Posted on Jun 10th 2021 at 2:55 pm by Carol Tannenhauser
Ethan “Freckles” Tailor. Photos by Bobby Panza.
By Bobby Panza and Carol Tannenhauser
Ethan Freckles, 29, is no ordinary person who experiences homelessness; in fact, he would argue about whether he is homeless at all. He prefers to say he is “homeless”.
He usually wears clean, sporty clothes and is well-groomed, though sometimes without shoes; his long red hair and beard often look damp, as if he has just taken a shower. He is well spoken. He graduated from high school and spent a year at Community College in South Carolina, where he grew up the son of a physical therapist and tree care company owner. They were “very religious Christians” and homeschooled Ethan to protect him from “outside influences”.
After college, he worked as a promoter for a nightclub in Los Angeles, where he initially lived outside.
“I was surfing the couch in LA for about a month and then ran out of space, so I just slept in front of a library,” he said in a recent interview with WSR. His real name is Ethan Schneider. “That was really scary,” he said. “The first night I wasn’t sure if anyone would come and try to steal my things. I had a nice MacBook and some clothes and things and I didn’t know what it would be like. It was hard to sleep, but I knew I needed it, so I hung out in the library for the first week. I listened to audiobooks and didn’t eat much, but at some point people noticed I was there and said, “Hey, there’s a blackboard over there.” I thought, “Can I get food?” And I was in the races. “
Ethan’s stuff.
For the past few years, Ethan has lived on Columbus Avenue, between West 74th and West 77th Streets, usually under a shed on the sidewalk, in front of an empty storefront. It was on the southeast corner of 74th and Columbus lately, in front of a former bank, and its “footprint” kept growing as its range of purchased goods increased.
“I’ve been working on learning how to live without the dollar,” he said. “Life without currency is like an extension of my radical independence, because I think the less I communicate with others, the more I rely on myself or on everything I can find. I think everything that ends up in the trash is fair game. In an urban environment where people hunt and gather, the game is fair. I mean because it just ends up in the landfill and is wasted, and you know, garbage is is is is horrible, especially when it comes to food waste. And that’s when I got around to looking in the trash in grocery stores and all that. It is really unethical to waste food. “
As of last week, Ethan’s “finds” had spanned half a block. A quick inventory includes luggage, a sleeping bag, a plastic porta potty, a few bicycles and a cart, compost bins, a camping suitcase with side stencils “Ethan Freckles”, numerous plastic egg boxes filled with clothing, solar panels and other unidentified items that are covered with tarpaulin. Ethan was often seen sweeping in front of his belongings and passing the time talking to passers-by.
Not everyone appreciates their presence. Ethan was the subject of many calls and discussions at the NYPD’s 20th community meetings. “He’s taking advantage of the city,” a woman who lives on West 74th Street between Columbus and Central Park West told WSR. “It’s really an eyesore and it’s blocking the sidewalk.”
“I can’t just store my things on the sidewalk in front of my building,” said a man on 83rd Street.
“Some people want to talk to me and they come to talk to me,” said Ethan. “If you don’t want to talk to me, go away. And on rare occasions I tell people to get away from me, but I realize that nobody on a public sidewalk really has the authority to order anyone to go anywhere. And this is how it works. “
Path.
Until Friday, June 4th, around 9 p.m., when police officers and Department of Sanitation staff arrived at 74th and Columbus and loaded all of Ethan’s belongings into a van. Representatives from the Department of Homeless Services sat in an unmarked gray Prius and watched.
The weekend was a fog of confusion and uncertainty for Ethane and ESR. Reporter Bobby Panza was working on a profile of Ethan just before his world collapsed.
That Friday night, Ethan slept where he usually does, in the same spot on Columbus Avenue. On Saturday morning he texted Panza that the police had told him that his possessions had been “vouched” and that he had three days to pick them up in Midtown before they were taken to Queens.
“Just because some neighbors are complaining doesn’t mean they have the right to push me around and take my things,” he said via text message before signing out. “I’m fine, but pretty tired.”
Ethan was still there early Saturday afternoon when a woman came up to him and asked what he was doing now that his belongings had been taken. He replied that he was going to Midtown to pick up and return the vouchers. And that’s what he did. How he got them to Uptown is a mystery – as is what happened to them a second time, a few hours later, when they disappeared again.
Here is an excerpt from Panza’s interview with Ethan.
