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Creator
East Village Eye, Inc.
Call number
MssCol 186237
Physical description
12.96 linear feet (39 boxes). 17.6 gigabytes (9 computer files)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
East Village Eye records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The East Village Eye was a periodical that covered art and culture in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded by Leonard Abrams in 1979, the Eye published seventy-two issues until it ceased publication in 1987. The collection contains photographs and original artwork printed in the magazine, the administrative papers created by the company, editors' files, events related to the magazine, the entire run of issues of the Eye, and a set of other independent publications collected by Leonard Abrams.

Biographical/historical information

The East Village Eye (often known simply as the Eye) was a periodical that covered the cultural events, politics, and news of the East Village neighborhood in New York City. Founded by Leonard Abrams in 1979, seventy-two issues of the Eye were published semi-regularly until the final issue was printed in January 1987. Abrams wrote for the magazine often, including the opening editor's notes. Each issue is imbued with Abrams' point of view through his writing and choice of columnists. The paper provided an extensive document of New York City's downtown scene during this time. Many of the artists, musicians, writers, film and theater directors, and others that made up the contributors and readers of the East Village Eye are now recognized as significant cultural figures of the 1980s. The Eye provided a glimpse of that era as it unfolded.

Leonard Abrams (1954-2023) was born in Brooklyn, and grew up in Spring Valley, New York. In high school Abrams founded and ran a local paper. Abrams returned to New York City where he studied literature at Fordham University. Eventually finding work on a paper route for the Gramercy Herald, Abrams designed an advertising supplement for the publication, and decided to create his own magazine. Abrams enrolled in a graphics and paste-up class, where he received training in magazine design. In 1979, the Eye was founded by the twenty-four year-old Abrams, incorporating artists and friends as editors and columnists.

Through a mutual friend, Abrams met Christof Kohlhöfer, an artist and member of the collective Collaborative Projects (Colab), and brought him on as the Eye's first art director. Kohlhöfer designed the magazine's early logos and layout, invited other artists to create Eye centerfolds and back pages, and persuaded Abrams to include gallery events in his listings. He also encouraged the coverage of downtown artists like David Wojnarowicz and Keith Haring.

As an editor, Abrams curated a rich mix of journalism, humor, artwork (including cartoons), literature, film, and music reviews. Regular columns included Ask Dr. Mueller by Cookie Mueller, and Slum Journal by Richard Hell. Other, more difficult-to-classify columns were a review of an abandoned 1971 Plymouth found by the author in a vacant lot and interviews with local botánica owners.

Through its letters to the editor, classifieds, advertisements, and club listings sections, The Eye offered a detailed glimpse into daily life and happenings in the East Village, and into the attitudes and interests of the magazine's readers. The Eye printed interviews with neighborhood residents discussing everyday life in the neighborhood. A regular column describing recent live performances or club scene reports often included unverifiable local gossip. Published letters to the magazine included anonymous East Villagers and downtown notables alike, including artist Coco Fusco and rock critic Lester Bangs. The Eye hosted and covered fundraising parties at major New York City dance clubs and event spaces, including ABC No Rio, The Mudd Club, Danceteria, The Paradise Garage, and The Palladium.

By the 1980s, many long-term residents and older buildings were already gone. Property values continued rising through that decade, pushing out many of the remaining community members. The Eye regularly covered housing issues and documented, in real time, the accelerating gentrification of Manhattan and the East Village in particular. Articles described instances of landlord negligence as well as vandalism and arson occurring in neighborhood tenement buildings.

Over the course of its eight-year run, the Eye chronicled major shifts in music, from the punk and post-punk scenes of the late 1970s and early 1980s, to the ascendance of hip-hop later in the 1980s. Interviews with Fab 5 Freddy and Afrika Bambaataa were printed in a January 1982 Eye issue. In his conversation with Hans Keller, Fab 5 Freddy discusses living in the East Village, his accomplishments as a rapper and graffiti artist, and his current film project Wild Style. In collaboration with fellow graffiti artists Lee Quiñones and Lady Pink, Fab 5 Freddy approached director Charlie Ahearn to create a loosely scripted depiction of the emerging hip-hop scene in the South Bronx, including the interest it generated from the Lower East Side art market. Wild Style filmed live rap performances and breakdancing, topics which Bambaata also explores in his interview with fellow artist and musician Michael Holman. In the introduction to the Afrika Bambaataa interview, Holman includes an editorial aside containing an early printed definition of hip-hop and "B-beats" to the reader. The wide-ranging talents of the four figures featured in these interviews reflect the broader collaborations between different kinds of artists, filmmakers, and musicians during this time.

