Original 2B&2C Garden

2B&2C was the name of a community garden, owned privately, but established by Ken Cro-Ken and Matt Sullivan in about 1999.

The history: I moved to 226 E 2^nd Street in Alphabet City in NYC’s East Village in 1990.  The “garden”, a vacant, trashy lot at the time, was almost directly across from my home at 226 East 2^nd Street 10009. I became acquainted with the owner of the property, Florence Toledano, just a few months after I moved in. Her vacant lot had become a trash-strewn unenclosed community nuisance – full of drug dealers/doers, rats, abandoned cars, hookers and other problems. In response, I joined the Board of Directors of the Needle Exchange that had moved in across the street to see if they had any connection to all of the people coming to our neighborhood to buy and then shoot up drugs. I also wanted to help this organization, since they seemed really help people in need. The vacant lot needed a fence. I contacted the owner, Florence Toledano, to ask her to build a fence. She refused. So, I paid for the fence and its installation – $600. It’s still there – falling apart but still there. I was out of touch with Florence until Ken arrived in my life in 1998.

We had pulled up in my car and parked directly in front of the “garden”. Florence, in her late 80’s, was in the garden trying to collect and bag trash. Ken, who was always helpful to older people and interested in their histories, immediately asked Florence if he could help her. She accepted. Ken began helping Florence and met with her when she would come down to “clean”. Gradually, as they got to know one another, Ken, of course, shared his love and passion for the arts, specifically music, writing and the visual arts. Florence told Ken of her own extra-ordinary history, and they became good friends. Florence’s property was already home to three metal sculptures by Toby Mooring. Florence insisted that Ken make art in her space – and, without hesitation he did just that. It was during this early time in their relationship, that Ken visited Florence at her studio on 14^th Street, which he eventually cleaned and remodeled for her safety.

Ken went to work in the garden. He threw out trash, collected bricks from the torn down former structures on the lot and created “pathways” lined with those bricks. Ken found old carpeting on the street and brought it to the space – laying them all around to create  pathways. Soon after, neighbors, seeing the improvements, started throwing old carpets over the fence which ken then repurposed to the garden paths. It was during these early months that Ken began constructing storage areas from found lumber to protect some of his art. We found discarded chairs and tables and other objects from the neighborhood (no such thing as a weed) – even art. We planted flowers, vegetables, ornamental trees and bushes and installed two cats, Emerson and TJ (Thomas Jefferson) a red tabby, to help control the exploding rat population, which, especially after dark, was a real problem.

Ken moved sculptures made by his 9/11 High School Students to the garden in about 2003 – they had been in his home at 29^th and Park and now found a new home at our outdoor space in Alphabet City – 2B&2C. He made paintings/sculptures in all kinds of weather conditions from ice and snow to rain, wind and sun. Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ken’s works were “shaped” by Nature. 

Ken passed from cancer related to being a teacher at Ground Zero on July 30, 2020. In March of 2021, I move ken’s art to a gallery in Harlem.

We used a drone to capture the move out of this historic garden. I set my composition, Multiple Oneness, to the video of the move out of our beautiful garden, 2B&2C. I presented a show for Ken in Harlem in April 2021 – The Conduct of Paint, based on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s, The Conduct of Life.