Photos by Bob Arihood: Before he was a blogger, Bob Arihood contributed his photographs to The Villager. This page, includes photos from the mid-’90s, clockwise from above left: An Avenue A figure who Arihood described as “simple”; a photo that Arihood self-deprecatingly called his East Village version of Robert Doisneau’s iconic “Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville”; and infamous chiseler and “Povercide” ranter Robert Marion a.k.a. “Loan Shark Bob” (with flag) holding court in front of the old Leshko’s diner at the northwest corner of Seventh St. and Avenue A. Marlene Bailey a.k.a. “Hot Dog” lies passed out in the foreground.
Arihood’s photos on this page are from his later contributions to The Villager, from 2004 to 2006. Clockwise from above left: Local youths attack a former disciple of Daniel Rakowitz with a trash can on Avenue A, seriously injuring him; Leroy Lessane — a compulsive collector, who also recently died — outside Tompkins Square Park after the Department of Sanitation carted off all his belongings; Caitlin and Melissa after being released from Pier 57, a.k.a. “Guantanamo on the Hudson,” where they were held under arrest for more than two days during the 2004 Republican National Convention; Eddie playing the saw at the former Cave Collective arts squat on St. Mark’s Place.
