Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
[NSFW] Naked Dining Photographer Is Just Getting Warmed Up
By
Nell Casey
Published Jul 11, 2013
Modified Jul 11, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
View all 7
By
Nell Casey
Published Jul 11, 2013
Modified Jul 11, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A single image of a topless woman inside an Alphabet City restaurant caused quite a stir on the internet this week—doesn't take much, does it?—and now the photographer responsible for the risque photo shoot has come forward. Los Angeles-based photographer Allen Henson reached out to us yesterday to talk about the reaction to the photo shoot, which he says was completely unexpected. He also revealed that this was just the first in a photo series using nude models in a public setting. Getting naked in public for art? Now we've seen everything!
So how did this all come together? I'll say up front that I really had no idea there was a story on this. I woke up this morning and someone was like, "Hey man is this you?" And I was like, "What the hell?" No idea. She'd just come in. It's this five part series I'm doing and I said, "Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's do something crazy." So we went and took a walk and found what made sense. We stopped at Odessa first and no one was there, it was kind of empty. And then we ended up at a sushi restaurant and everyone was super excited like, "Oh this is fun!" The management was plugged in, the patrons were having a good time. It was a really fun attitude, very like the neighborhood. Novelty, artistic. And it came out really cool. We tried it again and obviously it didn't work out too well. [laughs]
You said you didn't plan this, but have you done this kind of impromptu naked photography before? Every now and then I'll embrace spontaneity and if something makes sense we'll be like okay let's do this. I was sitting there and I'm like, "Oh my God. Look at all these people. Look at this very unorthodox location. Hey, take your clothes off. This is going to be wild." We started snapping pictures. Then the second place, that was all of seven seconds. As soon as her shirt came off, by the last frame I took it was a picture of the manager's hand in front of the camera. Which is actually a great image that you couldn't replicate if you tried. It's so funny how much can happen in seven seconds.
(Allen Henson)
Did they explain why they wanted you to leave? Yeah, and I totally get it. We're not disillusioned or taken aback that we couldn't shoot. It's private property, they own this company, they pay rent. I get it. It's not consistent with their branding and they're like, "Oh great, naked people. Get out of here." So I get that. I know legally women can walk around topless, that's the law. But private property…I get that, it makes sense.
[The manager] said the words Family Restaurant and then after the fact, after reading one of these articles, I didn't realize that oh, wow, roll of the dice. A couple of times we happened to get naked in public and there's a whole table of Jehovah's Witnesses behind us. Awkward! What are the odds? So I get it, I see how that would be a precarious situation.
This is a five part series and this is only the first day and this all occurred. If this is day one, they're going to have helicopters out by day five! It'll be nuts! It's nothing special, it's kind of cliched. But it's that juxtaposition of nudity in very uncommon situations. Obviously you don't go to a restaurant, sit down next to someone naked and say, "Oh what are you having?"
What was the reaction of the diners at the sushi place? Were they weirded out or going with it? What you normally expect, everyone pulled out the cell phones and started taking pictures."Yeah, this was awesome!" Everyone was pretty plugged in. The management…when they first walked over I'm like, "Oh, here we go, we're screwed." But they actually looked at the back of my camera and were like, "Oh that's pretty neat!" They were totally just like, "Yeah, that's cool, let's do this."
Tagged
allen henson
cheyenne lutek
naked dining
NSFW
Nell Casey
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Published Sep 12, 2026
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
Food
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian
By
Robert Sietsema
Can a congressional candidate's dumpling diplomacy win over Queens’ immigrant communities?
By
Caroline Shin
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .