From Atop The Arch

In summer days in the early 1970s my friends and I would go to Washington Square Park and play weekend hippy. We’d gaze up at the arch, and someone always knew someone who knew someone who had the key to enter.

Fifty years later I’m the official photographer for my beloved Sanitation Department, and I’m at the park in January 2022 for “Mulchfest” an annual Sanitation/Parks Department event where people can drop off Christmas trees, have them sent through a chipper, and then turned into mulch.

Before the official start of the event I mention to a Parks Department employee how I’ve always yearned to take photos from the top of the arch. I’m told that as a fellow municipal agency photographer, that wouldn’t be a problem. 

A day or two later I meet Mr. William Morrison, Parks Administrator for Washington Square and under whose leadership the park has never looked better. And thus began a yearlong series of trips to the top in all seasons, all weathers and shooting in both the daytime and at dusk. Only his patience has made this work possible.

The last few images are of the interior of the arch, especially its difficult spiral staircase. About three quarters of the way up (behind the eagles that grace its north and south facades) is a room where I would catch my breath for a moment before the final ascent.