The Eye featured early stories referencing the emergence of HIV/AIDS, including a 1985 report of Mayor Ed Koch shutting down several East Village bathhouses. Many contributors and subjects of the Eye would later die from the disease, including Cookie Mueller in 1989 and David Wojnarowicz in 1992, and by the mid-1980s, the periodical included a regular obituary column. Direct reports on the HIV/AIDS crisis, however, were limited.

By the middle of the decade, the Eye's coverage reflected the decline of the East Village's downtown scene amid rising real estate prices, gentrification, the rise of HIV/AIDS, and other cultural forces shaping New York City. In a 1986 issue, for example, the Eye published an obituary for the neighborhood's art scene. In the September 1986 issue, the magazine's name changed to International Eye, which an editor's note explained, reflected a shift to more global reporting. The last issue of the Eye was published in January 1987, a farewell edition highlighting some of the magazine's biggest stories. The cover image featured a photograph of musician James Chance with the first issue of the Eye rolled into a saxophone. In the last issue's editor's note, Abrams pointed to the changes in the downtown scene as a major factor for ceasing publication. However, Abrams remained committed to preserving the periodical's history and legacy in the years after it folded. In the fall of 2016, he mounted a retrospective exhibition, "The East Village Eye Show," at Howl! and published a special edition of the Eye, which also served as the show's catalogue.

After closing the Eye, Abrams converted a former school building into a club called Hotel Amazon, where he hosted a regular party with performances by New York hip-hop notables including Queen Latifah and Public Enemy. In 2008, Abrams directed and produced the documentary Quilombo Country, which examines the conditions in villages founded by communities of formerly enslaved people in Brazil.

Abrams suffered a heart attack and died in 2023.

Scope and arrangement

The East Village Eye records, dating from 1967 to 2017, consist of the magazine's working files and illustrate the administrative practicalities of running an independent press. The collection reveals the cultural landscape of the East Village of New York City during the tail end of the 1970s and 1980s through its columns, reader letters, and even advertisers. The files are arranged into three series, including submissions from photographers and artists, publishing materials created by the column editors, and an assortment of independently published magazines. The publications include every issue of the East Village Eye, as well as other publications collected by Leonard Abrams. Abrams' extensive collection of other periodicals, chapbooks, newspapers, and zines provide a window to the breadth of independent publishing and book arts from the 1960s through the 2010s.

The East Village Eye records are arranged in three series:

  • Series I: Photographs and Artwork
    1979-1987
    5.92 linear feet (16 boxes)

    Series I, which dates from 1979 to 1987, holds photojournalism files, publicity stills, and original artwork that was printed in the Eye. These files provide a comprehensive history of the artists and photojournalists who contributed to the Eye during the entirety of its run. The subjects of these photographs include portraits of cultural figures in the East Village, such as performers and artists, as well as news coverage of contemporary fashion trends.

    Photographs in this collection include Original Photojournalism by photographers working for the Eye and Publicity Stills sent to the Eye by various galleries, fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians, record labels, and theater companies. Most prints contain the markup notes for publishing.

    The Original Photojournalism files hold pictures of live events, as well as more formal portraits of artists involved in the downtown scene. There are also documentary-style photographs of the East Village. The Original Photojournalism files are arranged alphabetically by photographer's last name when known. Abrams kept detailed notes of the subjects in each photographer's work, which has been noted in the container list.

    Publicity stills are arranged into nine subjects: Art, Books, Fashion, Film, Music, News, Nightclubs and Venues, Television and Radio Personalities, and Theater and Performance. Each topic's files are arranged by title, artist, or musician's last name. Art and Books files were often used in gallery and literary reviews or interviews with visual artists and authors. The Eye included significant coverage of current fashions, and this series contains photographs, submitted by designers, of models showcasing their designs. Films, music, television, and theater reviews were regular features in the magazine; this series also includes publicity stills of bands and musicians sent to the Eye and featured alongside album reviews by critic James Marshall and others. Finally, the series consists of stills of nightclubs that were published in a regular gossip column about nightlife.

    Artwork includes original drawings, paintings, collages, and comics printed in the Eye. Artwork is arranged alphabetically by the artist's last name when known. The majority of artwork in this series are comics, which the Eye published regularly. Lynda Barry, Tom Hachtman, and Tuli Kupferberg all submitted original drawings or reproductions of their cartoons to Abrams, which are present in these files. The artwork occasionally illustrated news stories, the issue's masthead, and a regular astrology column. Some original paintings and collages by Isabella Bannerman, Ellen Berkenblit, and Lady Pink are present here.

