After Inherent Vice, we headed south a couple of blocks to go check out The Morrison Hotel Gallery. I had never been. He knew where it was from memory (it had been years since he visited), only now it’s no longer a storefront, but up a flight of stairs. It’s still there!
If you find yourself in Soho, I highly recommend stopping by. Just ring the bell, they’ll buzz you up. The staff is great.
And there you will be, surrounded by huge framed photos (many of them world-famous) of rock icons. It’s a gallery devoted to music photography. They have special exhibitions (the current one being of Kurt Cobain’s final photo session), books for sale, prints. The stuff hung on the walls represents only a tiny fraction of what they have in the collection.
Here are some of the images on the walls. Debbie Harry in front of the roller coaster is so wild and bad-ass that I kind of want to own it.
There were a couple of photos of the Doors hanging out at “The Morrison Hotel.” I stared at this one for a very very long time.
The Rolling Stones “Beggars Banquet” was HUGE on the wall, the sheer amount of detail was overwhelming. No wonder upstanding citizens feared the British invasion. I mean, look at these gorgeous reprobates.
There’s a freakin’ dead pig on that table.
There were framed marked-up contact sheets of Kurt Cobain’s final photo session, the one with the white plastic sunglasses. I felt nostalgic looking at him. That photo shoot, in particular, yielded some wonderful shots – really whimsical stuff, funny, a total contrast to his normally bleak demeanor. He looks playful.
This crazy iconic photo was on the wall.
There were photos of The Beatles, some famous, some I have not seen.
They had the famous and great photo of The Supremes, crammed into a tiny dressing room.
I could have spent hours there. I will definitely go back!
That’s one of the things I love about New York City, no matter how long you live in the area there is always something new to discover. Great find and great photos.
Jim Morrison looks like a God in that picture.
hahaha Jim Morrison does look like a God. I’m just riveted by it – and the Happy New Year banner and the fact that it’s daylight outside.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for upcoming exhibitions.
ZERO Elvis on display – I should have asked the staff if they had any prints they could show me. I wonder … Elvis’ publicity was so weird, so highly managed.