Village Halloween
Parade attracts more than 60,000 costumed participants and roughly two
million spectators. While we are eager to see this year’s parade, and in
the meantime we’re showcasing Gregoire Alessandrini‘s photographs of the after-Parade street party in 1993.
Twenty-three years ago, in 1993, Gregoire Alessandrini
was a student living in New York City. As a new arrival from France, he
found the city to be an intoxicating mix of constant surprises—ones
that he photographed whenever possible. Halloween in particular was an
event that caught his attention: "Halloween in New York is such a treat.
It feels like everything is permitted and that everyone has the right
to be who they want to be…whatever it is!"
Portraits of Halloween partygoers in the West Village flying their freak flags high, 1993
10.28.2016
In the early 1990s a French student named Gregoire Alessandrini who was
living in New York was fascinated by the street life of the bustling
city—which at the time was a good deal less sanitized than it is today.
He found Halloween particularly intoxicating, seeing in the West
Village’s annual racially and sexually inclusive Halloween parade a
proud marker of “happiness, tolerance and eccentricity.” It truly was
and is an occasion to fly your freak flag high. In 1993 Alessandrini took his Contax camera and flash to the event
and lovingly documented the revelry that dominated what he calls the
“after parade street party.” As Anika Burgess of Atlas Obscura
points out, the images are striking for the lack of personal
technology—not a one of the subjects is staring down at a cellphone! If you like these pictures, be sure to visit Alessandrini’s website has hundreds more like it documenting New York City in the 1990s (which is also his site’s title).
Fifteen years since the world defining attacks of 9/11, Lower Manhattan and its skyline have been transformed.
FULL ARTICLE HERE
A man walks on a bridge with the towers on the left side. Image by G.Alessandrini As well as claiming the lives of 2996 people, the attacks took down
the Twin Towers structures that had dominated the New York skyline since
their construction in the early 1970’s. For Parisian Gregoire
Alessandrini, who spent time in New York in the early 1990s as a young
photographer, the towers were not something he focused on in his work,
they were just part of New York. “The towers were always there and you
would get a glimpse of them whenever you were hanging out,” he told
Lonely Planet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
French photographer and filmmaker Gregoire Alessandrini, whose photographs of gritty New York City in the 1990s
we have showcased on numerous occasions, has recently uploaded a 30
minute documentary on the ’80s artist and stylist Stephen Sprouse, a
film he produced and co-wrote in 2009. Children of the ’90s may be most
familiar with Sprouse’s work as the inspiration behind the neon
collection that Marc Jacobs did for Louis Vuitton in 2001 which took,
among others, the iconic monogram bag and plastered it with
graffiti-style lettering.
It's unfortunate that there isn't more attribution involved but this mega gallery of 1990's New Yorkers and Street Scenes is a fascinating browse. Six installments of various scenes and people walking the city during that time, as well as posters and store fronts
from that same era. You typically see a lot of images from 80's NYC but
not so much the 90's - so this is refreshing look at that particularly
transitional decade.
Check out these supremely cool photos of NYC in the ’90s
Yes, the ’90s are officially retro. Take a trip down memory lane to the city that once was
Though
the ’90s might not feel like that long ago, our city's neighborhoods
are a world away from the gritty places they used to be, for better and
for worse. French photographer Gregoire Alessandrini
shot these images between 1991 and 1998, and his pictures show a time
back when Brooklyn was just another forgotten borough, Soho was an
up-and-coming area and the Lower East Side was cluttered with dives and a
bohemian squatter population, (rather than luxury condos and wellness centers).
Alessandrini describes NYC back then as a city "waking up with a bad
hangover from all the past parties and eccentricity," following the
wildness of the ’80s. If Alessandrini's amazing shots put you in the
mood for all things plaid and scuffed, go ahead and compare New York now with the NYC of the '90s.
