CBGB's House Photographer

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Seminal New York music venue CBGB (country, bluegrass and blues, since you asked) opened in 1973 at the meeting of Bowery and Bleecker Street, and was run by Hilly Kristal. During the late '70s, CBGB was the epicenter of the punk and new wave music scenes. David Godlis was its primary documenter. Here he talks exclusively to Retronaut about his photographs.

"In 1976, three quarters of the way through the 20th century, New York City, once a thriving metropolis, was destitute. 'Ford to City: Drop Dead' was the headline of the day. The music scene, like New York, was also sorely in need of repair. But in the most unlikely of all places — in the slumping New York City’s infamous Bowery, among the skid row bums on loser’s lane, far away from the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of Manhattan — a group of like-minded musicians and artists had their sights set on the future. In a small, dingy club, they would rewrite the past and set a template for the last quarter century in music, fashion, art, literature and film. Read more...

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