Surviving on Jersey Street

On a notoriously crime-ridden strip in Staten Island, memories of the way things were, and visions of how they might again be.

Photos by Tara Israel

Beside a chatty pet parrot, a boa constrictor and a turtle, a large pit bull named Malo dozes in the corner of James Lee’s snug Staten Island apartment on Jersey Street. Malo shatters most strangers’ preconceived notions with his warm and welcoming nature, not unlike Lee, a burly, black twenty-eight-year-old security guard to the stars.