Tuesday, September 10, 2013

DISCIPLINE PARK

Hudson, New York

There would seem to be a fair bit of kink to what's on offer here. But it's a Hudson tradition. To quote from the Wiki entry on the little city:

"In the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, Hudson became notorious as a center of vice, especially gambling and prostitution, as described in Bruce Edward Hall's book, Diamond Street: The Story of the Little Town with the Big Red Light District. (The former Diamond Street is today Columbia Street.) At the peak of the vice industry, Hudson also boasted of more than 50 bars. These rackets were mostly broken up in 1951 after surprise raids of Hudson whorehouses by New York State Troopers under orders from then-Governor Thomas E. Dewey netted, among other catches, several local policemen."

For some context, the town is about 100 miles up the Hudson River from New York City. It was a riverport when freight moved by river and canal. I expect the houses busted in the article above had been long established when 50's era reformers "discovered" them. The town has now upscaled in a depressing sort of way—lots of galleries with bad art, lots of antique stores with...well enough said.

1 comment:

Richard Alan Fox said...

I drove up to Hudson this spring to photograph and gallery peep, guess we crossed paths a month or two apart. I am not sure how to judge the bad art but I will agree that there is much decoration there.
To me the big revelation was to see your work of the same street and mine next to each other on my computer screen, mine in Media Pro, yours in Safari. A great teaching learning moment, thank you.
Happy birthday as well, I believe we are one day apart, same year I am the 6th, think you are the 5th.
Happy trails to you!