SoHo Memory Project

Celebrating #SoHo past / present / grit / glory Share your SoHo story with #sohomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Unpainted sheetrock walls were the norm in SoHo back in the 60s & 70s. SoHo lofts, with their open space allowed artists to work. Cosmetic concerns came later.
1: Artist Robert Duran’s loft in 1975 (📸 @thornton_willis)
2: Zoe in bed, age 4, ca. 1972 (📸Donald Gangemi)

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Top 10 quirky things about everyday life in 1970s SoHo:
#8 You dragged your trash to the nearest place that did trash pick up...then dragged stuff home from the trash to furnish your home or to make art. Please contribute to our Legacy Campaign today! https://t.co/IeC2j8zEhR

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Don't forget to look up if you're walking down Broadway, Mercer, or Crosby south of Houston. Check out these banners celebrating the "Spirit of SoHo," featuring me and my sister on our SoHo "stoop" when we were little, ca. 1975. Sponsored by @SoHoBroadway and @Uniqlo.

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Broome Street Musicians, 1979
The story behind the photo: Ellen North rented a cheap apartment in Little Italy when she was in her 20s. She came to SoHo to go to Miya & Yoshi, when she took this photo. 📷1 by Ellen North, ca. 1979📷2: A Miya & Yoshi coat like the one Ellen bought

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Top 10 quirky things about life in 1970s SoHo:
#9 You did a lot of climbing. Many buildings had freight elevators, but often they were not on the ground floor when you came home.
Please contribute to our Legacy Campaign today! https://t.co/8OizpohDxV

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Who knew there used to be an art fair here! Love the cars. Yes, not SoHo, but SoHo proximate.
📷1 via NYC Nostalgia, an outrageously fantastic Tumblr page with what must be thousands of great photos (https://t.co/C0f1ltcpuY)

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Today we are launching a special fundraising campaign to ensure SoHo Memory Project’s long-term legacy. Please contribute to our Legacy Campaign today, because SoHo Memory Project’s Legacy is (Y)OUR legacy! For more info and to make a donation, visit https://t.co/5IX75CyTtu

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Top 10 quirky things about everyday life in 1970s SoHo:
#10 You did a lot of yelling. No one had doorbells, so you had to scream up to a loft to let someone know you were there (and they would then throw you a key in an old sock so you could open the door).
📷Jody Saslow, 1976.

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Spring Street looking east from West Broadway, 1974
Remember Spring Street Natural when it was on Kenmare? On Lafayette? Its original location was on, you guessed it, