Susan Hesse is one the founders of the Liz Christy Garden. She took the photographes below in 1973 and 1974 and they provide an historical record of the gardens birth. These photographs are just a small selection of her collection. They include the only remaining photographic record of the Mott Street Garden that Liz Christy talks about in another section of this site.

The gardens grew out of a block association which was started by Lee Connor, Mark Sarkady (or Sarkaday) and Susan Hesse in early 1973 (maybe even late 72, but probably not until early spring of 73) Lee and Susan Hesse were roommates (and old college chums from Binghamton). Lee moved to NM a few years later and died in Placitas, NM in 1987. Mark was only involved in the group briefly. Our meetings were done via group process. The early meetings we had were spent getting to know each other, sharing our miseries (no formal garbage pickups in our industrial neighborhood, landlords who provided us with little, then jacked up the rents after we had made improvements to our spaces, the broken bottles that littered the streets, kids in the neighborhood who harassed the homeless men who lived on the streets, etc.) and sharing our strategies for solving such problems. Early on it was apparent that we all were interested in making our neighborhood more livable and attractive. We organized our version of a street fair. We also raised money to buy small trees to plant on our streets: Bleecker, Bowery, Houston, Lafayette & Elizabeth & another street which lay within that perimeter--hence our name BBHL which defined the perimeter of the neighborhood. I understand that some of those trees which were planted then have survived! Liz joined the group soon after its inception. She worked for the city (although she didn't immediately tell us this--perhaps she thought we would think she was a bureaucrat) and before long interested us in planting gardens. Although the planning may have started in 73 for them, the actual creation of many of the gardens, including hauling all the debris out and actually planting things, began in the spring of 1974.[ edited from narrative provided by Susan Hesse ]