Description

The pleasures and agonies of teenage romance are captured in Bruce Davidson’s photographs of the gang’s dance parties, which were held variously in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, at a neighborhood school, and in members’ homes. The basement wallpaper seen here—with its fairy-tale figures including horses, queens, knights, marionettes, and jokers—suggests a domestic setting. The event could have been a farewell party for an older gang member going off to join the army, which was a common occurrence. This image shows the photographer dancing in the center; he must have asked another partygoer to take this shot.