If you’ve taken a walk
around those notoriously cobblestoned streets of the Meatpacking
District, you’ll quickly notice its vibrant nightlife and all of the
beautiful people.
But that’s not how things always were in that neighborhood.
In the 1990s, the iconic Meatpacking District was strictly known for its heavy industrial and architectural elements.
[via Gregoire Alessandrini]
In this collection of vintage photos taken by Gregoire Alessandrini in the ’90s, the real nitty-gritty elements of the Meatpacking District are on full display. As Alessandrini has said,
“In the mid-nineties, this area was dark and desolate with the
semi-abandoned warehouses of meat purveyors. In the early morning, the
butchers going to work were crossing night creatures finishing their
shifts. There were a very few clubs, hidden on the meat market’s dark
corners…”
Check out these astonishing #TBT photos below and let us know what you think in the comments below!
As I mentioned back on this post,
there was a great quote about New York City in “Girl in a Band,” the
recently published memoir of Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, that being the
following…
"Any place I depended on once to be deserted now teems with
bodies and long black cars and faraway accents all day, all night.”
It’s a line that practically leapt off the page at me when I read, as I’ve been thinking the same thing for eons.
There used to be vast swathes of Manhattan that were simply empty,
quiet and desolate. It seems inconceivable today, but the Meatpacking
District, SoHo, TriBeCa, Hell’s Kitchen and wide patches of the Lower
East Side used to be whisper quiet and seem virtually uninhabited.
This is largely no longer the case today, of course (although, as I mentioned in this post,
there is still a pervasive sense of desolation along the western edges
of Hell's Kitchen). Being that there are no frontiers left on the
island, and brand new development is everywhere, the days of finding a
quiet patch of Manhattan concrete (for whatever reason, nefarious or
otherwise) are gravely endangered. Once the rail yard project is completed, even those remaining areas in the far reaches of Hell's Kitchen will be teeming with people.
I’ve cited the photography of Gregoire Alessandrini here a number of times, but he’s recently updated his amazing photoblog, New York City 1990’s,
with a great installment about stretches of the wild West side that
used to seem entirely deserted. At the risk of belaboring the obvious,
his images of these barren locations are in stark contrast to the
reality of today.
Gregoire Alessandrini
estudió fotografía durante los 90 en Nueva York, como parte de sus
hábitos diarios cargaba una cámara a dónde fuera. Estas imágenes forman
parte de su colección personal que nos dice cómo lucía la ciudad en esa
época, la serie que presentamos retrata el estilo de los restaurantes.
A nice review of my blog and interview in Watson (Switzerland) here
Fotograf Alessandrini blickt zurück
Das New York der 90er in Bildern – eine Stadt wie ein «riesiges Filmset»
Ein Franzose im New York der 90er: Grégoire Alessandrini ging eigentlich über den grossen Teich, um in den USA ein Jahr lang Film
zu studieren. Nach acht Jahren lebt er heute wieder in seiner Heimat
und arbeitet für Louis Vuitton. Seine Fotos von damals erinnern uns an
eine Zeit, in der der Big Apple noch nicht so gesund und poliert war. watson sprach mit dem 46-Jährigen über seine Erlebnisse.
Herr Alessandrini, erzählen Sie doch ein wenig von sich selbst. Ich
wurde in Paris geboren und bin dort aufgewachsen. Ich zog in den späten
90ern um, um am City College New York Film zu studieren und habe mich
sofort in die Stadt verliebt. Es war alles, was ich mir vorgestellt und
in Filmen gesehen hatte, aber noch besser, grossartiger, grösser.
Schnell traf ich auf Leute, die alle Downtown im East Village wohnten
und arbeiteten.
Der Maestro im Bild: Grégoire Alessandrini.