  • Series II: Publishing Files
    1976-2016
    2.12 linear feet (5 boxes). 17.6 gigabytes (9 computer files)

    The Publishing Files in Series II, which date from 1976 to 2014, address the administrative workings of the Eye. The material is in the following order: Corporate Records, Correspondence, Financial, Columns, Printing Files, Research and Reporting, Fundraising Parties, and Photographs of Staff behind the scenes.

    Corporate Records contain the Eye's Minutes and Bylaws, a stock certificate book and transfer ledger, Incorporation of the company along with ownership documentation, a city map of the location of the Eye offices, and the company's corporate seal stamp.

    Correspondence files hold a welcome letter from the Manhattan Borough President, and letters between and to editorial staff.

    This series' Financial files contain documentation of the initial funding of the Eye, future investment plans, records of the magazine's circulation figures, and advertising revenues. Files related to the general day to day operations costs, receipts, and company bank records are also here.

    Files related to the various Columns in the Eye (primarily the arts section) include the overall general guidelines for editors, research, editor notes, and announcements received by the magazine. After the general guidelines the files are arranged alphabetically. The documents related to the art column include editors' notes (primarily Allan More) and submissions from Eye staff and readers. Several promotional items, such as gallery announcements and press releases, were sent to the editors. The other regular columns represented here are the classified section and the original photographs and letters from readers worldwide called, Far Away Eye. These files also hold papers and notes related to the horoscope section, poetry, theater, and film columns.

    Printing files include 35mm slides of each issue's cover, various logo designs, as well as accompanying instructions for printers. These are arranged alphabetically.

    Research and Reporting files contain Abrams' reporting notebook, where he kept notes of story ideas. There are also eight of Abrams' personal and professional date books and pocket calendars dating from 1979 to 1985, from while he was working at the Eye. Abrams' various press credentials are also included.

    The Fundraising Parties materials consist of invitations and fliers used to advertise fundraising events during the run of the Eye, as well as after 1987. In 2014 a mini-symposium, "How Hip Hop Came Downtown," featured Leonard Abrams, Fab 5 Freddy, Michael Holmna, and Yazmin Ramirez in disucussion. Abrams also gave a presentation in 2016 as part of an exhibition of Eye materials titled It's All True: The East Village Eye Show. The 2016 issue of the Eye also served as the exhibition's catalogue.

    Behind the scenes photographs of Leonard Abrams and other Eye contributors depict staff working in the office, as well as at various parties and fundraisers for the publication. One staff party was held at Abrams' mother's home, in upstate New York. Most of these images are undated.

  • Series III: Publications
    1967-2017
    4.33 linear feet (22 boxes)

    Series III is arranged into issues of the Eye, Other Periodicals, Press, and Books. The series contains the complete run of the East Village Eye, as well as Abrams' collection of independent publishing. Also held here are press, books, and ephemera related to the Eye and the scene it documented.

    The complete run of the Eye includes all seventy-two issues (May 1979-January 1986), as well as the additional 2016 retrospective issue. All issues are the original printing, arranged chronologically.

    The other publications in this series comprise assorted independent publications, zines, and other periodicals collected by Leonard Abrams from 1967 until 2008. Subjects range from music, poetry, artwork, literature, comics, news and happenings in New York City, to international publications from Japan and a Dutch art school. Most titles are represented by one to three issues spanning several years. These publications are arranged alphabetically by title.

    The Press files in this series were collected by Abrams and are about the Eye. Most articles are from United States publishers, but there are also several Japanese publications. A press kit of clippings sent to The Crown Publishing Group as a pitch for a book based on the Eye also includes the rejection letter from the publisher. Other press materials include photocopies and magazines with articles both before and after the operating years of the Eye. A 1981 article from Elle Japan contains a handwritten translation of the article. Some materials related to Abrams' film, Quilombo Country, include a poster for a film screening with images of issues of the Eye on the back.

    Books in this series are filed chronologically. Publications include reference books used in the Eye office, as well as books gifted to Abrams after the authors worked with him or referenced the Eye materials for research. The books held here include Edgewise: A Portrait of Cookie Muller and Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Purchased from Leonard Abrams by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library in 2022.

Processing information

Processed by Emily P. Dunne in 2023

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328