Bike Kill is a raucous annual block party that gleefully celebrates the anarchist spirit of the city. Mutant bicycles built by members of the Black Label Bike Club are available for anyone to attempt to ride, assuming you don’t mind taking a few tumbles and having moldy pita bread thrown at you. At the end, there is jousting.
Usually one learns where Bike Kill is through a friend of a friend. Everyone convenes at a dead end until the NYPD
decides to stop looking the other way. Saturday’s event, the 13th iteration of the party, was an all-ages affair inside a massive warehouse on Morgan Avenue. There was a flyer telling people where to go and what to expect, and Porta-Potties for people to relieve themselves. There were no police, and no serious injuries. The result was a kind of joyous chaos that felt inclusive and real and made you grateful to live in New York.
Text by Christopher Robbins. All photographs by Chris Jones for the Village Voice.
