New York Bars at Dawn

Dimensions: 10,2 x1 x 10,2 inç Pages: 224 This instructive single-example photo book offers evocative portraits of New York bars after the clock. Daniel Root's photographs of bygone New York bars are a perfect blend of beauty and melancholy. Everything about them is true. -Roz Chast, New Yorker cartoonist Almost every day before dawn, Daniel Root sets out to wander the streets of Manhattan with his camera. This relatively quiet part takes on a different face from the city as a whole, but Root is especially keen on scenes seen from the windows of its bars. It's vacant from customers and lit by a strange mix of artificial lights (neon beer ads, red EXIT signs, a single bulb at the register) offering a quieter, more mysterious appearance than the busy evening hours. Yet each one (whether it's a dive bar, a sports bar, or a restaurant bar) still projects its own distinct character, a distinct personality. New York Bars at Dawn offers about two of Root's most intriguing portraits of bars, ranging from events like Balthazar, McSorley's, and the Stonewall Inn to anonymous dives and an American Legion outpost. A foreword by Rosie Schaap, author of Drinking with Men, shows us how much Root's photographs reveal about bar culture, and an afterword by art historian Suzaan Boettger examines their aesthetic merits. This will be a must-have volume for anyone interested in nightlife, interiors or city photography.