Everybody loves vintage street photography, especially when it’s from New York City. Every decade has its distinctive taste; I personally love the Seventies. But what about the Nineties? Oh dear, those years! Only 20 something years ago! But can you remember what was it like on the streets of New York City?
Gregoire Alessandrini — currently working as an Audiovisual Executive Producer for Louis Vuitton — was a film student in New York in the 1990s, and he took his Leica camera with him everywhere he went to document the sparkling city life. Now he is running a great blog, called “New York City in the 1990s,” based on his personal photo collection.
Images of lost landmarks, transformed locations, street parties, the meat market, 42nd Street, old diners, signs and grafitti, New Yorkers and sidewalk scenes, Halloween, Gaypride, Wigstock and so on — all of these moments are ultimately interesting to see through Alessandrini’s lens. Here is a selection of his photos for you to remember — and to be amazed — at how everything has changed or, in some cases, stayed surprisingly the same.
All photos by Grégoire Alessandrini.