No kids, Adam Purple ain't me, and I certainly ain't Adam Purple, but we have
co-existed in the same worlds, and gardened in Lower East Side spaces that were
left from the the great Real Estate arson and disinvestment fete of the late
1960's -1970's.
In those day gardens were an ephemeral expression of hope in a city
immortalized in films like, "Escape from New York." Great ladies like Liz
Christy, Jane Weissman and Tessa Huxley set up the basis for garden permanancy
in those days, with competence and love.
I met Adam Purple during the late 60's. And it wasn't in a garden. Adam Purple
was, and is remarkably literate and an interesting man around books.
"Emancipated," early, at 14, I lived on E. 4th off of B, went to high school,
washed dishes and bussed most weeknights. Because I read books, knew who J.A.
Symonds and what a Riviere binding was, and had the patience to read the old
great 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britanica. cover-to-cover per my mentor,
Jack Biblo, I clerked weekends, in the oldtime bookseller's grey smock at
the old Biblo & Tannen, Fourth Avenue Bookshop, Weiser's and Pageant Bookshop
on New York's fabled Fourth Avenue Book Row.
One met rum characters on Book Row in those days. The wrinkle-faced W.H. Auden
grabbed my ass climbing the ladder to get him a Loeb Library 'Lucretius',
("Listen Auden, the first grab you get because you're a great poet, the next
one will get you your lousy, green Limey teeth knocked down your throat.)
Chester Kalman, Auden's lover pulled Wystan away shooting daggers with his
eyes. Yes Ginsberg was there, the NY Review of Books Crowd, Liz Hardwickeand
Adam Purple.
Adam Purple was a solitary, but knew what he wanted - in those days he liked
illuminated books, incanablula ( Latin for "swaddling clothes,"i.e, printing
done during the first two centuries of movable type and the odd, out of print
gardening book, like Katharine White's 1958 "Onward and Upwards in the Garden."
Oh, and he read Jung, had this things about Druids,Ezra Pound, Tibetan
Mandela's and paid cash. The Purple was not one of those "steal this book,"
anarchists. His style was that he would browse books for months, and then
finally pay for them. When I later started gardening, and throwing seed bombs
with Liz Christy - hey she was cute and looked great in shorts, I began to take
notice of Mr. Purple's horticultural efforts.
I had the pleasure of moving rocks, and doing some planting in "The Garden of
Eden," found his use of squatter "night soil," quirky and looked at him as a
visionary - a kind of East Coast Alan Chadwick. In later years, I remember
showing my late wife his "Garden of Eden," while doing holiday shopping on the
LES, and seeing his girlfriend/wife in their purple hats and mopeds on West
55th Street as they returned from their Central Park horsemanure gathering
expeditions. Once I showed Allegra the "Garden of Eden," their moped
expeditions took on greater significance than an excentric crunchy's
peramulations. That garden was a truly powerful expression of spirituality that
I have not seen before or since in any community garden.
Oh, all - if you ever go to the rare book room at the NYPL on Fifth Avenue,
there is a rare book created by Adam Purple himself - it may be one of the
tiniest printed books in their collection. Purple is/was an amazing craftsman.
Best wishes,
Adam Honigman
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 12:09:48 -0500
Subject: Re: [tb-cybergardens]: Misplaced identity of Adam
Adam Purple has been a beloved activist, artist and icon on the Lower East Side
for several decades. he's most known for The Garden of Eden - a huge circular
garden he developed and nurtured on Forsythe in the 70's-80's (that was
bulldozed in 1986 for low income housing). the garden was a glorious and
massive work of art that was made using all kinds of abandoned debris that Adam
found around the city and recycled, including horse manure. Adam not only
brought a great work of beauty, peace and enjoyment to the people of the
neighborhood, but he was known for passing around the harvest. since the garden
was destroyed, he's moved to the East Village and continues his activism and
recycling work throughout the neighborhood.
if you're new to the EV or LES take a minute to read a little about one of the
area's true homesteaders, it was a different world just a decade ago. and if
you see the "purple guy" in the hood, please treat him with the honor and
respect he deserves, anarchist heroes come in all shapes and sizes.
-----Original Message-----
From: Brett Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 18:57:27 -0500
Subject: [tb-cybergardens]: Misplaced identity of Adam
News from the tb-cybergardens mailing list
-------------------------------------------------
Adam Purple is still cruising the Lower East Side. He could never be
confused with Adam Honigman; Mr. Purple is both more circumspect and more
svelte.
-------------------------------------------------
To add or remove yourself from this list, please send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word SUBSCRIBE or
UNSUBSCRIBE in the BODY of the message. To receive a reference guide to this
mailing list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
the word HELP in the BODY of the message.
______________________________________________________
The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's
services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out
how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org
To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
