Bob Arihood, Chronicler of the Changing Neighborhood, Is Dead

Bob ArihoodSteven Hirsch Bob Arihood.

Bob Arihood, friend and photographer of the East Villlage’s misfits, free spirits and longtime locals died yesterday in his Fourth Street apartment. He was 65.

A spokesman for the fire department said that the cause was cardiac arrest at around 7:45 p.m.

Many of Mr. Arihood’s photographs on his blog, Neither More Nor Less, had an unmistakable air of grit and nostalgia. But others, many of them snapped in the wee hours of the morning, carried legitimate neighborhood news overlooked by other outlets. His blog began as a way to document the plight of the Mosaic Man Jim Power, who was evicted from an apartment on St. Marks Place. Later, Mr. Arihood would expand his blog to cover the ups and downs of Ray’s Candy Store, as well as the constant goings-on in Tompkins Square Park.

“He devoted himself to photographing life that’s real,” said Mr. Power. “He didn’t let up. He was everyone’s friend. He did investigations. Whether it was a minor complaint or a murder, Bob followed it.”

EV Grieve, which featured Mr. Arihood’s photography and was the first to report his death, wrote that “He captured the absurd, the ugly, the every day that makes the vanishing East Village unique.”

Mr. Power said that he and others were planning a memorial and trying to figure out how best to preserve Mr. Arihood’s photography. The Local will have further information as soon as it becomes available.

Please share any stories you have about Mr. Arihood and his work in the comments.