Ein besonderer Ort? Ich
begriff, dass Downtown der Platz war, an dem alles passierte. Oder
zumindest der Ort, an dem ein französischer Typ in seinen Mittzwanzigern
sein wollte, um New York zu erfahren. Die Menschen, die ich
kennenlernte, verdienten ihr Geld in Cafés, Restaurants oder kleinen
coolen Geschäften. Es war wirklich eine tolle Umgebung mit tollen
Leuten.
Woran lag das? Ich glaube, der
Bohemian-Lifestyle hat damals wirklich noch existiert. Heute gibt
Downtown nur noch vor, sowas zu haben. Als ich nach ein paar Monaten in
die Avenue A zog, stellte ich fest, dass [der Dichter] Allen Ginsberg und [Schriftsteller und Musiker] Richard Hell im selben Gebäude lebten. Und sowas schien «normal».
Alphabet-City-Wandgemälde: «Die
Wandmalereien in Alphabet City waren wirklich grossartig und gehörten
definitiv zur Identität des Viertels», so Grégoire Alessandrini. «Sie
fingen dann an, langsam aus der Gegend zu verschwinden, als sie
gentrifiziert und die Sandsteinhäuser abgerissen wurden, um Platz für
die brandneuen Glaspaläste zu machen. Sie waren der Inbegriff von
politischer und sozialer Meinungsäusserung. Ich mag dieses mit den
schwarzen Denkern und Führern besonders.» (Bild: Grégoire Alessandrini)Bild:
Wann begann die Gentrifizierung? Das
Viertel wurde damals bereits verändert, der Tompkins Square Park und
die Obdachlosenheime wurden gesäubert, aber es gab noch viel Charakter
und Authentizität. Du konntest dort für wenig Geld wohnen und hattest
viel Spass. Die Lower East Side war immer noch ein Gebiet, in dem du
vorsichtig sein musstest, aber es war auch so faszinierend mit seiner
Mischung aus jungen Künstlern, Studenten und Alteingesessenen aus
Osteuropa. Der Meat Packing District, der damals noch nicht MePa hiess,
war ebenfalls ein verrückter Ort und extrem fotogen, wenn sich die
Schlachter und die Transsexuellen in den frühen Morgenstunden über den
Weg liefen.
«Es war auch so faszinierend mit seiner Mischung aus jungen Künstlern, Studenten und Alteingesessenen aus Osteuropa.»
Haben Sie nur dort gelebt? Ich
habe auch Harlem geliebt, wo meine Uni war. Einmal bin ich für zwei
Jahre dorthin gezügelt. Das Gebiet war sehr, sehr rau, aber es hatte
etwas Magisches. Es war ein grossartiges Viertel mit grossartigen Leuten
und enorm viel Geschichtlichem an jeder Ecke. Auf der Veranda
herumzuhängen war eine unvergessliche Erfahrung und der beste Weg, um
das Quartier und seine Bewohner kennenzulernen.
Wie haben Sie Ihren Lebensunterhalt verdient? In
New York begann ich während des Studiums, als Korrespondent
französischen Magazinen Texte und Bilder zu schicken. Heute arbeite ich
als Produzent und Regisseur für Louis Vuitton in Paris, mache aber immer
noch viele Bilder, wenn ich reise. Nebenbei an meinen persönlichen
Fotoprojekten zu werkeln ist für mich lebenswichtig. Leider finde ich
keine Zeit mehr für das Schreiben, aber ich bin mir sicher, dass ich
irgendwann wieder damit anfangen werde.
Sie wollten ein Jahr bleiben. Es wurden acht.
Es
gab dieses erstaunliche Gefühl von Freiheit, und es lag eine
unglaubliche Energie in der Luft. Alles schien neu und gleichzeitig
altbekannt. Ich kam mir vor, als würde ich über ein riesiges Filmset
laufen und wäre Teil des Drehbuchs! Alle sagten, wie gefährlich es sei,
aber das war offen gestanden egal. Du wolltest einfach immer mehr
entdecken. Das Nachtleben war ein grosser Spass mit tollen Clubs, in die
du auch ohne Geld gehen konntest, wie das «Nell», das «SOB» oder
«Jackie 60». Und weil alle von irgendwo anders herkamen, fühlte ich mich
gleich wie ein New Yorker.
