The Kids Of Bowery's Hardcore 'Matinee,' Then And Now
In his new book, Matinee: All Ages On The Bowery, Drew Carolan presents his portraits of the Bowery hardcore kids of the mid-'80s... the boots, leather, patches, buzzed heads and middle fingers. Below, we learn what they've been up to since.
Turn any corner in New York City and you are bound to discover something you have never seen before. What started out as a curiosity one late night in 1981 in the East Village turned into an ongoing photographic expose on a thriving subculture, thirty-odd years later.
Utilizing what I learned from Richard Avedon while working on his seminal book In The American West, for two years I stood on the eastern end of Bleecker Street, where it empties into what was the most famous street for the downtrodden, disenfranchised and destitute; the Bowery. CBGB's was the perfect place for young outcasts, free thinkers and activists to gather under one roof — it was there that I intercepted patrons on their way to congregate and participate in a weekly ritual: the venue's all-ages, hardcore punk matinee. Dozens upon dozens of people, mostly teenagers, were photographed against a white piece of seamless paper.
As the project evolved, the setting remained the same. I would shoot for a couple of hours on the street and then pack up my stuff and head over to the club and
