PHOTOBOOTH LOCATIONS

Opaline

85 Avenue A.
New York, NY 10009
B&W, 4 per strip, $3.00
Photos: December 14, 2003
Last visit: December 14, 2003

MAP

If American Trash were an unlikely location for a photo booth, Opaline is downright wrong. I was disappointed to find out my research was outdated when we entered Opaline and found a bizarre performance space/dance club/bar where a sparsely attended free-for-all/open mic night seemed to be in the middle of its disastrous progression. No photobooth was to be found, but we had time to kill, so we had a drink. Then I spotted it, in a roped-off side room, off the hallway from the entrance. I asked the otherwise uninterested bouncer if I could get into the room to use the photobooth, and he seemed to consent, by not really saying anything except asking if I had three dollars in quarters. I didn't, but I said "yes" anyway and headed to the nearest convenience store where I explained myself and eventually bartered for what seemed to be the man's last twelve quarters. Back at Opaline, we unlatched the velvet rope and took a strip of photos in this Auto-Photo machine, which turned out to be bizarrely fuzzy, with no image on the paper in a thin strip down both sides. The image is dark around the top and bottom, and seems to fade from one to the next with little definition. In other words, it's great, and well worth the trip into this weird little world.

UPDATE May 24, 2008: Julescat noted on our discussion board that as of at least May, 2008, if not earlier, Opaline is no longer, and thus this photobooth is no longer in action at this location.

Contributed by Brian