"... ACROSS THE STREET, MOST OF THE BLOCK WAS EMPTY. THIS WAS THE LES THAT I KNEW IN 1990 WHEN NAUSEA..."
PIC INFO: Spotlight on Lower East Side-based anarcho thrash/crust punk band, NAUSEA, performing live at a "Squat the Lot" generator show on June 16, 1990. 📸: Chris Boarts Larson.
“The Lower East Side of NYC was a forgotten place with abandoned buildings, empty lots, broken-up sidewalks, burned-up cars, and punk shows in squats. Past Tompkins Square Park between Avenue C and D on 9th Street, there was a community art garden on the corner, Fetus and Dos Blocos Squats, a stretch of empty lot, and then the garden lot next to Serenity Squat where there were a few “Squat the Lot” generators shows.
Across the street, most of the block was empty. This was the LES [Lower East Side] that I knew in 1990 when Nausea and many other local punk bands played in the 9th Street “Squat the Lot.” Twenty eight years later, a police station and condos fill those empty lots and it’s completely unrecognizable.But the memories are unforgettable.”
-- CHRIS BOARTS LARSON [American photographer of the Lower East Side anarcho thrash/crust punk scene]
Source: https://razorcake.org/chris-boarts-larson-photo-column-nausea-nyc-june-1990.