Peter Bennett’s East Village: Then and Now, Pt. III
Village Preservation’s Historic Image Archive captures and preserves scenes of Greenwich Village, the East Village, NoHo, and landmarks across New York City over many decades. One of our newest collections shows the East Village in the early 1980s, during a critical period when the neighborhood was a hub for artists, musicians, and writers, as well as drifters, and punks, and really anyone who wanted to spend time in an environment where anything goes.
These images were taken by photographer Peter Bennett, who grew up in Greenwich Village and lived in the East Village from 1979 through 1988. Working as a bartender at night, during the day he photographed the rapidly changing neighborhood around him. Through his lens, Bennet saw a city and neighborhood in flux — he took snapshots of buildings that were abandoned following the fiscal crisis of the ‘70s, people from all different walks of life, and businesses that have long since shuttered. The neighborhood has evolved in the last 40 years, so a “then and now” look at these locations provides some powerful contrasts.
119 Second Avenue
Love Saves the Day was a vintage and bric-a-brac shop located at 119 Second Avenue, on the corner of East 7th Street. The beloved store opened in 1966 and was known for its floor-to-ceiling collection of kitschy leisurewear, games, and knick-knacks. It was the place where Madonna ditched her vintage jacket setting in motion the events of ‘Desperately Seeking Susan.’ To much community disappointment, the store shuttered in 2009, and the building it was located in, 119 Second Avenue, was destroyed in the deadly 2015 East Village gas explosion.
A new building has since been constructed on the site, completed in 2021.
East 8th Street and Avenue C
This image taken on Est 8th Street just west of Avenue C. Visible in the background is 337-337B East 8th Street, home to 8BC, a music and art hub from 1983 to 1985.
Although it is still extant, 337-337B East 8th Street looks quite different than it did in the 1980s. A 2004 alteration raised the building’s height one story and installed a new facade.
East 10th Street and Avenue B
Life Cafe was located at 162 Avenue B (aka 345 East 10th Street) from 1981 until 2011. Jonathan Larson wrote parts of his play Rent here, and the cafe was also included in several scenes. The cafe was a hub of East Village cultural life in the 1980s and 90s, and was in many ways a lone beachhead of the trendy upscaling of the neighborhood when many didn’t dare venture as far east as Avenue B. No. 162 Avenue B was constructed in 1859-1860 for owner William S. Wright and was landmarked as part of the East 10th Street Historic District in 2012.
Today the building still stands in much the same condition it did in 1984 when Bennett took his picture, but Life Cafe has long been gone from the corner.
To see more, explore Peter Bennett: Early 1980’s East Village, and view our entire historic image archive here.