After working in SoHo for almost a year now, I have learned a handful of the quirks that make this neighborhood, once an artist’s haven and now an affluent and bustling hot spot, the attraction it has become in 2013. Walking from the 6 Train at Spring and Lafayette Streets to the E train at the corner of Spring and 6th Ave four or five days a week, I notice a few key aspects of SoHo that have defined the neighborhood for me, and I realize there are a few stories to be told.
The tourists in the daytime, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, travel in clusters. They are everywhere. This “fourth” New York, keeping with the spirit of E.B. White, takes over. At nighttime, the yuppies infiltrate the streets. The cobblestone streets are filled with lavish boutiques and flagship stores, quirkier than their counterparts on 5th Avenue. Street vendors and canners are rampant. Both eccentric and traditional jewelry, TV and other movie manuscripts, art, and novelty gift items line the tables on Thompson, Crosby, Greene, Wooster, West Broadway, and beyond.
Some of the old-time restaurants and staples in the neighborhood that run into Little Italy and Nolita look kitschy next to the bright, minimalistic boutiques that carry high-end fashion items. Dr. Marten shoe stores and lavish Greek yogurt stores abound. These stores ooze excess, but where is the history of the neighborhood? I hope to find out more by conducting many interviews. It seems that the artistic nature of SoHo, now that many of the galleries are far and few between, has been preserved in the bold and often offensively attractive street art and accepted vandalism.
Several streets in SoHo seem to be caught in a time warp, while others look completely modernized. The recent “cronut” phenomenon at Dominique Ansel bakery has defined a part of the neighborhood since Mother’s Day, and high-end restaurants seem to be springing up every other day. I am interested in drawing connections between the beloved past of SoHo that the longtime residents may remember, and the tourist attraction it has become.
SoHo is so often covered for gentrification and boutique stores that it might be good for you to uncover some under-the-radar stories –things missed by the mainstream and even by the alternative press. I like the idea of a cro-nuts story. You might look into ACE New York for your community service piece and, as far as a conflict story is concern, there is always the continuing and changing saga of street vendors.
For historical background, you might want to read the SoHo Memory Project http://www.sohomemory.com or even to look through Illegal Living (www.illegalliving.com).
I have copy in my office.