Good morning all, and many thanks to those of you who have stayed with me thus far on my 1970 nostalgia trip. Don't worry: I'm now wrapping things up and the next half-dozen or so shots will see an end to it!

Those of you who are of a certain age may recall that back in the first half of the 20th century there was a US comedy outfit which went by the name of “The Bowery Boys”. The "Dead End Kids", as they were otherwise known, were indeed from the Bowery, a dodgy district in lower Manhattan. Home of many music halls in the late 19th century, the Bowery was allowed to slide into economic depression and in the 1920s and 1930s was regarded as an impoverished area far removed from the world of comedy. In the decades following the Bowery became New York City's "Skid Row", an area known for its high concentration of down-and-outs and which was viewed as a high-crime, low-rent part of the city best avoided. For many years none of the city fathers paid much attention to the area, and it wasn't until the 1990s that entrepreneurs began to capitalise on the development potential of the place and the entire Lower East Side of Manhattan started to get a makeover (a bit like London's East End, really). The gentrification continues to this day.

The following images were taken by me in the Bowery in 1970, armed with little more than my trusty Pentax and a packet of fags for handing out in order to break the ice and gain the trust of my intended subjects. A few of these have been uploaded before but I wanted to put them up again to round off this short exposition of what was a very special year for me, photographically speaking. They are among the most important images in my collection.

For those of you who haven't seen any of these images previously, you may find a couple of them a tad harrowing. They are a potent reminder of what life was often like in the not-too-distant past for those unfortunates who simply ended up on the wrong path.

Tags: Photo journalism Manhattan New york city Bowery

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