Wendy Robert
If you think of New York City in the 1970s, maybe you picture flashy disco clubs, bell-bottoms, and towering hairstyles. But photographer Meryl Meisler took her camera to a different part of the city – the Lower East Side. Her photos paint a captivating picture of a neighborhood in a tough decade, showing its struggles yet also its unique spirit and surprising vibrancy.
The Lower East Side in the 1970s wasn’t a place tourists flocked to. The city was facing money problems, crime was on the rise, and many buildings were rundown or straight-up abandoned. For people living there – mainly immigrants and working-class families – life could be a serious struggle.
Meisler’s photos don’t gloss over those hardships. We see crumbling buildings, boarded-up windows, and streets littered with trash. But the Lower East Side is about more than just the tough stuff. These photos also reveal a neighborhood that refuses to be broken.
There’s Mr. Katz, a spunky older man who proudly called himself the “Mayor of Grand Street.” We see kids playing stickball in the street, their smiles showing that childhood joy survives anywhere. Meisler captures shoppers haggling at bustling markets and groups of friends hanging out on stoops, turning ordinary sidewalks into lively social spots.
She captures the patterns of fire escapes zigzagging across building fronts and the way the afternoon sun casts interesting shadows on crumbling sidewalks. Even in photos that show clear signs of decay, there’s a sense of a city with character, a place with stories layered into its very walls.
All pictures copyright Meryl Meisler
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