There are a million rat stories in New York City, and “Street Leather” is bound to tell them all.
“It turns out that the most memorable story you have about a rat is a pretty good conversation starter,” offers Jake Offenhartz, who with Olivia Bensimon co-created “Street Leather,” a rat-centric zine. The pair met recently at a birthday party and discovered that while Bensimon had been photographing dead, flattened rats for a number of months, Offenhartz had been doing the same for years.
“I had more pictures (of dead rats) than I knew what to do with,” said Offenhartz, while Bensimon had often joked that she was going to make a zine with hers. “I thought that was a really good idea,” he said, and they were off.
They made a shared album of dead flat rats and were “mutually psyched to see that there were a lot of good ones,” Bensimon said. Offenhartz notes that they treated it as an art project.
“We appreciated not just the run-of-the-mill flat rat. Some of them are more interesting than others. Sometimes just a trace of rat is left. … We have a pretty high tolerance for that sort of gore,” Offenhartz admitted.
Not wanting the zine to be focused on photos, they also began to solicit story contributions. Often the first reaction was “Oh, gross,” but as Bensimon put it, “Immediately afterward they would start to tell a story about an interaction they had with a rat.”
They widened their search by putting up flyers all over the boroughs, which brought in responses right away.
“We got really good submissions almost immediately,” said Offenhartz. “It was pretty amazing and rewarding to wake up and have a plumber in the Bronx or a subway conductor telling their story. We got about 80 submissions.”
After dozens of meetings over about five months, the pair — along with Sabrina Bezerra who did the design and additional illustrations — were finally ready to go with “Street Leather,” the publication so named by Jackson Gilkey, the director of the La Plaza Cultural garden in the East Village.
Filled with stories, poems, a song and at least one piece that was inspired by a headline (that would be “Rikers Island Rats Trap and Kill A Dog” from The New York Times), the zine has turned out to be an instant success (by zine standards), with only about 70 copies left over from the initial run of 300.
The launch party was also a success, surprising the organizers with how many people showed up.
The full house at the Francis Kite Club was treated to a number of readings as well as a rat-themed dance party, a game of “Pin the Tail on the Rat,” a reel of archival rat footage that included an anti-rat PSA by David Lynch, and a performance by Pinc Louds of the song “Rat Attack,” a song written specifically for the occasion.
Delphine Le Goff, whose submission “Robert The Rat” didn’t make this issue, was one of the folks chosen to read and had a great time at the soiree.
“I wasn’t sure of what to expect at all, but I was super intrigued by the entire thing! I am very happy about the turnout they had and it was a super cheerful young crowd,” she said. “I would never have guessed that rats would gather so many people! It was a great magical New York moment.”
Sherri Zelazny, visiting from Canada, thought that “It was great, a lot of fun. I had no idea that I would land in such a true East Village experience during my visit from Vancouver, BC. We have rats too but I don’t think they are as highly esteemed as they are in NYC.”
Other out-of-towners have become intrigued with the publication; Offenhartz noted that they have shipped copies off to France, Germany, Philadelphia and Nashville.
Bensimon and Offenhartz, interestingly, differ somewhat on how they feel about rats.
“I like them,” said Bensimon. “I have some affection for the rats. … I don’t want them to touch me, but I have respect for them. It’s a really tough life in New York City and they’re just trying to survive, like everyone in New York. As long as they don’t come into my bed or run up my leg, we’re fine.”
“I don’t really like them,” added Offenhartz. “I’ll cross the street if I see them. But in doing this I’ve come to have some appreciation for them. They live very desperately on the margins. I have a little more empathy for them, but overall I’m not a huge fan.”
As for all those unused rat pics in their photo library, Offenhartz has not yet planned the next issue but it’s quite possible and they are still taking submissions.
“I used to joke that I was going to make them into NFTs, but I have no idea how to do any of that,” he says. “Maybe that’s next…… we don’t know what’s next”
Submissions and others inquiries can be made at newyorkrathole@gmail.com. More information can be found on Instagram @streetleathernyc.
