Darkroom Print: Feast of San Gennaro, New York City, 1984

In 1984, 37-year-old New Yorker Bruce Gilden photographed the Feast of San Gennaro in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The annual September tradition celebrating the patron saint of Naples began in 1926, making it one of the city’s oldest street fairs. Gilden doesn’t title any of his photographs, but refers to this one as “Best Street,” because he says, “I don’t think I can do a better picture in the street of New York.” With everyone going everywhere, and a distant sign for a childhood favorite treat, the frenetic scene captures life in the melting pot at its finest.