Palimpsest

Another post from the odds and ends department, a picture of a pool table with very little context. I was going to see if anybody could guess where it was taken, but then I decided I should go into the history of the place. Now that I've dug around a bit I found a better picture with more context (bottom). It's Vasmay Lounge, at the corner of Suffolk and Houston (formerly known as Meow Mix). I was inside Meow Mix once, back in 2002, on assignment for the Voice to photograph two women getting hitched (middle left). That was my introduction to Murray Hill, who presided over the festivities. I remember being amused when I witnessed Murray snatch a full Heineken from the hands of somebody in the front row and chug it down. Some time later Meow Mix closed and nobody knew what was going to happen. It was then that I was assigned to photograph an exterior of the place and have it look lonely and abandoned (middle center). Finally in 2005 the space was reincarnated as Vasmay Lounge. Lo and behold, I got the nod to photograph the new space (middle right). Meow Mix has since moved to Brooklyn and is now known as Cattyshack. I've been to Vasmay a handful of times, rarely with anybody. Most often, I'll be on my way home from the Hamilton Fish Rec Center on Pitt Street and if people are playing I'll stop in. Invariably, I'll have my cue with me but stash it away in a corner before playing. It's not that I want to hide the fact that I play a lot of pool. I don't know, it just seems sort of obnoxious or showy, taking it out of the case and putting it together in a place like that. I'd rather not bring that much attention to myself.