X

Get to “No Your City” With Larry the Birdman


March 30, 2015 | Prachi Gupta

No Your City,” the 8-part mini-documentary series that profiles some of New York City’s interesting “street characters,” is back for a second season. It opens with Larry the Birdman.

If you frequent Washington Square Park, you’ve probably seen Larry with pigeons in tow, but do you know his story?:

“I went to prison for 20 years because two guys broke into my house and murdered my wife and kids on December 20th, 1986. I caught them in my house and handcuffed them to my front yard and I worked them over with a piece of led wrapped in leather, and worked them up…from their ankles to their neck and them I chopped their heads off with a steak knife.”

“The birds help keep me normal. I am not violent anymore,” he says. “My childhood was messed up. Nobody interacted with me.” The birds, he says, help bring joy in peoples’ lives.