In the mid-80s I used to go to Chinatown at least once a week and photograph I eventually spent seven years there on Canal Street taking lots of photos from 2004 till about 2011 We called this lady the bong lady She had a section in the back of a little Chinese store on mot street If they got to know you or knew who you were you can get a lot more than just ginseng there it was the spot
Mallory Square Key West Florida Valentine’s Day February 14, 1978 Key west away it was my second roll of film 43 years ago
I was very fortunate in my life to meet a lot of famous people and hang out with them my great uncle Sal and my grandfather Captain Tony knew A lot of famous people so I got to meet them and hang out this was one of my buddies right here Clarence Clemons I was very lucky to sell him a really cool telescope and all his camera equipment and I told him how to use everything had some great times at his house on the Jersey shore did this portrait of him He liked it so much he made a big blow up and put it in his office
I learned a lot about outdoor photography and the sun did lots of key west postcards always waiting for the sun to get in the right position like this photo right here I waited for there’s a weird lightning on the city and the sun was shining directly are all those people you can’t pay for lighting like that Anyway I spent 30 years in New York covering everything go to my showcase website portraitsofnewyork.com If you go to my New York digital library you will see over 65,000 photos that I edited out of 300,000 every image you taken by me that’s right I shop for 30 straight years
I covered over 1700 live exotic dancers on stage between New York and New Jersey from 1989 through 82 this is a special picture the woman on the left Sophie she owned three exotic dancer Magazines she was one of those geniuses you know can speak four languages fluently was involved with a lot of real estate deals in Israel she also belonged to The Forum that’s landmark communications one of the most advanced taught in the world from the 50s not only was she my boss she was my mentor she was interviewing some girls at flash dancers in New York in the dressing room
Terracina West Studios 2005 this is one of my interesting portfolios I did using Sal‘s masks the mask in the background was created by Sal in 1937 he mixed in a lot of Haitian voodoo dust in the papier-mâché mix with a Lotta other secret ingredients I knew this girl from Haiti that wanted to get her pictures done she was very interested in this story about Sal‘s masks and the Haitian voodoo ingredients she said she felt The vibes as soon as she walked in and saw the masks
In 1949 Sal work for the World to Mirth A bizarre traveling carnival usually all those type of traveling carnivals we’re always pretty wild but the one that Sal worked with was really bizarre Sal ended up being the mind reader mask maker Play the piano for the burlesque girls/prostitutes lap dancers while he was doing all that he was always taking pictures he even did a magazine for them he told me some pretty crazy stories one of them was about the midget and the dwarf two different types of short people two serious different personalities will be talking about the mask Parties when they all stayed overnight in different hotel rooms clowns psycho midgets the fat lady let’s not forget about the burlesque girls and all the other characters
This is Frankie Sal made him in 1949 for the bazaar traveling carnival the World the Mirth Sal was their mind reader mask maker organ player and took all the photos he did some bizarre private readings also that’s where Frankie used to hang out in that tent he would also make appearances in the haunted house he’s another mask with Bizzarre ingredients and the papier-mâché mix pyramids scrapings from Egypt and Haitian voodoo dust the funny thing is while I’m writing the story in our mass room here in Florida he staring at me Sal had them in storage for 15 years i used him in my studio For about five years and then he went back in the storage I took all the masks out of the storage facility four years ago and brought them all to Florida there’s 17 of them right now staring at me while I am finishing this story
New York City is great for 1000 reasons if you live there and work there you’ll find some special perks forget about the parties and incredible open bar events they were always one of my favorites there was a group of pirates that went out every night and steal things in the city like very expensive Fur coats Sports jackets a lot of really cool coats The jacket I’m wearing in this photo was the official 1991 cross country ski jacket for Canada a company called dissent one of those famous coat thieves showed it to me he knew a little bit about it he tried to explain to me it was a $1200 jacket I gave him 50 he was really pissed off probably was a heroin attic Anyway it was the lightest warmest jacket I ever wore and everybody complemented it I still have it
My first month in Key West 45 years ago my grandfather let me watch the pool room for $40 a night We had four pool tables 5 video games in a little room downstairs with a bumper pool room The job sounds easy but it wasn’t some of the locals doing drug deals sometime they would lite a joint downstairs and there was a fight or argument once in a while eventually I was moved up to the doorman and manager not really a manager my grandfather made every decision may be right or wrong I spent seven years Working at that bar part time a education of a lifetime I went through seven spring breaks