Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/08/20

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Subject: [Leica] Subject: Re: Union Square - statue of Gandhi
From: lmdmd at att.net (Leland Deane)
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:18:09 -0700 (PDT)

I used to go to Union Square often when I was a photographer for the stock 
agency FPG (long ago bought by Getty), whose headquarters was on the 
northeast 
corner. I still have fond memories of the excitement and vibrancy of the 
place. 
Years before, in the summer of 1977 (the great blackout), I 
witnessed wide-scale looting there and in lower Manhattan. I was a medical 
student living on east 21st street at the time. It was quite scary.

Leland














It was the scene for some famous riots and killings during the civil war.
-- 
Mark R.



> From: Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:00:27 -0400
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Union Square - statue of Gandhi
> 
> Jayanand,
> 
> Union Square, actually a triangular piece of land, is located in NYC where
> Broadway and 4th Avenue converge. It is bounded by 14th St. on the south 
> and
> 17th St. on the north. Union Square is at the southern edge of the NYC 
> photo
> district and was one of the few places in the city where you could walk
> around with a couple of Leicas hanging from your neck without someone
> thinking you had ripped off a camera store. But since most of the camera
> stores in the area have closed, today you are the one likely to get ripped
> off. My university office was just a couple of blocks away and I used the
> Union Square subway station for commuting.
> 
> In times gone by its central location in lower Manhattan made it a
> convenient place for political rallies and riots. Now it hosts a weekly
> Farmer's Market where restauranteurs and shoppers go to pick up the 
> freshest
> produce from upstate NY and New Jersey. Some of the best restaurants in NYC
> are to be found in the Union Square area. Before the Farmer's Market, Union
> Square was the choice place to score drugs in NYC. One of my graduate
> assistants used to shop there regularly for a weekend stash for her and her
> boyfriend. In one of NYCs periods of renovation the area was cleaned up, 
> old
> buildings torn down, and high rises put up.
> 
> As Nathan says it is about a mile north of Wall Street and close to three
> colleges, New York University, The New School for Social Research, and the
> City University of New York's Baruch College. The presence of so many
> college students keeps the place humming.
> 
> The name has nothing to do with labor unions.
> 
> The statue of Gandhi was put up in 1986.
> 
> I'm sure that's more about Union Square than you wanted to know.
> 
> Larry Z
> 
> 
> 
> Mark,
> 
> Nice one. Where was it taken?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Jayanand
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 10:32 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark at 
> rabinergroup.com>wrote:
> 
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/110815_180703.jpg.html
> 
> Gandhi with Flowers
> 
> 
> Union Square NY
> 
> --
> 
> Mark R.
> 
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