But, NYC was also a place of chaos and mayhem. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with rampant crime it was the city's drug users, dealers, and pimps and prostitutes who ruled the streets of Manhattan.
The grittiness of the city was a beacon and a promise to many outsiders, those who didn't quite fit into any mold, and a vibrant LGBTQ community became the nexus of an underworld of sex workers who liked to party. For a NYC cabbie such as Joseph Rodriguez, the hot spots to pick up fares were clubs like the Hellfire, Mineshaft, The Anvil, The Vault, and Show World.
Losing his first camera and lens in a classic '70s New York stabbing and mugging, Rodriguez's wounds healed and he armed himself with a new camera to document what he saw on the job: hookers getting off their shifts, transvestites and S&M partiers doin' it in the back seat or somehow pulling off an unlikely costume change from bondage gear to emerge from the cab clean-cut in an oxford and khakis ready to face unwitting family and friends.
A humanist at heart, his photographs speak of the dignity of the city's working class from all the boroughs and those struggling to get by.
The Economic Hardship Reporting Project provided funding to support Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977–1987.
Reviews (6)
Fascinating Photos from a Fascinating time in New York City
The excellent photographs, taken from the perspective of a NYC cab driver in the late 1970s, early 80s, really give the reader/viewer a unique vantage from which to see the city during one of its craziest, most interesting periods of time.
Interesting Book
I really liked the book, but I was really hoping that there would be a lot more pictures including more adult oriented pictures of sexual content and nudity. It really must have been scary at times to be a cab driver in a big city like New York during those times .I just received the book today and plan on reading and enjoying the pictures again. I appreciate his pictures as I am a photographer in Maryland. The only downside to this book was there were not enough gritty pictures. I really enjoy looking at pictures, but other than that it was nice.
Disappointing
I own a copy of one of the photographer's previous books ("Spanish Harlem") and it's terrific, but this book has a limited number of photos and most of them aren't very special. Certainly Mr. Rodriguez is a wonderful photographer, but I must be honest....
Fascinating Photos from a Fascinating time in New York City
The excellent photographs, taken from the perspective of a NYC cab driver in the late 1970s, early 80s, really give the reader/viewer a unique vantage from which to see the city during one of its craziest, most interesting periods of time.
Interesting Book
I really liked the book, but I was really hoping that there would be a lot more pictures including more adult oriented pictures of sexual content and nudity. It really must have been scary at times to be a cab driver in a big city like New York during those times .I just received the book today and plan on reading and enjoying the pictures again. I appreciate his pictures as I am a photographer in Maryland. The only downside to this book was there were not enough gritty pictures. I really enjoy looking at pictures, but other than that it was nice.
Disappointing
I own a copy of one of the photographer's previous books ("Spanish Harlem") and it's terrific, but this book has a limited number of photos and most of them aren't very special. Certainly Mr. Rodriguez is a wonderful photographer, but I must be honest....
