Editor’s Note: As part of a regular West Side Rag series, artist Michelle Hill interviews and draws Upper West Siders. This is the eighth installment in our Portrait of a Neighbor series.
Portrait of Barry Kloda
Where were you born?
Binghamton, NY
Why did you move to the Upper West Side?
Because that’s where my partner said we were moving
What have you been doing here?
Studying, making music, composing, arranging, conducting, accompanying, riding my Harley.
How long have you been on UWS?
Over 20 years
What was the WILD west like?
Grittier, a bit dangerous if one was not aware of one’s surroundings, occasionally noticing a late-night tryst in a doorway, avoiding crack vials in Verdi Square (sometimes called “Needle Park”). You had to be much more self-sufficient than the current crop of phone-gazers who can’t figure out on their own that 77th Street is a few blocks north of 72nd St.
What do you miss about the old UWS?
The diversity, the European emigrees, a good basic place to eat (All State Café!) and an actual “tourist season”, not the year-round, non-stop innundation that we currently experience
What do you like about the UWS?
Despite the gentrification and “mall-ification” it still feels like an open & accepting neighborhood, has better food choices than 20 years ago (although I still find much of it over-priced & unintersting), the parks, access to highways to get out of the city.
If you had a wish list for the mayor what would it be?
To find a way to keep the developers and landlords happy and not continue to run the middle class out of the city.
Another wonderful portrait, Michelle! I love your work.
How great to see a good friend immortalized in Art! The UWS is a wonderful place that should have its diverse inhabitants and their sensibilities represented – congrats!
Aesthetics and food-driven still. As an old neighbor from back upstate, I can tell that at least that hasn’t changed. Good thing since we always had that in common.