In January 1981, 12th Street between Broadway and Avenue A or so, became my parking lot. I drove and walked back and forth more times than I care to remember during the months when I was building my new space at 830 Broadway.

It’s hard to remember the first time I became aware of Richard Hambleton’s public art. I’d seen his murder outlines on the street for a couple of years but didn’t connect them to a particular artist. Then in early to mid 1981, I spotted an ominous looking painting on the wall of what is now Duo Amici, a wonderful neighborhood pizza and sub shop at the corner of 12th Street and Third Avenue. I don’t remember what kind of store was there when I first saw the black, life-size painting of a man, a painting that gave off tremendous energy and seemed reflective of everything that was so exciting about my new neighborhood. A few weeks or maybe a month or so later, I had a camera with me when I walked by and I took a photograph. I took the photograph because the image was visually remarkable. I had no idea who had painted it.

That was the beginning of taking what wound up to be over fifty pictures of the paintings I found all over the East Village and a few other locations in New York. The first one was probably about May 1981; the next frame on the roll is an ad for the screening of a Richard Hell film on May 23-24, and the sign looks fresh. The painting also looks fresh; no one has added anything to it. Maybe it was done the night before I came upon it.

In retrospect, I now know I should have jumped on this project earlier than I did, and covered it in more detail, but I was in the middle of launching a new record company and rebuilding a floor at 830 Broadway and didn’t have lot of spare time. But I kept seeing these wonderful paintings and a year later, I made time, in July 1982. I still didn’t know who was making the paintings, but something told me they were important and to me, they looked terrific.

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