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A review by lonestarwords
St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street by Ada Calhoun
4.0
St Mark's is like superglue for fragmented identities. The street is not for people who have chosen their lives…The street is for the wanderer, the undecided, the lonely and the promiscuous.
St Mark's is Dead
The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street
Ada Calhoun
•
After loving Ada Calhoun's writing and voice in my recent read/listen of Also a Poet, I decided to check out her backlist. And while she seems best known around here for Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, I chose her panoramic history of NYC's East Village, St Mark's is Dead. This is a part of the city I've spent very little time in and I wasn't truly aware of its vibrant and troubled past. I was wildly impressed with Calhoun's extensive research, which goes back to the founding of this area of NY by Peter Styvescant in the 1600s.
•
My only regret is that Calhoun didn't narrate this herself as she did Also a Poet. I know her voice would have added to the storied history of extreme counter culture that gives St. Mark's its reputation because she's lived and breathed it as a native NYC resident.
•
The East Village has been home to well known artists, writers and musicians for decades and it spawned the hippie generation. But it's also endured incredible poverty, a horrific drug culture, was ravaged by AIDS and has been home to riots, grisly murders and flagrant promiscuity. Calhoun doesn't sugar coat any of it - her writing is raw, edgy and true. This was one eye-opening read and probably one of the reasons I was forbidden to go to NYC in high school!
•
The book comes full circle to 2015 and the years following the Giuliani era of “gentrification.” Now this area boasts high rent and an influx of business and young tenants who (like the generations that came before) want to live where all the action is. The action now is a bit cleaner and safer although it’s definitely grungier than other parts of the city, that seems to be part of its persona.
•
This is my kind of non-fiction - the memoir of a neighborhood told via some great research and writing. Again, very niche, but if you love NYC and history, you'll be very entertained, and a bit shocked.
St Mark's is Dead
The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street
Ada Calhoun
•
After loving Ada Calhoun's writing and voice in my recent read/listen of Also a Poet, I decided to check out her backlist. And while she seems best known around here for Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, I chose her panoramic history of NYC's East Village, St Mark's is Dead. This is a part of the city I've spent very little time in and I wasn't truly aware of its vibrant and troubled past. I was wildly impressed with Calhoun's extensive research, which goes back to the founding of this area of NY by Peter Styvescant in the 1600s.
•
My only regret is that Calhoun didn't narrate this herself as she did Also a Poet. I know her voice would have added to the storied history of extreme counter culture that gives St. Mark's its reputation because she's lived and breathed it as a native NYC resident.
•
The East Village has been home to well known artists, writers and musicians for decades and it spawned the hippie generation. But it's also endured incredible poverty, a horrific drug culture, was ravaged by AIDS and has been home to riots, grisly murders and flagrant promiscuity. Calhoun doesn't sugar coat any of it - her writing is raw, edgy and true. This was one eye-opening read and probably one of the reasons I was forbidden to go to NYC in high school!
•
The book comes full circle to 2015 and the years following the Giuliani era of “gentrification.” Now this area boasts high rent and an influx of business and young tenants who (like the generations that came before) want to live where all the action is. The action now is a bit cleaner and safer although it’s definitely grungier than other parts of the city, that seems to be part of its persona.
•
This is my kind of non-fiction - the memoir of a neighborhood told via some great research and writing. Again, very niche, but if you love NYC and history, you'll be very entertained, and a bit shocked.