Ed Hickey
1976-1990
Thompson Street (2 apartments) My first loft was on the northeast corner of Bowery and Canal, when I could not afford Soho rents.
While trying to make a living as a photographer, I took a few odd jobs. I worked at the Bottom Line as a Host, Fall of 1976 to the Fallof 1977. In the daytime I worked very infrequently for Van Gogh Movers, and also as a set builder for NBC Studios in Queens. This was a job I got through my friend Steve Linn, the sculpter. I also worked as a busboy at the Spring Street Bar for a few months. I worked as an assistant photographer also for a few years.
It was so quiet at night. I loved to walk the streets at night, especially when it was snowing. It was unworldly, silent, beautiful. I miss Zelf, the guy who rented floor sanding machines (Greene Street?) who had the worst toupee I've ever seen, and also the corniest logo. "Do It Your Zelf." He called his wife "Chickee". I miss Mr. Fanelli, and Mary Fanelli too, who had the candy store on Thompson Street. Mr. Benny "Eggs" Mangano. The cheap rent!
Not much. Rats.
I moved out of Soho after having my first son, who slept in a laundry basket for the first 6 months of his life.But never left because I've been renting and selling real estate in Soho since 1991, almost 26 years.
Sitting in Fanelli's during a few snowstorms. The blackout of 1977. The night someone drove their car into the Korean deli on Prince and Thompson, and it exploded. Bill the panhandler who used to sit on the steps outside M&O, who used to call me "Handsome Eddie"