Sie mussten also quasi bleiben. Nach
dem umwerfenden ersten Jahr wusste ich, dass ich noch nicht nach Paris
zurückgehen kann. Es gab noch so viel zu entdecken und zu ergründen. Ich
hatte neue Freunde gewonnen und war, glaube ich, bereits süchtig nach
der Stadt. Das hielt auch an, als mein Studium vorbei war: Immer wenn
ich mal nach Paris reiste, fühlte ich mich fehl am Platz und konnte es
gar nicht erwarten, an den Ort zurückzufahren, der mein neues Zuhause
war. Ich lernte ausserdem meine Frau in New York kennen, und unsere
Tochter wurde dort geboren.
Wie haben Sie die folgenden politischen Veränderungen wahrgenommen? Es
war bereits Mitte der 90er offensichtlich, dass sich die Stadt
veränderte. Es fiel mit der Wahl von Rudy Giuliani als neuem
Bürgermeister zusammen. Ich will nicht sagen, dass alles auf seinem Mist
gewachsen ist, aber es war klar, dass es einen Richtungswechsel gab.
Das erste sichtbare Zeichen war die Transformation des Times Square und
ganz besonders der 42nd Street mit ihren neu ausgewiesenen Zonen. Der
berüchtigte Minnesota Strip und ähnliche Gebiete wurden
familienfreundliche Nachbarschaften. Die Mieten stiegen, die Leute aus
dem East Village zogen nach Williamsburg und ein neuer Typus zog ein. Drogen und Drogendealer, die zu jeder Zeit überall waren, wurden vertrieben.
Meat Market: «Ich liebe den Meat Market.
Die desolaten Strassen mit unglaublichen Filmset-Qualitäten. Sie waren
schäbig, aber auch wahnsinnig inspirierend. Für meine Studentenfilme
habe ich das Viertel oft als Drehort benutzt und besuchte die
fantastischen Clubs in jener Gegend. Was daraus heute geworden ist, mag
ich gar nicht.»Bild: Grégoire Alessandrini
Vermissen Sie den Big Apple? Ich
vermisse New York sehr, aber ich weiss, dass ich das New York von
damals vermisse. Ich liebe die Stadt noch immer und bekomme
Glücksgefühle, wenn ich von [dem Flughafen] JFK durch Manhattan fahre,
aber es ist ein völlig anderer Ort. Ein Ort, bei dem ich manchmal Mühe
habe, ihn zu erkennen. Ich bin in den letzten Jahren ein paar Mal nach China
gereist, insbesondere nach Shanghai. Dort gibt es eine Energie, der der
in New York in den 90ern ähnelt. Wenn ich 20 wäre, würde ich heute
dorthin ziehen.
Last but not least: Was würden Sie gerne einmal fotografieren? Eine
sehr schwere Frage ... Es gibt viele Dinge, von denen ich bereue, sie
nicht in den 90ern in New York fotografiert zu haben. Die Clubszene, den
Meat Market und Harlem bei Nacht, das Sexgeschäft am Times Square und
die alten verfallenen Theater an der 42nd Street – alle diese Dinge, die
wir ausradiert haben und die nie wieder kommen. Hätte ich das damals
bloss gewusst, aber wie sagte noch einst ein grosser Fotograf? «Meine
besten Fotos sind die, die ich nicht gemacht habe.»
Grégoire Alessandrinis Bilder können über seinen Blog bestellt werden. Der Franzose ist ausserdem auf der Suche nach Galerien, die seine Werke ausstellen wollen.
