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AADL Talks To: Peter Yates, Photographer

Peter Yates
Peter Yates

Peter is a professional photographer who started as a street photographer in New York and went on to work for national magazines and newspapers shortly after moving to Ann Arbor in 1969.

Peter reminisces about some of his memorable photography assignments; the restaurants and music venues he misses; the friends and colleagues who helped him; and his time working in Ann Arbor -- at Mark's Coffeehouse, the Blind Pig, and the Ann Arbor Observer.

Browse our Peter Yates Collection

The M.U.G. (Michigan Union Grill) in the 1950s-1960s

Although an affluent community like Ann Arbor was hardly the culture in which ‘The Beat’ movement (theoretically) thrived and was designed for, nonetheless the influence of ‘The Beats’ was present and very much felt in Ann Arbor back in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, student poets and hanging out.

The Folk Music Revival in Ann Arbor (Late 1950s - Early 1960s)

In 1957 freshman student Al Young and Bill McAdoo founded the University of Michigan Folklore Society. Al Young went on to become the Poet Laureate of California.

Mark’s Coffee House interior, 1973 Photographer: Susan Wineberg

Mark’s Coffee House interior, 1973 image
Year:
1973

Mark's Coffeehouse Chess Tournament, April 1972 Photographer: Cecil Lockard

Mark's Coffeehouse Chess Tournament, April 1972 image
Year:
1972
Published In:
Ann Arbor News, April 9, 1972
Caption:
Chess Tourney Ends Today: Concentration was evident yesterday as Keith Conrey (left) tried to entrap opponent Hubert H. Wyeth in the second Mark's Coffeehouse Open Chess Tournament. Watching the action at the first Congregational Church is Burton Grossmon. The tournament began Friday with 82 participants, final rounds were scheduled today. Included in the action was a computer chess program, called TECH, which found human competition a little too smart to handle. TECH lost its first round match, but the loss was attributed to lack of time. "It played a little too slowly," one person said.