Aging In NYC: Photographer Captures Senior Life In The City

This is Johnny (Dee) Dentato. The first time I saw him, he was sitting in the park at 72nd Street and Broadway. He was sitting in the bright sunlight playing his saxophone. As he played, people dropped a dollar or two into his open saxophone case. There were dollar bills, change, a notebook with some sort of list that had check marks, and a large sign taped to his case. It was that sign that made Johnny different than the usual New York City street musician: "10% goes to: St. Jude Children's Hospital. We won't cheat on St. Jude, the children or you."

I dropped a dollar bill in the case, seemed like a worthy cause to me and continued to wait for Johnny to stop playing.

Johnny is 91 years old and lives by himself. He describes himself as having been a musician all his life. Adding to that, he also was a photographer in Los Angles and had photographed movie stars and television personalities such as Harry Bellefonte, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennet. His career in music gave him access to famous people. He worked for MGM for 15 years as a composer and lyricist. Some of his accomplishments include the piano arrangement for the opening to "M*A*S*H," work on the score for "The Godfather" and the arrangement for Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."

I was curious why a man with so much experience would sit in the park every day and play for a few dollars. Johnny said that he does not need the money. He lives alone and enjoys playing his saxophone every day. "I could sit in my apartment in NYC and play my music for about four hours every day because I love it, or I could come to the park when the weather is good and play for four hours, and at the end of the day, I have forty bucks and St. Jude gets a few dollars.

I asked why St. Jude's. He said he saw the commercials on television and thought that would be a good place to donate money, which he has been doing for about 8 years. They call him from time to time and thank him, which makes him feel good about how he is helping them.

As we were talking, he gave me a flyer announcing a performance that he was giving as a tribute to his good friend, Nat King Cole. He said he was very close with Nat King Cole, and he worked with him in musical arrangements for ten years. As people would drop money in his case, Johnny handed out this flyer and invited people to come. Many people who passed by said hello and seemed to know Johnny.

When I asked Johnny if he had been married, he said too long, and that he was divorced three times. When I asked about children, I unknowingly touched on a tender issue. Johnny had a daughter who drowned many years ago at the age of 5. Johnny paused with a distressed expression. This is a wound that never completely heals. He said it was a long time ago and then continued playing the theme song to Casablanca.

I have seen Johnny several times since he is so often out playing in the same spot and time after 3:30 in the afternoon. One day there was a young man sitting and listening to him. Peter is from Nevada and this is his second visit to New York City. He is a high school student-his aunt lives in NYC and Peter is visiting her. Peter thought that it was great that he could sit in a park and make friends with a stranger while listening to his music.

Johnny credits his need to play music as motivation to get out of his apartment. He then paused and said even if he didn't have his music, he thinks he would get out often. He feels a need to be with people. It makes him feel alive and a reason to keep on going, even at the age of 91.

Herb Bardavid is a social worker with a passion for photography going back to his childhood years. When he was 12 years old, Bardavid commandeered his family's only bathroom to serve as a part-time dark room for developing photos.

At his wife's suggestion, the Upper West Side resident chose to chronicle the lives of New York City senior citizens for a year-long photography project. Bardavid, who's in his 70s, is inspired by New York City's elders who don't let their age get in the way of how they live their lives.

"Elderly people in New York City are sometimes invisible," Bardavid told Patch. "People walk by and nobody pays attention to them. So when I stop people they are not only surprised but also happy because people don't often talk to them."

Check out Bardavid's blog here.

Photos by Herb Bardavid