Atlantica - 01.09.2003, Page 20

18 A T L A N T I C A
weekend sticking to a small stretch of
Manhattan. That is to say, a stretch lead-
ing from the whitewashed, cobble-
stoned designer world of SoHo, through
Little Italy and China Town, to the Lower
East Side, which used to be considered
one of Manhattan’s worst slums. On this
2.5-kilometre-wide slice of NYC,
between the Hudson River and the East
River, you can sample the whole wide
world in a single hour’s walk.
It helps to carry a wallet thick with cred-
it cards with a healthy credit line if you
plan to do anything more than window-
shop in SoHo. Here you’ll find all the top
designers: Ralph Lauren, Prada, Marc
Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood, Chanel
and Helmut Lang, to name but a few.
The restaurants aren’t bad either, or the
hotels (The Mercer, 60 Thompson and
SoHo Grand), but the same rule applies
here – you have to be willing to part with
loads of cash to conduct regular busi-
ness here.
But SoHo hasn’t always been this way.
Little more than three decades have
passed since the neighbourhood was in
rapid decline. The stately iron-clad
buildings were all deteriorating due to
the migration of light manufacturing to
the suburbs. Left behind were huge,
empty floors that artists found perfect
for studios and homes. It was in the
Scenes from SoHo, clockwise from left: down Green Street; enjoying the night at Felix; street vendors hawking their goods on West Broadway;
kicking back on West Broadway.
early seventies when city authorities
finally admitted that hundreds of artists
lived in housing that was officially only
recognised as commercial. Realising
this influx was a chance to save the
area, city officials began granting per-
mission for changes in zoning status.
They did, however, make it a prerequi-
site that the prospective inhabitants
should be artists. It was in this way that
SoHo grew into an artist’s colony locat-
ed in the middle of Manhattan.
Today SoHo is one of the most expen-
sive and sophisticated neighbourhoods
in New York, and although there are still
a few artists residing in the area, many
of them have sold the lofts they bought
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