Living Proof Tompkins Book

Tompkins Square Park: Forty Years, a book by Living Proof.

Photographs by Nolan Zangas.

Through more than four decades, Tompkins Square park has stood as a microcosm of society and culture in a changing neighborhood. Located centrally in Manhattan’s East Village, the park serves as a central hub for the diverse communities of skaters, squatters, punks, hippies and artists that have shaped the identity of the area over the years. As a long-standing safe haven of counterculture in the city, the park’s grounds have been a stage for political action and resistance to gentrification, a sanctuary for generations of legendary skateboarders, and the stomping grounds of countless influential artists and cultural icons in New York.

From the early days of skateboarding and hardcore to the cultures and traditions kept alive in the park to this day, Tompkins has been a key place within New York. In celebration of this historic space, Living Proof is proud to present Tompkins Square Park: Forty Years, 120 pages of full-color photography spanning four decades of life within the boundaries of the park. The book features work from five New York City photographers, each with their own unique perspectives and stories from the evolving ecosystem of Tompkins Square Park.