New York City in the 1980s was a city on the edge—gritty, chaotic, and alive with possibility. The downtown scene became a crossroads where art, music, performance, and nightlife collided, creating an artistic revolution that continues to shape the world today. I was there -- a native New Yorker, living in a Chambers Street loft, working as a photojournalist capturing the scene.
From my rooftop portrait of Iggy Pop against the Twin Towers to nights at Area, Danceteria, and the Fun Gallery, I documented a community that thrived on grit, rebellion, and creativity—before cell phones, social media, and real estate speculation transformed New York beyond recognition.
The book combines a largely unseen photographic archive with my personal recollections and contributions from figures who lived through the era. It is both a visual time capsule and a narrative portrait of a cultural moment: a smorgasbord of personalities, landscapes, and fleeting encounters that defined a singular period in the city’s history.
Another Place, Another Time will be published by
Damiani Books, one of the world’s leading photography publishers. More than a historical record, the book captures what downtown New York felt like during this era—wild, fragile, and alive with possibility—before rising rents, commercialization, and loss reshaped the city forever.
The 1980s downtown scene was unpredictable and fertile. Patti Astor’s Fun Gallery broke barriers by introducing graffiti artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Rammellzee to the wider art world. The Goode Brothers’ Area nightclub reinvented nightlife as immersive installation art. On the city’s edge, the abandoned West Side piers became underground studios where David Wojnarowicz and others created raw, site-specific works that fused sexuality, survival, and protest.
The scene was shaped not only by exuberance, but also by adversity: the conservative politics of the Reagan era, the AIDS epidemic, and urban decay all left indelible marks. Out of this environment, artists emerged whose work still defines contemporary art and culture—even if they didn’t survive to see it.
I had unique access to musicians, artists, and scene makers, and while some of these photographs were published in Harpers & Queen, Tatler, Blitz, and Cover, the majority remain unpublished.
I realized that I had captured a world that feels increasingly vital to share -- both for those who lived through it and for a new generation to discover.
Jean Michael Basquiat © Bethany Eden Jacobson
East 7thS t ., NYC, 1980s © Bethany Eden Jacobson
, personal recollections by Jacobson, and newly commissioned texts by Jeffrey Deitch (founder of Deitch Projects), Hugo Vitrani (curator, Palais de Tokyo, Paris), and Carlo McCormick (writer, critic, curator).
This book is both a personal testament and a cultural document: a record of a New York at its most alive, created by someone who lived it, photographed it, and now returns to share it with a new generation.
Check out her crowdfunding campaign!
Punk aesthetics in a gritty scene © Bethany Eden Jacobson
The 1980s downtown scene continues to exert enormous influence on contemporary art, music, and fashion. Younger generations, who never experienced it, consume its mythology through streaming documentaries, gallery retrospectives, and endless online nostalgia. At the same time, those who lived through it are eager to see the energy of their youth honored and preserved with authenticity. This book offers both: an insider’s visual record and a reflective narrative that brings the era vividly to life.
Iggy Pop Scan, Twin Towers, 1986 © Bethany Eden Jacobson