8/8 - Wigstock im Tompkins Square Park
Kommentar von Fotograf Grégoire Alessandrini: «Das Wigstock-Fest war
eine wilde Strassenparty und ist es immer noch. In den 90ern wurde es im
Tompkins Sua Park im East Village gefeiert. Eine grossarige
Veranstaltung für Fotografen und tolle Gelegenheit, um zu sehen, wie
weit New Yorker gehen.» (Bild: Glessandrini)---------------------------
In photographs: An eerie glimpse of urban life… right before mobile phones
I came across these photos today in PAPER magazine: images of New York City, taken by Gregoire Alessandrini in the 1990s. (Alessandrini was, according to his website, “a film student and a young writer/photographer in the 1990s.”)
I remember New York during these days. I grew up 3 hours from the
city, and visited with my mother who lived there in the 80s with my dad,
while she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and he the
Culinary Institute of America. My mother knew the city well, and I’d tag
along on trips while she picked up fabric or whatever (I was a
pre-teen, so everything she did was boring).
I still visit New York sometimes when I’m on the East Coast, and I’ve
noticed a big change during the time gap: Manhattan now feels like one
single flashing television screen, blasting things into my face. The
place offends me.
These images remind me of a quieter time in that city. But why do I feel like it was quieter?
Unknown location; some people might remember these gas prices.
Because while I loved looking through these photos, something struck me.
Not even just phones – our experiences of, and the ways that we
encountered music, were so different. Because the iPod wasn’t invented
until 2001. In the 90s, New Yorkers walked down the street to the sound
of the city and their own thoughts in their heads. (Unless they had a Walkman.)
Location unknown.
As I scrolled through the images, I wondered about how the people
passing through them entertained themselves without a squawking
Bluetooth or streaming podcast to do it for them.
Location
unknown. But does it matter where it was taken? How many of these same
people would be holding phones if this photo were re-staged and re-taken
now?
The world has changed a lot in just a few years, folks. It’s a little
eerie to look back. And I’m turning off my computer now and opening a
real book. I’ll probably have to dust off the cover.
Take a trip back to the ye old days of A.D. Nineteen Hundred and
Ninety-Three (1993). Harlem still had its true grit, 8mm was king of art
house film, and the Queen was Latifah–at the Apollo Theater, at least. Photographer and blogger Gregoire Alessandrini
gives us a rare peak into this quintessential New York neighborhood’s
past through a 4 minute film of a ride he took on the M101 bus along
Amsterdam and Lexington Avenues
by way of 125th Street. The grainy black & white film is not the
only thing about the video that has high contrast. It is remarkable to
see the differences between the New York of today and the New York of
just two decades ago.
These differences are what Alessandrini dedicates his blog to, as all of his content was originally produced between 1991 and 1998. His works include photo collections of 42nd Street and Times Square (when the decline in the porn industry gave way to British Airways’ Concorde ads), Coney Island, the old World Trade Center in its heyday as an icon, and subway commuting on an F train that actually looks quite similar. Indeed, many notable locales bear similar resemblance to today, but it is within the nuanced differences of street signs and advertisement logos where the spirit of Alessandrini’s work truly shines. Then again, his photos of the Meatpacking District might send you reeling.
One must pay particular attention in his Harlem bus ride film to
notice the brief glimpses into a markedly different past, such as the
boxed “DONT WALK” signs that have been replaced by the now ubiquitous
flashing orange hands. Alessandrini also helps guide your eye, further
pointing out the old menu at MG Soul Food’s Diner (it was serving fried
chicken then) and the sign announcing Amateur Night’s regular MC, Ralph
Cooper. Though the angle of the film is from the bus, we can all safely assume that he wasn’t riding on a clear-air hybrid electric model.
New York City based photographer Gregoire Alessandrini cataloged
his entire life in the big city through the ’90s as a film student and a
young writer/photographer. In his long running series of photos you’ll
see long gone NYC landmarks and transformed locations all taken between
1991 and 1998. Although the photos show a life and times only 20 years
in past, but looks like a completely different aesthetic from the city
as it is now.
