Lights for Clinton Street

A couple of months ago, I posted about Julie Taymor shooting a movie set in the 1960's on my street. After the shoot, the production company donated money for neighborhood residents to put Christmas- (or should I say Holiday?)- lights on the street. Money went for materials, many many yards of various types of white string lights, rope lights and puffy looking snowball lights, while artists and neighbors were invited to build something for display on the facades of buildings in the 3 block strip of Clinton Street between Houston and Delancey Street.

Calvin and I volunteered to create some sort of light installation. This is my idea of big fun- I don't really discriminate between making art and holiday decoration. What can I say, I just like to make stuff. For Calvin, it is holiday decoration and neighborhood good will- not the same as art.

I lobbied to get to decorate the hardware store on the street, Rothstein's. Clinton Street has become a major destination for those seeking a hip dining or drinking experience. Many storefronts that once contained services such as shoe repair stores or optometrists are currently bars and restaurants. While I patronize many of these places and don't really miss the open air heroin drug market that predominanted in the 80's and early 90's, I like to support the remaining businesses. And I particularly like Rothstein's and the proprietor Raymond- this is a store that sells everything a sculptor (or cook) might need. If you don't see it immediately, just ask- he's got it.

We came up with the idea of making a light installation that showed a hammer driving a nail and animating it, so I made a flash animation to present to Raymond (yes, a multimedia presentation- I can't stop myself). Raymond wanted something that looked a bit more festive, so we revised our design and agreed on one that featured a series of interlocking circles combined with a leafy pattern.


Friday night we built the structure for our piece and laid out the pattern of the lights. Saturday morning I attached the lights to the chicken wire, while Calvin figured out a cradle system so we could hang the thing over the parapet of the building where Rothstein’s is located.




In the early afternoon, we were ready to put up our lights- we had to somehow get them out of the apartment and down 3 flights of stairs onto Clinton Street. This involved some anxiety- a few ominous sounds of cracking wood- but no real damage.













We had a lot of help- the guys from the hardware store, and a group of volunteers organized by Marybeth Nelson, as well as Marybeth herself. Marybeth is the force behind the light project- none of this would have happened without her. She is one of the proprietors of a couple of restaurants on Clinton Street- Alias and Fresh Food. We recently became regulars at Alias, very tasty food and cocktails. A.K.A. was also one of her restaurants- I was in mourning when it changed hands, but Alias has become a great replacement.








































Our lights went up very fast, Calvin and Oscar, one of the hardware store guys, got up on the roof and hauled them up with some guidance from the street. I forgot to take pictures of the guys on the roof and only have a shot of Calvin climbing back down the ladder afterward.



Here is Calvin relaxing with a beer at the Lotus Club to celebrate a job well-done. Happy Holidays!