Adam Purple and The Garden of Eden

Adam Purple and The Garden of Eden Film by Amy Brost Photographs by Harvey Wang In 1975, Adam Purple set out to plant a garden behind his tenement building at 184 Forsyth Street, at a time when the Lower East Side was a crimeridden wasteland. It was a massive undertaking the site had been buried in rubble from the demolition of two other tenements. While clearing nearly 5, 000 cubic feet of debris using only simple tools and raw muscle power, Adam began to create his own topsoil from materials he f