From Miss Rosen’s article for AnOther:

Indeed, the Garage represents a singular chapter of nightlife, music, New York, and Black history rolled into one – a period so legendary it has become reverent. Artist Meryl Meisler, who contributed her photographs of the Garage to The Experience Book, was part of that journey through the disco era. Her work, collected in PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco, the third volume in a trilogy chronicling the era, is what remains of a world that now feels strangely long ago and far away.
Performers Getting Ready – Side View Paradise Garage, NY, NY, April 1978Photography by Meryl Meisler

Perhaps what is most subtly striking about Meisler’s photographs is the simplicity of the space itself. Like all great design, it is secure in the knowledge that drawing attention to itself can actually detract from its purpose and function. Although raw and unvarnished, it is never cold. “Meryl Meisler’s images brilliantly capture the ‘design’ of Paradise Garage,” says Waddell. “One of our favourites is the one of the people on the sofa. It sums up so much of what we imagine Paradise Garage to have been, the lack of over-design, the humour, the joy, the wildness, the concentration on things that matter.”

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Browse Meryl Meisler’s series “New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco” at CLAMP.
Browse all of Meryl Meisler’s work at CLAMP.