CIMG0397 Crumbling house in Jonas Mekas alley in Uzupis, September 2005

Crumbling house in Jonas Mekas alley in Uzupis, September 2005

CIMG0397 Continuing down the Jonas Mekas alley, you pass this crumbling house on the right. I was taking this picture while facing the entrance, so the house is on my left.

CIMG0397 Continuing down the Jonas Mekas alley, you pass this crumbling house on the right. I was taking this picture while facing the entrance, so the house is on my left.

This passageway is called Jono Meko skersvėjis, which approximately means “Jonas Mekas alley” (it’s named after Jonas Mekas, a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet and artist of mid-20th century), but the name contains a pun that’s difficult to translate into English. In any case, back in 2005 the alley did not yet have this designation; it was just a passageway between crumbling, decaying houses. But as you follow it, it turns into stairs that go down all the way to the Vilnia river.

Užupis, Vilnius, Lithuania, September of 2005