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242:. The garden was ready to be planted in the spring of 1975. The garden was designed around concentric circles with a yin-yang symbol in the center. As buildings were torn down on either side, Purple would add new rings to the garden, allowing it to grow. By the end, it was 15,000 square feet featuring a wide range of produce, including corn, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, black raspberries, strawberries, and 45 trees including eight black walnuts. He regularly bicycled to
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He had at least four biological children and two stepchildren. With his first wife, Ann, he had two daughters, Jenean and Lenore. His second wife, Romola, had two daughters, Dorothy and Diane. A later partner, known as "Eve", gave birth to a girl, Nova Dawn. He also had a son with a later partner.
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created a group exhibition in 1984 to present alternative designs that would encompass the Garden of Eden into the public housing initiative. The initiative was unsuccessful. In 1985, Judge
Vincent L. Broderick of Federal District Court ruled that the demolition could take place. The garden was
122:, to Richard and Juanita Wilkie as the middle child of seven, his father was a machinist, carpenter and blacksmith while Juanita was a seamstress, gardener and bookkeeper. In 1945, Richard was trying to put out a fire when he was electrocuted and died.
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The bar's opening in 2015 sparked outrage among the late activist's friends and followers, who say that the restaurant represents a contradiction to almost everything that the real Mr. Purple believed in and fought for. The photographer
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Mr. Purple, a rooftop bar in the Lower East Side's Hotel Indigo, cites the activist as the inspiration for its name. In the 14th floor lobby, a mural by former
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Wilkie was convicted of child molestation in
Australia and deported in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Accounts of his eldest children published in two parts in
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demolished on
January 8, 1986. Its destruction took just 75 minutes under the large rubber tires of a scoop-equipped highway construction vehicle.
273:, painted trails of purple footprints around the Lower East Side leading to the garden's former location. He is one of fifty subjects featured in
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features a snapshot of Adam Purple, as well as other pictures capturing the Lower East Side's formerly thriving punk-beat art and music scene.
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227:. A building was razed in 1973 on Eldridge Street behind Purple's apartment, and he decided to plant something with his companion, Eve.
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Purple's "Garden of Eden", built by him single-handedly over five years starting in 1975, was a well-known open, community garden on
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In 1964, Wilkie and his wife, Romola, and their "blended family" of four girls emigrated to
Australia, by boat. They traveled on the
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Adam Purple, 22 November 2006, interviewed by Amy Brost, "Adam Purple and the Garden of Eden", Harvey Wang & Amy Brost, 2011
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The process of clearing the lot took some time since the couple would only use hand tools. Modern machinery was considered "
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after a three-month voyage. Wilkie worked as an
English and literature teacher. The family lived in
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Purple died on
September 14, 2015, from a heart attack, aged 84, while bicycling across the
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683:"Storefront for Art and Architecture | Programming: Exhibitions: Adam's House in Paradise"
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in
January 2016 detailed years of abuse, in particular sexual abuse, by their father.
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for his "Garden of Eden". He went by many other names, including "Rev. Les Ego".
815:"Clueless New Businesses 'PYT' and 'Mr. Purple' Pervert Lower East Side History"
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846:"Meant as Homage, Bar's Naming for Downtown Squatter Is Perceived as a Slight"
369:"Adam Purple, Eccentric Environmentalist and Gardener in New York, Dies at 84"
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were both appalled by the hotel's use of Purple's image in their marketing.
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223:. The garden began when the city and the neighborhood were blighted with
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The garden was bulldozed on
January 8th, 1986. It took 75 minutes.
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After Purple's "Garden of Eden" was destroyed, his friend, artist
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and graduated with a master's degree in journalism from the
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Naked City: The Death and Life of
Authentic Urban Places
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Inside Adam Purple's Garden of Eden in the East
Village
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/10/garden-of-eden/
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133:. He taught at high schools and junior colleges in
98:(November 10, 1930 – September 14, 2015), known as
710:. Columbia University Press. pp. xii, 178–79.
877:recorded by Nelson Sullivan on August 11th, 1985.
609:"The Secret Dark Side of Adam Purple is Revealed"
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913:American people convicted of child sexual abuse
257:In the early 1980s, the city planned to create
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611:. Boweryboogie.com. 2016-01-04. Archived from
246:to collect horse manure to use as fertilizer.
102:, was an American activist, urban Edenist or "
16:American guerrilla gardener and child molester
522:"Adam Purple and His Guerilla Garden of Eden"
281:and, with the help of Harvey Wang, created a
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141:. Making his way east, he was a reporter for
35:Adam Purple tending his Urban Garden in 1984
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106:", and convicted sex offender famous in
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263:The Storefront for Art and Architecture
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753:"The Strange Case of Max Cantor"
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813:Greenberg, Lori (2015-11-20).
751:Aronowitz, Al (June 1, 2002).
708:The Lower East Side Remembered
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550:McKinley, Jesse (1998-02-22).
367:Moynihan, Colin (2015-09-15).
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238:and created a highly fertile
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789:. 2015-09-15. Archived from
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736:Katz, Sandor Ellix (2006).
432:"Mr. Natural Goes Electric"
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772:, Norton, 1990, pp. 94-95.
757:The Blacklisted Journalist
706:Mendelsohn, Joyce (2009).
552:"Adam Purple's Last Stand"
193:Deportation from Australia
149:, eventually ending up in
143:The York Gazette and Daily
407:"The dark side of Purple"
187:San Francisco, California
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635:"All Purple's daughters"
585:"All Purple's daughters"
497:. archives.newyorker.com
301:"Mr. Purple" Controversy
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903:Activists from Missouri
465:. New York Media, LLC:
770:Harvey Wang's New York
721:Zukin, Sharon (2009).
275:Harvey Wang's New York
131:University of Missouri
120:Independence, Missouri
59:Independence, Missouri
232:counter-revolutionary
928:Guerrilla gardening
459:"New York Magazine"
295:Williamsburg Bridge
125:Adam served in the
850:The New York Times
825:on 30 January 2022
687:storefrontnews.org
556:The New York Times
436:The New York Times
373:The New York Times
259:low-income housing
181:. He moved to the
147:York, Pennsylvania
104:Guerrilla Gardener
96:David Lloyd Wilkie
70:September 14, 2015
45:David Lloyd Wilkie
175:Kurrajong Heights
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853:. Retrieved
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823:the original
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792:the original
787:The Villager
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411:The Villager
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384:. Retrieved
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323:George Bliss
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236:Central Park
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72:(2015-09-14)
898:2015 deaths
893:1930 births
526:Narratively
319:Harvey Wang
307:Fun Gallery
225:urban decay
100:Adam Purple
23:Adam Purple
887:Categories
799:2015-09-16
692:2015-10-02
619:2016-01-24
594:2016-01-24
569:2015-09-30
531:2015-10-02
501:2015-03-24
480:2015-03-24
441:2015-03-24
416:2016-01-24
386:2015-09-30
346:References
335:Max Cantor
283:short film
279:StoryCorps
135:California
114:Early life
86:Occupation
51:1930-11-10
644:26 August
564:0362-4331
475:0028-7369
381:0362-4331
221:Manhattan
153:in 1968.
127:U.S. Army
855:21 March
829:21 March
639:amny.com
329:See also
185:area of
118:Born in
89:Activist
309:artist
240:topsoil
215:in the
177:, near
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473:
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179:Sydney
167:Orsova
61:, U.S.
289:Death
857:2019
831:2019
646:2023
560:ISSN
471:ISSN
377:ISSN
137:and
67:Died
41:Born
219:of
145:in
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