The $8 Book That Shaped My Early Years in New York
A quiet bookstore, a new city, and the beginning of a creative life.
1994. Montclair, New Jersey. A charming town just 12 miles west of Manhattan, with leafy streets, historic homes, and a quietly thriving arts scene. I was 21, had just moved from Australia to study fashion styling at Parsons and FIT, equal parts excited and intimidated by the city I’d always dreamed of. Living on the city’s edge, I spent my days exploring, absorbing, and adjusting to this new life.
One afternoon, I wandered into Montclair Book Centre and headed straight to the second-hand box. That’s where I found it: a gem of a book with bold graphics — Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene. One of the first accounts of the intersection between art and nightlife in the East Village during the early ’80s, it included interviews with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and others — now a classic primary source. Second-hand and clearly loved, I still have that copy, quietly grateful to Steven Hager for writing it. Flipping through its pages, it felt like I’d discovered a secret portal into the East Village underground.
Through Hager’s words, I could almost hear the music at CBGB — “Rip Her to Shreds” by Blondie echoing in my head. I could picture the costumes at Club 57 and the Mudd Club, feel the raw, pulsing energy of artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Patti Astor building something from nothing. It was a world where collaboration had no boundaries and creativity thrived.
I didn’t know then that this $8 book would quietly shape my path.
Years later, after moving to Manhattan’s Upper East Side, one project led to another. Before long, I was working alongside some of the very artists Hager had written about — collaborating with Maripol, whose vision helped shape Madonna’s early style, and editing Patti Astor’s memoir about the gallery she opened on East 10th Street. Her gallery, Fun Gallery, wasn’t just a gallery; it was a meeting point where neighborhood kids, downtown artists, museum directors, and uptown collectors came together. Openings featured Futura, Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Kenny Scharf, Keith Haring, and Basquiat.
Looking back, that small second-hand purchase didn’t just introduce me to New York’s underground — it became the thread connecting my future projects. Creative turning points rarely announce themselves. Sometimes they begin with curiosity, a walk down the street, and a little book.
