New York City Photography Blog by James Maher

Edward "Eak the Geek" Arrocha

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:03:29 +0000

^{1/500th at F11, ISO 400 (32mm).}

It's worth reading the entire story about 'Eak the Geek', one of the very well known Coney Island Circus performers, who grew up as a suburban kid in Mexico City to parents that were a lawyer and a professor.

And here's a fascinating side story that had to be cut from the interview due to the length of it:

"As I got to know everybody [in Coney Island] I was able to walk around and even stay the night there. I would walk around late at night and soak in the sights. One of my most interesting memories was when I saw this woman who looked like she had been a movie star in her day. I was in the El Dorado, back behind the sideshow, late at night. I was so intrigued because she looked so out of place. She looked like Rita Hayworth walking right toward me in the middle of this area. I thought, ‘What’s she doing here?’ And when she walked passed me I realized she was an old crackhead whore. She had nothing in her eyes; she was completely vacant. It was as if I had seen a ghost. I could only imagine what she must have looked like when she was younger. And it was that night that all the mole people were hanging out - all those people who lived in the subways. They would go to Coney Island, kind of like on a holiday - a weird holiday. Then, at some point this woman goes down by the awning under the El Dorado and starts having sex with this crippled midget, right there in the open. It was like I was being privy to this very odd, strange world that somehow exists in front of all our noses, the sideshow during the day and desolation row at night. There was a whole lane of all the male hustlers and the female hustlers. Night and day were two different worlds. As a writer of poems that was one of the most interesting places I could be in. I felt I was witnessing this strange world. and privy to something that felt magical. "

Read the entire interview here.

New Changes to the Site

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:46:00 +0000

^{1/80th at F2.8, ISO 1600 (24mm).}

If you haven't noticed, as of last night I made some changes to the website. While the design is the same, I did a big update to the application (so it shouldn't crash periodically anymore, knock on wood).

Most importantly, I added some new galleries to the site. There is now a NY Neighborhood section, where you can search for photos by different neighborhoods. So far I have added the East Village, SoHo, Chinatown, and Tribeca. Building that up will be a big focus of the next year.

Also added is a gallery of East Village portraits and life stories from the weekly Out and About features that I do for evgrieve. They're fascinating to see as a whole.

Finally, you'll notice that I changed the comment system to Disqus. It was an inevitable change, but it's sad because I had to get rid of all the previous comments. Oh well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the changes and there should be many more coming soon. Especially to the galleries.

Jimmy Webb, Trash and Vaudeville

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:41:00 +0000

^{1/60th at F7.1, ISO 400 (28mm).}

A couple articles about Jimmy, here and here.

Lady Luck, Office of the City Clerk

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:42:00 +0000

^{1/320th at F18, ISO 800 (28mm).}

This is one of the most culturally important spots in the city, where you get to see people come together from all over New York to either get married or to get their marriage licenses.

It's tough to tell in the small web version, but Lady Luck is what it says on the back of the man's jacket in the middle.

Skaters, Broadway and Grand

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:12:00 +0000

^{1/320th at F6.3, ISO 800 (28mm).}

Sunny Day, Bowery

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000

^{1/320th at F13, ISO 1600 (28mm).}

Whiteface, East Village

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:08:00 +0000

^{1/250th at F13, ISO 400 (28mm).}

Nope, no idea what's going on here either.

Jeff Underwood, Continuum Cycles

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:43:00 +0000

^{1/125th at F4.5, ISO 1600 (38mm).}

Jeff's life story is basically a Hollywood script. Read the full interview at evgrieve.

"I worked in social work in harm reduction. I helped start the first syringe exchange in harm reduction in the state of North Carolina in 1993. Harm reduction is based on meeting people where they’re at as drug users. Instead of telling people they have to get clean, it’s more about telling them, “you know what, today you are going to use a little less, or you’re going to actually clean yourself before you inject and you’re going to use a clean, new syringe.” Any positive change.

You meet them where they’re at and eventually work to make themselves better and healthier. The concept is weird for people but it works if you do it right. I had my own problems with drugs and ended up addicted to heroin and cocaine and living on the streets for a few years. I lost everything. This was a year after I got here. I lost my girlfriend, I lost my dog, I lost my job. I was in a new city with no family and I relapsed and lost everything.

I had to figure out a way to make a living so I got a job as a bike messenger and I also had a book stand on Avenue A between 5th and 6th. Bike messengers are people from all walks of life. It’s terrible money and it’s a very dangerous job. And people treat messengers like shit. Everyone does. But I was used to that so the job seemed okay.

Working at the book stand, a lot of people would bring me books and stuff and one day someone brought me a bike and said, “See if you can sell this, I’m going back to my hometown.” I fixed the flats on it, cleaned it up a little bit and made $100 on it immediately. So I made business cards and started putting them on the beat up bikes lying around with my pager number from the messenger service, to page me if they wanted the bike fixed or to sell it. That’s how I started. Then I went to a flea market and started working at a shop.

I then got a job in my field again doing homeless outreach. Actually, I was homeless, sleeping by the river, going to a drop-in center, getting showered, cleaned up, putting on my Bowery Residence Community shirt, and running around in vans picking up homeless people at night. They had no idea I was homeless.

I started seeing the positive parts of not using. And it’s interesting because my girlfriend, now of almost 10 years, was working as the coordinator of the Lower East Side syringe exchange. We applied for the same job and she got it. She was Columbia University educated, knows everybody in the field, harm reduction superstar. I was kind of the blue-collar harm reduction superstar junkie. Then she ended up being my boss because I was working as a stipend worker there and we used to come to Tompkins Square Park together to do outreach and that’s where we started hanging out and fell in love.

We broke up for like 6 months, which is when I opened up the store. She called me and I was like, “What? Here I was thinking that you were freezing on the streets. I’m crying at night thinking you were a junkie on the streets and here you are opening a store.”

For me, when you say how did I get clean or off drugs, basically everyone just told me to go fuck myself and I couldn’t deal with the rejection anymore. That was the worst thing in the world. No trust. And now everyone trusts me. The difference is insane. And it’s in the same neighborhood, which is even crazier. Usually people have to leave.

We sell bikes all over the world. We’re not just a bike shop. Continuum Cycles is a bicycle company, Continuum, a Bicycle Shop is the space that you see, I fix bikes, we sell new and used bikes, and then Continuum Coffee is our coffee shop."

Protégé, Broadway

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:38:00 +0000

^{1/400th at F6.3, ISO 400 (28mm).}

Columbus Park, Chinatown

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:02:00 +0000

^{1/320th at F13, ISO 800 (28mm).}

This is one of my favorite parks in the city, slightly hidden in Chinatown. Gamblers, musicians, singers, martial artists, and soccer players all converge. And it's surrounded in every direction by dumplings. Who could ask for more.

On another note, sorry if the blog is a little slow this week. I'm upgrading my website application and moving it over to another server and it's a pain in the ass. Hopefully will be finished in a day or two.