The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (2024)

Photographs by WAYNE LAWRENCE

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The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (29)

▲8:20 A.M.

Nostrand Avenue and Herkimer Street

Kai Gibson, 15, and Kimberly Moncada, 14, were on the way from their homes in Bushwick to Saturday exam-prep sessions in Flatbush. Moncada had been up since 5:30 in the morning. “I got up at 7:20,” said Gibson. “I was still in bed when she texted me telling me she was ready.” This isn’t the first serious relationship for either of them, but with Gibson, Moncada said, there is “more of a connection than in my past relationships.”

Wayne Lawrence for The New York Times

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue

Photographs by Wayne Lawrence Text by Pia Peterson

Nostrand Avenue runs across 8.8 miles of Brooklyn, from its north end, in the heart of Hasidic Williamsburg, to its southernmost point, beside the parking lot of a Knights of Columbus building in Sheepshead Bay. (From the back of the building, you can observe a pier extending out into the Atlantic.) Depending on how much real-estate jargon you buy into, it runs through nine neighborhoods before reaching the water.

As New York streets go, Nostrand is dwarfed by Broadway, which runs twice that distance through Manhattan and the Bronx. But photographer Wayne Lawrence sees something special about the avenue. It is the sort of New York thoroughfare that feels, along much of its length, like people genuinely live there; its residents seem comfortable on their streets, stopping at five in the morning to say hello and ask after the health of one another’s dogs, making the sidewalks feel like a common living room.

On May 19, beginning at midnight and ending just after 11 p.m., Lawrence walked eight miles along pockets of Nostrand Avenue, visiting each end of the avenue looking for love in the rain.

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (30)

6:48 P.M.

Nostrand Avenue and Avenue H

Nubia Royal, 28, and her husband Jay Lighter, 29, were visiting from Miami for a “sip and shop” design event. “I’m half-Haitian,” she said, “and in that culture they don’t think that fashion is a real career, art is a real career.” She was wearing clothes of her own design; Lighter, she said, had been a supportive companion, including carrying bags filled with her dresses. They’ve been married for two years.

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (31)

5:27 P.M.

Nostrand Avenue and Farragut Road

Jean Menesky Magloire, 29, who goes by “Sky,” teaches at the same middle school he attended when he first came to New York from Haiti. He followed his now-girlfriend — Alexandra Jean Joseph, 28, a teaching assistant — into La Troupe Zetwal, a Haitian folk dance ensemble; they spent part of their afternoon performing at the Clarendon Branch Library for Flag Day. “It’s nice to be with somebody that I share the same culture with,” says Alexandra. “He speaks my mom’s language.”

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (32)

▲ 3:39 A.M.Nostrand Avenue and Pacific Street

Omar E. Montague, Jr., 24, and Kimara Guichon, 24, were outside a bar in the early morning. “I recently got out of a three-year relationship,” said Montague, “so I’m kind of like, I guess, a little clumsy on the bike.” Guichon could tell he liked her when she saw he’d saved her phone number with emojis next to her name. “I feel like when I save people with emojis,” she said, “it’s because they pique my interest.”

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (33)

5:07 A.M.

Nostrand Avenue and Bergen Street

Rasheem Pitman, 27, is originally from the Bronx but left for Alabama as a teenager, and has traveled back and forth ever since. Mariam Mekuria, 29, splits her time between Portland, Ore., and Brooklyn. She works for Nike; he works for T-Mobile, designs clothing and volunteers with children. They first met on a plane from Atlanta to LaGuardia. “She caught my eye,” said Pitman. “I have a thing for Ethiopian people.”

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (34)

8:40 P.M.

Nostrand Avenue and Quentin Road

Lynn Buckman and Dominick Madden were celebrating Buckman’s 40th birthday with a costume party at the Knights of Columbus Hall. They’ve been together since they were both 16; Madden proposed two years ago. “We’re technically not married,” he said, “but we’ve been together 23 years, we have three kids. Marriage is just a piece of paper, but that is going to happen, that will happen soon.”

The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (35)

5:19 P.M.

Nostrand Avenue and Farragut Road

Barbara Seaman, 31, has been married to Sheikh Shakeem alá D. Muhammad 1st, 70, for twelve years. He was born on Nostrand, and is now the superintendent for a building on this block. Seaman knew him from around the neighborhood when she was a child — he used to walk her across the street — but she first “noticed him,” she said, when she was eighteen, watching him repair an awning. They have three children together.

Wayne Lawrence is a photographer and the author of “Orchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera.” Pia Peterson is a photo assistant for the magazine.

Love City: 24 Hours of Romance, Lust and Heartache in New York

  • The Hearts of New York
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  • 1:04 AM Clinton Hill
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  • 2:17 AM Staten Island
  • 3:30 AM Mount Eden
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  • 5:15 AM Astoria
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  • 2:42 PM Chelsea
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  • 6:16 PM Red Hook
  • 7:54 PM Richmond Hill
  • 8:37 PM Bed-Stuy
  • 9:21 PM Flatiron
  • 9:25 PM Bronx Center
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  • Love Lost

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The Couples of Nostrand Avenue (Published 2018) (2024)

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