Last Address Tribute Walk: Meatpacking District

Whitney Museum screening followed by tributes at the addresses of former West Village sites by Stuart Comer at Florent, Brad Gooch at The Mineshaft, Vivian Crockett, Tara Hart, Michele Hill and Lori E. Seid with words by Julie Tolentino at the Clit Club, Egyptt LaBeija at The Piers, Luna Luis Ortiz at The Neutral Zone, and Rafael Sánchez with Joel Handorff at St Vincent’s Hospital.

For the 6th Annual Last Address Tribute Walk, Visual AIDS Programs Director Alex Fialho led a tribute walk to the Lost Addresses of six sites marked by cultural and activist HIV and AIDS histories in the Meatpacking District: Florent, The Mineshaft, The Clit Club, the Piers, The Neutral Zone, and St Vincent’s Hospital. Visiting former sites of nightlife, housing, creativity and care, the 6^th Annual Last Address Tribute Walk shifted from previous iterations highlighting home addresses to locate community and social life in the midst of the AIDS crisis.

The program began with a screening of Ira Sachs’ film Last Address (2010, 9 min.) at the Whitney Museum of American Art, followed by short video clips contextualizing each site, including Charles Atlas’ Butcher’s Vogue (1991, shot at Florent), a slideshow created by Julie Tolentino of Clit Club invitations, and footage of Sylvia Rivera reflecting about her life on the Piers from the documentary Fenced Out (2000, produced by FIERCE, Paper Tiger Television, and the Neutral Zone). The event then moved to the streets of the West Village, stopping at each address for tributes by special guests involved with or influenced by the former sites: Stuart Comer at Florent (69 Gansevoort Street); Brad Gooch at The Mineshaft (835 Washington Street); Vivian Crockett, Tara Hart, Michele Hill and Lori E. Seid with words by Julie Tolentino at the Clit Club (432 W 14th Street); Egyptt LaBeija at the Piers (at Pier 48); Luna Luis Ortiz at The Neutral Zone (162 Christopher Street); and Rafael Sánchez with Joel Handorff at St Vincent’s Hospital (15 7th Avenue). At each site, a drawing by Win Mixter evoking the Lost Addresses and a rose were left in tribute.

Though these may now be Lost Addresses, the histories of these sites and the lives and creativity they have inspired continue to impact a new generation. Through the constellation of readings and roses, drawings and doorsteps, The Last Address Tribute Walks situate community through remembrance and response.

Inspired by Ira Sachs’ film Last Address, Visual AIDS’ past Last Address Tribute Walks have revisited the former addresses of artists lost to AIDS, to remember their lives and highlight their artistic legacies. The annual program has featured doorstep readings in tribute to over 20 artists outside homes in Chelsea, the West Village, the East Village, and the Lower East Side.