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The Early Days

Before the rise of punk, rock, and all that,  Lily opened up a small herb shop on Extra Place right behind what would eventually become CBGB. Amongst the old-timers, street fires, and back-alley fans was a wood-paneled drug store. Simple in name: Essential Herbs. 


For a decade and a half, Lily sold to her regulars and lingerers from nights so long they met cold mornings. It didn’t matter who came through her door they were met with a smile and a promise of some kind of remedy. The energy in the shop was: get on board. Hang for a tea. Don’t linger too long and definitely don’t be an ass to the staff. She had everything from medicated salves for the roadies with cracked palms to fire cider for your auntie uptown fighting off a cold. From time to time she was even known to have a bag of California grass that some chopped hair rocker would enjoy between sets. 


You might not find crystals to realign your chakra at EH but you certainly would uncover a stack of radical environmentalist magazines and clippings from the chaos in the news urging you to leave this world better than you found it. Lily told anyone who would hear her that they held the whole earth in their hands, every damn inch of it. And, she would say, the power is theirs. People make shit happen. People can heal themselves, and people can teach other people how to do the same. We think the world is melting now, she thought the world was melting then. In this digital iteration of her legacy we renew her plea.