In the early 1990s a French student named Gregoire Alessandrini who was living in New York was fascinated by the street life of the bustling city—which at the time was a good deal less sanitized than it is today. He found Halloween particularly intoxicating, seeing in the West Village’s annual racially and sexually inclusive Halloween parade a proud marker of “happiness, tolerance and eccentricity.” It truly was and is an occasion to fly your freak flag high.

In 1993 Alessandrini took his Contax camera and flash to the event and lovingly documented the revelry that dominated what he calls the “after parade street party.” As Anika Burgess of Atlas Obscura points out, the images are striking for the lack of personal technology—not a one of the subjects is staring down at a cellphone! 

If you like these pictures, be sure to visit Alessandrini’s website has hundreds more like it documenting New York City in the 1990s (which is also his site’s title).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Bringing the Funk from the East Village to the Global Village: Vintage Deee-Lite performances
Greenwich Village weirdos get haircuts on national TV in 1966