Amber Charmei
summers in the 70's, then 1979-199
Artists' Space, then "commuted" from St. Marks Pl and ave A, then from 1979 technically TriBeCa- 45 Lispenard st. Then from 1986, West Boadway between Houston and Prince
kid, then HS student (Stuyvesant 1980-84), then much later, had a record label out of our loft on West Broadway
The stuff you wold find in the dumpsters. My mother found a spool of gold and silver car stock, and I would make full-body head dresses out of it and wear them around the neighborhood and to pizza at that place with a garden on 6th ave that became a Duane Reade. the carrot cake at Food, that spicy pepper smell around Broome or Grand. The constant creative activity- the neighborhood was so sparsely populated, and it was just "us" and the guy at Zelf tool rental and the nice people at Fanelli's. The sound of the trucks, the Neon Gallery, and the broken kilometer, and of course the Duane Hansons. Thank you for the opportunity to reminisce!
Nothing. Well, not nothing, I am really afraid of mice because we could not get rid of them.
I moved to Greece, basically because I wanted the warmth and charm of my childhood home, that same sense of community.
Our building on Lispenard- I think we were the last people to settle there- I mean, the first peopleto live in our very loft- it had been a textile workshop before and we spent days just cleaning out the needles. That block, and Dave's Luncheonette and the Self-Serve on Canal, and of course our wonderful neighbors. I was 13, and the only kid in the building. Everyone was wonderful.
I have always felt enormously lucky to grow up in that place in those decades. I'm so happy others share my memories. the photo maybe doesn't count- it's from 1998, my daughter climbing on a stack of records n our loft