Less Art and More People: SoHo

SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, as defined by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on August 14, 1973, was bordered by Houston Street to the north, the easternmost portion of West Broadway to the west, Crosby Street to the east and Canal Street to the south.

On May 11, 2010, the Commission extended the neighborhood’s eastern borders to Centre and Lafayette Streets, and included on West Broadway what was once excluded.

The borders of SoHo may have grown, and its buildings extended upward. But the picturesque, albeit narrow cobblestone streets, remain the same size. And the population density has only increased. SoHo is a crowded neighborhood, and there has been both opposition and support as the historic artist’s colony-turned-shopping mecca has evolved into an area more saturated by pedestrians over the past decade.

Bob Gormley, District Manager for Manhattan’s Community Board 2, ascends from the R train subway station at Prince Street on Broadway every day to walk to his office at 3 Washington Square Village. Gormley has held this position since 2006. Before being elected to the board, he worked at the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Community Board 2 covers Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Hudson Square, and Gansevoort Market.

“It’s always crowded down there, and it’s even busier now for the holiday season,” said Gormley, hands clasped atop a conference room table in a Washington Square Village building. He acknowledges that there are an enormous number of street vendors in SoHo, which lend themselves to crowding on the streets. “We’ve been asking the city to make sure that all the food vendors have proper permits … it’s a safety thing.

Gormley, a graduate of CUNY Hunter College and later of Buffalo State Law School, says the competition of street vendors and a “crush” of pedestrians makes for a crowded neighborhood. “We are in no way in opposition of street vendors,” said Gormley, “but we have been asking the city to ensure that street vendors are complying with regulations.”

“They go where their clientele is; the sidewalk,” Gormley added. He is also aware that officers from the 1st Precinct, which encompasses SoHo and its surrounding neighborhoods, have begun to hand out tickets for vendors’ violations in Hudson Square in the past months for not complying with street regulations. Hudson Square is often referred to as “West SoHo.”

Seymour Miles, 63, lives on the Upper West Side and has worked in SoHo since 2007. He is a real estate broker for Corcoran Group Real Estate, whose offices are on Broadway in SoHo.

“Let’s put it this way,” Miles said with a tall Starbucks coffee cup in hand, “I don’t walk on Broadway anymore. Why? Because Broadway sucks.”

Miles, referring to the section of Broadway that cuts through SoHo between Crosby and Mercer Streets, described the small transformation he has seen since he began working in SoHo.

“I think more people are walking on Crosby now,” he said, one leg resting on the other inside Starbucks on the corner of Crosby and Spring Streets. “I think people are realizing how much cooler Crosby is than other streets. There are still small stores on Crosby, not like the big box stores around here.”

Miles was referring to the large chain stores that have moved into SoHo, which was once dominated by independently owned shops and galleries. Among the chains in the neighborhood, a 25,000 square feet-wide Old Navy sits on Broadway between Broome and Spring Streets, a Chipotle Mexican Grill is located on Spring Street between Crosby and Lafayette Streets (at what some would call the very eastern border of SoHo and becomes Little Italy), and an Apple Store occupies the corner of Prince and Greene Streets. SoHo wasn’t always a conglomerate of tour buses and boutique stores that have drawn in hoards of tourists from all over the globe, though.

“The area has totally changed since we moved here in 1974,” said Judy Blum Reddy, an artist and longtime SoHo resident. She lives on Wooster Street. In the 1980’s and 90’s, SoHo was full of bars and clubs, recalled Reddy, who mentioned it was a lot like the neighborhood of Chelsea. When the noisy bars and clubs disappeared, the neighborhood became quieter and had less nightlife. Since then, walking tours and other daytime activities have become the predominant leisure.

Reddy, a Queens native, returned to New York in the 1970’s with her husband, printmaker and artist Krishna Reddy, after living in Paris, France for some time. She believes SoHo is practically “unrecognizable” and a “destination, not a neighborhood.” Reddy mentioned the irony of finding it difficult to walk her dog on congested SoHo streets when she sees hired dog walkers with eight or nine dogs at one time. So overrun by tourists in crowds on walking tours (which she likes because they promote the history of the neighborhood), Reddy rarely frequents stores and eateries in SoHo.

“My daughter moved to Carroll Gardens,” said Reddy, “they have more room there. [My husband and I] don’t eat in this neighborhood. We go to Brooklyn! They’ve got the Fairway, Trader Joe’s, Italian food and bread and cheese stores. We don’t.”

In 2011, the city’s Department of Transportation released a “pedestrian volume index,” showcasing that the sidewalks of Manhattan are indeed becoming more crowded. In an elaborate chart, the department highlighted fifty of the city’s busiest intersections. Although a SoHo intersection is not explicitly noted in the list, lower Manhattan intersections such as Broad Street between Beaver and South William Streets are noted with growing pedestrian volume. Overall, the city’s index grew exponentially between 2007 and 2011: from 367,935 pedestrians at the fifty select intersections at select hours in 2007, to 416,648 pedestrians in 2011.

Ron Smyth, who works in media, has an office in SoHo. He believes that SoHo is “delightful” to walk through in the morning, “…around 8, 9, 10:30 in the morning.” Smyth pointed out that we have a growing number of hotels in SoHo, naturally attracting tourists and crowds. He mentioned the Crosby Street Hotel and the Mondrian SoHo Hotel, both on Crosby Streets, with roughly three blocks between them.

“SoHo is crowded, of course, because SoHo is where the world comes to shop. It’s delightful in the morning, but gets crowded in the afternoon,” said Smyth, 61, a graduate of the City University of New York and New York University Stern School of Business. He believes crowds and tourism is “great” and promotes commerce.

Vince Prezioso, a New York native, is co-founder of The Access Organization, a health and lifestyle group who matches members with doctor visits, pharmacies, and general care plans at discounted rates. The Access Organization’s office is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, but Prezioso often holds meetings throughout the city.

“We like to keep our meetings out of SoHo,” said Prezioso, “because it’s just so crowded. It’s not easy for trucks to get through the narrow streets and there are always lots of people around Lafayette [Street].”

Prezioso used to drive in from Yonkers to Manhattan for work, but finds it more difficult than he did when he began working in Manhattan in 2005. “It’s a little tighter to walk through, a little more difficult,” he said of the streets of SoHo.

“I’m not sure what the solution will be,” Gormley said of the crowding of SoHo, “maybe restricting vendors on any given street. The [sidewalk] space is there. But for now, I don’t know.”