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The Village Sun

Violent night, holy night
This illustration, “The Five Dollar Flop,” is named for the cost of a caged booth in a Bowery flophouse 40 years ago. The writer had a friend, Lance, descended from South Carolina’s Gullah Island people, who lived in an old bed up on the writer’s roof, in the bulkhead. One evening, Lance came by with the old man in the drawing, and asked if the writer could help put him up, too. There was no more room, so the writer gave him $5 for a night’s flop on the Bowery. "He had such a beautiful face," the writer recalled, "that I asked if I could take his picture. And when he held up the $5 bill, I thought that the face of Lincoln was ironic. I did the drawing from the photo I took that night." (Illustration by Harry Pincus)

Violent night, holy night

June 1, 2020

BY HARRY PINCUS | Nice weather we’re having! This lovely spring evening is rather unusual, however, as thousands of demonstrators, wearing masks, have just marched…

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