Published by Prestel Verlag, Munich · London · New York, 2020.
Hardcover $45.00 Oct 20, 2020
224 Pages | 9-1/4 x 11
ISBN 9783791386812
Documenting the birth of a radical era of music, fashion, pop culture, media, and art, Steve Eichner was hired by Club King Peter Gatien to make images of his clubs.
Sex, drugs, and dance music created the perfect cocktail of hedonistic bliss set amid a backdrop of iconic parties that catered to revelers every whim.
On any given night, one could party alongside celebrities, club kids, drag queens, ravers, hip hop heads, models, banjees, body boys, bondage slaves, goths, and the bridge-and-tunnel set at legendary nightclubs like Tunnel, Palladium, Club USA, Roxy, and Limelight.
At a time when people from all walks of life came together at night to celebrate themselves. There was universal respect. No one could see what went on inside these nocturnal spaces…until now!
Steve Eichner was the official photographer of NYC nightlife. There are 200 brilliant images in this book.
Here is a sample of his work:
Shampoo Room at The Limelight 1995 (c) 2020 Steve Eichner.
(From Left): Sushi, Richie Rich, and Ernie Glam at The Tunnel 1995 (c) 2020 Steve Eichner.
The Palladium, 1995 (c) 2020 Steve Eichner.
This collection of vivid good times comes at a point when we could use a reminder of the days when people gathered in mass.
Ordinary people became clubbers. They rubbed shoulders with celebs and danced the night away.
Here, a new group of upstarts of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, and economic backgrounds came together on the dance floor in a celebration of PLUR (peace, love, unity, and respect).
This book will be a great addition to any coffee table this upcoming holiday season.
This week features a day trip to Long Island. The itinerary was an indoor flea market, an outlet mall, and the town of Port Jefferson.
Day tripping
The outlets had great bargains including a windbreaker for Fall and a bundle of books at a discount.
Port Jefferson offered Red Shirt Comics and seafood at PJ’s Lobster House where we dined indoors for only the second time since March!
As of this writing indoor dining will return to Manhattan on September 30th.
Women’s Rights
2020 is the Centennial of the Vote for Women in America. New York dedicated its first statue of real women’s rights pioneers on Literary Walk.
Also marking the 200th Anniversary of Susan B. Anthony’s birth, this new monument is long overdue.
Central Park Wonders
I took a nature walk through the ramble recently. This is an area of the park with interconnected paths that twist through scenic woods. Bird watching here is fantastic.
A young Jazz Saxophonist played. A group of guys enjoyed a game of beach volleyball. And the police keep guard over a statue of Christopher Columbus.
The Conservancy takes great care of Central Park. Maintaining the lawns, trees, benches, and the rest every day.
This Summer has been hot and sunny most of the time. My husband and I are staying put in New York for now. These days I love my city. Have you looked at the weather across the country lately?
Park Summer
The Conservatory Garden
Located at E. 105th Street & 5th Avenue across from The Museum of the City of New York, this garden is a treasure with flowers, romantic paths and fountains placed well. A quiet zone perfect for escape from the chaos outside.
9–11–2020
19 years after the attacks on U.S. soil of 3 American planes used as missiles destroying the Twin Towers, damaging The Pentagon, and crashing in Pennsylvania killing over 3,000 people, Corona Virus has killed over 200,000 Americans.
We will all pause to remember 9/11. But never forget that then & now we had a President not duly elected by the people.
I was just thinking how we were told back in January to write out the full 2-0-2-0 when dating important docs. Who knew that it would be almost exclusively applied to receiving unemployment benefits.
My Dear Readers: Updates from New York City. July ends. USA continues to deny the impact of Covid—19 despite the largest recorded drop in its economy in history!
If you reside outside of North America you may have heard about how poor our safety net is here. This is showing up now during this unprecedented crisis.
I only glance at the headlines each morning. It takes until late in the day to realize how much more our country has slid in the eyes of the world.
New York City has sport once again with its expensive corporate stadiums empty. Overpaid athletes are playing with piped in crowd noise.
Several athletes in baseball are now sick. Games are getting postponed. I think baseball should cancel the season.
No Broadway/ Off—Broadway theater. No museums. No movie theaters. Broadway and Hollywood had both reached their commercial summit. I do not believe this will happen again.
If we have cinemas the interior of those spaces will have to be reinvented along with Broadway and Off—Broadway theaters.
Personally, my fear is that America will be vunerable like never before to a new authoritarian reality. Already the President floated the proto-fascist notion of delaying the Fall Election. This never happened in America before this con man took office.
People are waking to see how much damage has been inflicted upon regular people over decades of blindly adding police to streets. This has resulted in the brutality seen in recent days.
The people were empowered to fend off the awful notions of power hungry office holders. Our struggle for greater Democracy will continue.
With such heavy issues hovering over us I refuse to conform to the reactionary nature of certain friends and family. I just read “Twilight Of Democracy” by the historian Anne Applegate, seen below in the picture, argues strongly for Democratic ideals. She is hopeful Americans will reject the anti—democratic platform of Donald Trump.
Highly Recommended to everyone who cares about Democracy.
My photography is an outlet to express what I see daily to counter the ugly forces at play in today’s world.
Despite it all I am having a lovely Summer. What else can I do? November will be chilly. And by then our biggest Election will be upon us.
Museums
5th Avenue from E. 86th Street to E. 103rd is called Museum Mile. There are several along this route on the East Side. The Museum of the City of New York, The MET, The Guggenheim and The Jewish Museum are my favourites. I took pictures of their facades over the past three months. Devoid of crowds. A silence. Mourning? Will they come back as strong as before the shutdown?
The grand Metropolitan Museum of Art sits in waiting.
The Guggenheim with its famous spiral design by Frank Lloyd Wright has never been so deserted. I took several images to capture angles and represent a fuller vision of its contemporary beauty.
The Museum of the City of New York, The Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, and The Jewsih Museum are seen below:
Exhibits frozen in time. Not changed since March.
Candids
Another component of taking images on walks are the people you see in moments. So distracted are these strangers that I could not resist capturing them in time. What follows are the first results of my observations.
L—R: A Father calls to a friend to take a cooler and other gear into the park; A dog walker; Two kids with their scooters.
A romantic stroll in the park.
August Arrives Tomorrow
Major League Baseball attempted to start a shortened season but finds itself in a bind now that the Miami Marlins team is ill with Covid—19. Then the Phillies were struck then the St. Louis Cardinals.
All of the hot spot states are only beginning to require masks and think about shutting down again.
The Republican party is making this crisis a partisan issue; their leader floats proto—fascist ideas daily.
Here in New York City while we have settled into our Phase 4 lives a new month starts tomorrow!
