TAR BEACH: Life on the Rooftops of Little Italy by Susan Meiselas with Virginia Bynum & Angel Marinaccio (Damiani)

 

ISBN: 9788862087223

Tar Beach is a poetic term for rooftops of apartments, especially in this book of found or family photographs in the Manhattan area known as Little Italy.   Susan Meiselas, with the assistance of Virginia Bynum and Angel Marinaccio, articulate the joys of their neighborhood and the ability to have access to the roofs of their living area.  Here, they can pose for family portraits, sun themselves during the summer, even having a hose placed so one can cool off with a stream of water.  

Little Italy is now called Nolita.  The neighborhood between Canal Street and E. Houston Street, as well as Lafayette Street and The Bowery. Martin Scorsese was raised in this neighborhood and wrote a very brief but moving portrait of the importance of The Tar Beach in this part of the world.  Scorsese comments on the song by Carole King and Gerry Goffin "Up On the Roof" (1962) about the importance of a space that is much needed from the cramped and small apartments below the roof. 

The book is about the quiet moments of experience where family and neighbors gather and a location of solitude to be away from family. The beauty of such existence is often imagined or portrayed in films and literature.  This book gives proof of such an enlightened presence. "Tar Beach" is a bittersweet (like all memories) of life in Little Italy, with commentary on photographs and the world at the time.  It is a book of somewhat great importance for those who live or lived in Little Italy and a reminder that a city's history must never be forgotten.  -Tosh Berman