East Village Junk Tower to be Toppled

The East Village has a cherished history of being a grungy and offbeat epicenter of art and performance. It has been increasingly gentrified in recent years as NYU gobbles up more real estate, but though the art scene that made it famous has largely moved to Williamsburg it has still retained some measure of counter-cultural realism to distinguish itself from the other mini-cities on island of Manhattan.

To this effect, one of the popular fixtures of the area has been the "Tower of Toys", A 65 foot structure made out of collected pieces of junk and toys. The tower, located at the 6th street community garden, was conceived and constructed by local eccentric Eddie Boros. Boros, whom I would categorize as an eccentric man-beast, began construction of the tower in the mid-80's and continued adding to it until his death last year at the age of 74. There is an article about him written by The Villager that makes for an excellent read. Suffice it to say, he was an interesting human being. Another good post about his later years can be found at The Blond Oracle of Delphi.


Sadly, Eddie made no provisions for the tower upon his death and it will not be preserved. According to the Bowery Boys, The Parks Department has begun tearing it down an it will be gone soon. Hopefully I can get down there and take some pictures before it is gone. Such a shame. I understand that the thing is probably kind of annoying and a little dangerous, but I still wouldn't want it torn down if I had any stake this garden. At least with the tower, there is something organic and interesting rising up from your neighborhood that you can be proud of and enjoy. Without it, its just, well, another garden just like the others.