More Praise for Allan Tannenbaum's Look Back at NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Allan Tannenbaum's New York in the 70s exhibition and book is the talk of the town - featured in The New York Times Book Review Summer Reading issue, and also in Women's Wear Daily:

"PICTURE THIS: Nostalgia was in the air at the Not Fade Away Gallery on Thursday night, where New Yorkers of a certain age (and some of a younger one) gathered to celebrate former SoHo Weekly News photographer Allan Tannenbaum’s new exhibit “New York in the 70s,” a genre-spanning selection of pictures culled from the lensman’s recently re-released book of the same name, on view through June 25. “The Seventies in New York was a time where basically anything went,” explained Tannenbaum, taking a pause from signing books and greeting guests including music writer Danny Fields, photographer Bob Gruen, James Wolcott and Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye. “It was a very hedonistic period, which I’m not sure exists in this day and age anymore.”

To be sure, you’d be hard-pressed today to find a rock star willing to strip down to Skivvies for an impromptu shoot in an inflate-a-pool (see Tannenbaum’s “Patti Smith Soho Rooftop, NYC, 1974,”) or a world-famous couple allowing a newspaper photographer in on the most banal, private moments (as John Lennon and Yoko Ono did over several months in 1980). “These were one-on-one things,” Tannenbaum said of shooting famous faces, the results of which hung alongside his photos of seminal protests, parades, happenings and late nights at Studio 54 and Plato’s Retreat. All of which begged the question, Is there a trick to being at the right place at the right time? “I think the word is the ‘moment’ — you’re looking for a moment to happen. You have to pay attention. A lot of it is just understanding the scene, knowing where you are and being ready [for] when the moment happens,” Tannenbaum said, a moment before Patrick McMullan tapped him on the shoulder. “I hate to interrupt,” said McMullan, an old friend, “but I have the famous photographer Lynn Goldsmith, [Allan’s] contemporary, to bring over.” After smiling with Tannenbaum for a few McMullan shots, Goldsmith, who’s known for her portraits of musicians like Sting and Bruce Springsteen, offered her take on the show: “The interesting thing about Allan’s work, why it’s so good, is because it covers not just music or entertainment, but it’s like the title of his book — it’s the times. It’s very exciting to see [his work] all together in one place in that it’s really what life was like in the Seventies.” — Nick Axelrod

Remembering NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Here's to New York in the '70s - pictured here is Truman Capote at the bar in Studio 54.

Leonard Quart of the Berkshire Eagle recently reviewed New York in the 70s: "Photographer Allan Tannenbaum's book, New York in the '70s, evokes a world of Puerto Rican street gangs, hotels for the homeless, hookers in Times Square, and rubble-filled South Bronx lots that all existed simultaneously with the transformation of SoHo from a neighborhood of warehouses and the light manufacturing of small machine parts to one of artist lofts and the city's lively art gallery center. In fact, the city's economic decline meant there were many cheap spaces for artists to live and work in that allowed for a great deal of artistic experimentation. The book's photos by Tannenbaum, the Soho Weekly News' photo editor, emphasize that aspect of the '70s, and the sexual adventurism of its intense, burgeoning club life. The '70s also carried over some of the political protest from the '60s. There are photos of anti-Vietnam War protests, demonstrations for the rights of farm workers, and the first big Gay Pride Parade in 1975. The book also contains photos of the city's iconic figures including such disparate personages as Ed Koch and John Lennon, Roy Cohen and Andy Warhol. As one can see, decades defy neat categories. They are a combination of objective facts, and the way we perceive them." - Leonard Quart, Berkshire Eagle