70's MURAL IN THE EAST VILLAGE NYC

Last week, I was biking by a park in the East Village that I have passed for years, but always with the gate locked. That day the gate was slightly open. I wandered in and came across these beautifully aged murals from the late 70's, early 80's. It was a time of considerable strife in the neighborhood, (Tompkins Park riots, squatter standoffs, homeless camps, and the

ever present gnawing of gentrification). The artwork reminded me a little of Etruscan painting and

I felt a like an archeologist making a surprising discovery in a slightly off the path neighborhood in downtown Manhattan.

The struggle continues ...