In photographs: An eerie glimpse of urban life… right before mobile phones
I came across these photos today in PAPER magazine: images of New York City, taken by Gregoire Alessandrini in the 1990s. (Alessandrini was, according to his website, “a film student and a young writer/photographer in the 1990s.”)
I remember New York during these days. I grew up 3 hours from the
city, and visited with my mother who lived there in the 80s with my dad,
while she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and he the
Culinary Institute of America. My mother knew the city well, and I’d tag
along on trips while she picked up fabric or whatever (I was a
pre-teen, so everything she did was boring). I still visit New York sometimes when I’m on the East Coast, and I’ve
noticed a big change during the time gap: Manhattan now feels like one
single flashing television screen, blasting things into my face. The
place offends me. These images remind me of a quieter time in that city. But why do I feel like it was quieter?
Some people might remember these gas prices.
Because while I loved looking through these photos, something struck me.
New Yorkers stand on street corner.
Nobody is holding mobile phones. No faces are obscured by people holding up iPhones to take photos or videos. In fact, people are actually reading papers. Real ones.
Not even just phones – our experiences of, and the ways that we
encountered music, were so different. Because the iPod wasn’t invented
until 2001. In the 90s, New Yorkers walked down the street to the sound
of the city and their own thoughts in their heads. (Unless they had a Walkman.)
As I scrolled through the images, I wondered about how the people
passing through them entertained themselves without a squawking
Bluetooth or streaming podcast to do it for them.
But does it matter where it was taken? How many of these same
people would be holding phones if this photo were re-staged and re-taken
now?
The world has changed a lot in just a few years, folks. It’s a little
eerie to look back. And I’m turning off my computer now and opening a
real book. I’ll probably have to dust off the cover. Before you do the same, visit Alessandrini’s original archive. It’s a journey – make sure to get all six parts. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These Photos Of '90s New York Will Make You Feel Old
Gregoire Alessandrini
was only supposed to spend one year in New York. When the French film
student and writer arrived in the early 1990s, however, he fell in love
with the city. He would go on to spend eight "amazing" years in New
York, working as a correspondent for different French magazines. He also photographed the city from 1991 to 1998. "At
the time, I didn’t pretend to be a professional photographer, but I
guess I had the intuition of being the witness of a vanishing world,"
Alessandrini told HuffPost. "Here and there, one could see the remains
of a golden era, of a certain idea of New York. A mythical time, where
one could stumble into Basquiat, Patti Smith or Debbie Harry at the
corner deli. A period where everything seemed possible, cheap, simple
and wild!"
"The
city had obviously tremendously changed since the 70’s and 80’s but you
just had to walk around the corner, enter any downtown dive bar to find
the signs and remains of this legendary NY. Just like if the city was
waking up with a bad hangover from all the past parties and
eccentricity. You could just point your camera and here you went… old
Keith Haring murals, empty lots, graffiti and RIP murals, crazy people
and wild parties, cinematic atmospheres in the desolate Meat Packing
District, 42nd Street sleaze still alive, old signs and store fronts,
'old' New York atmosphere in general."
These days, Alessandrini lives in Paris and occasionally visits New York. The city, of course, has changed dramatically since he left, particularly in downtown Manhattan where Alessandrini used to hang out. "Last
September, I was literally shocked to see how much the Lower East Side
(the 'bad boys playground' at the time) had changed," he wrote in an
email. "In late 2012, I remember being dropped off by a yellow cab on
Bowery and looking for Bowery! This sudden transformation of downtown
Manhattan had started before the twin towers went down but it seems to
have accelerated at an incredible pace."
As Alessandrini points out, his photos were actually taken in the not-so-distant past. They feel, however, like they're from a completely different New York.
