Monday, January 12, 2015

Hank O'Neal's 1980s NYC

Photographer Hank O'Neal has an incredible collection of photos of New York in the 1980s. It includes many vanished and favorite scenes of the East Village and Lower East Side.


All Photos by Hank O'Neal

There's the Open Thursday Only egg store on 7th Street, and a shot of Gem Spa back in the day.



There's the old Gentle Touch ("whale of a wash") car wash that the Adidas Building replaced on E. Houston and Crosby Street.



O'Neal also has a vast collection of street art.



As well as Lower East Side signage.





There's also a section called Social Commentary... "We don't want your 24-story monstrosity" and "We don't want you boring yuppies." Sound familiar?


1986


1986

Finally, a rare 1975 shot of Keller's bar, the vanished gay bar in the abandoned Keller Hotel over on West Street and Christopher--next to the home of "Buck-a-Lunch" and with a Christmas tree decorated in beer cans.

10 comments:

Laura Goggin Photography said...

Wonderful images. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

That "Cars-a-Poppin" car wash did a terrible job. Still would rather it than what is there now. Love seeing the old pictures....when one could afford both an apartment and a car in NYC

Gojira said...

Oh. my. God. The Egg Store - that photo actually brought tears to my eyes.

Hank O'Neal said...

Dear Jeremiah
Thanks for running the pictures which are part of a long running project, some of which is described on my website. If you'd like to know more you can reach me at chiarohank@aol.com
Glad to learn of your site. It looks very interesting
because we are both doing the same thing.
Best regards
Hank O'Neal

Riffchorusriff said...

Astonishing and a great history lesson. Thanks for the link to O'Neal's work!

Jeremiah Moss said...

Hank, thanks for writing. Your stuff is wonderful. Thank you for making it available on your site.

Art Bailey said...

The images of the graf reading "We Don't Want Your 24-Story Monstrosity", and "We Don't Want Your Boring Yuppies" have been stuck in my mind for nearly 30 years. I saw them in person, on my first trip to NYC, with my high school band. I knew I was in a place where people weren't afraid to stand up to power, money and authority. I liked that. I made up my mind on that trip that one day, I was going to live here. It's incredible to see this again. Thanks for preserving it, Mr. O'Neal, and thanks for sharing.

Jill said...

For a while, when I had a car, I'd get these $1.99 car wash coupons in the mail so I'd go to that car wash often, it was a great deal. When the coupons stopped my car got very dirty.

And hey I guess I haven't been here in a while, loving that I can prove I'm not a robot.

C.L. Rogers said...

Forgot about that car wash and it hasn't even been gone that long has it? Ten years? More? Thanks for all of these wonderful photos.

Anonymous said...

These are great photos Jeremiah.
Melanie
East Village Corner