Hundreds
of never-before--seen images of New York in the 90s have been making
the rounds online, all shot by an amateur photographer who, 20 years
ago, had just moved to the city from Paris. Gregoire Alessandri was a
young film student when he lived in the East Village near 12th Street
and Avenue A, a building also occupied at the time by Allen Ginsberg and
Richard Hell. He always carried a camera and shot tons of pictures, but
for some reason, he "kept the old negatives and color slides in an old
suitcase for almost 20 years."
He was a big fan of the city's
nightclubs and says he used to go to Nell's (now called Up & Down)
"especially on Thursdays and Sundays. It was chic, hip and yet relaxed
and the music -- house -- was awesome. I also remember the Palladium
(now an NYU dorm on 14th Street), but the Roxy was the first club I went
to that made me understand that I had just moved to a crazy city! I
also loved Mars with it's different floors and the nearby Florent where
we would all have a great breakfast in the morning."
Greg also
lived up in Harlem near Amsterdam and 138th Street. "There was a great
atmosphere despite the drugs and violence which were really present and
visible. I particularly loved Hamilton Place with its amazing
brownstones. I spent so much time just talking with kids hanging in the
street and my buddy from the corner bodega," he recalls.
He
started working as a foreign correspondent for several French magazines
and eventually moved back to Paris where he is currently an in-house
video producer for Louis Vuitton. "I still miss NYC a lot, but every
time I go back, I have a hard time recognizing the city and coping with
the incredible changes of the last few years."
You can check out all of the incredible pictures here.
Alessandrini Gregoire je
proveo samo jednu godinu u New Yorku gdje je iz Francuske došao kao
učenik i pisac u ranim 90-im godinama i zaljubio se u ovaj grad.
Proveo je, kako je rekao, nevjerovatnu godinu dana u New Yorku radeći kao francuski dopisnik za različite časopise.
"Tada nisam želio biti profesionalni fotograf, ali sam želio biti svjedok svijeta koji nestaje", izjavio je Alessandrini.
"Tu i tamo, mogli su se vidjeti ostaci zlatnog doba, početne ideje New
Yorka. To je bilo vrijeme u kojem se sve činilo mogućim, sve je bilo
jeftino, jednostavno i divlje", opisuje fotograf.
Dodao je da je grad doživio strahovite promjene 70-ih i 80-ih godina i
da sada samo možete šetati ulicama i pronalaziti znakove i ostatke
legendarnog New Yorka.
"Baš kao da se grad probudio mamuran poslije svih zabava iz prošlosti.
Samo ste mogli usmjeriti kameru i dovela bi vas ovdje… stari Keith
Haring murali, potpuno prazan, grafiti posvećeni mrtvima, ludi ljudi i
divlje zabave, filmska atmosfera na parkingu...", nostalgičan je
Gregorie.
On živi u Parizu i povremeno posjećuje New York. Rekao je da se grad
dramatično promijenio, posebno mjesta gdje je izlazio s društvom.
Istakao je da njegove fotografije jesu načinjene nedavno, ali da se
zahvaljujući njima osjeti kako je New York u potpunosti drugačiji.
Today 42nd Street is home to
some of the top tourist destinations in New York City — Grand Central
Station, the United Nations, the Chrysler Building, and flashy Times
Square are all big draws for visitors.
Prior to the early 1990s, however, locals
tended to avoid Times Square and the seedy establishments that were all
too common there. The now ultra-touristy Times Square in particular was a
breeding ground for crime, drug addiction, and plenty of X-rated peep
shows.
The area underwent a major cleanup in the
mid-’90s, as stricter zoning laws were implemented and economic
prosperity led to a shift toward tourism and real estate. Even so, it
took years to transform the area into the “Disney-fied” tourist trap it
is today.
French photographer Gregoire Alessandrini
shared some of the photos he took of 42nd Street when he came to New
York City in the mid-1990s. The view he shows is a far cry from the
shiny, family-friendly environment we know at today’s Times Square and
Theatre District.
Der Maestro im Bild: Grégoire Alessandrini. 
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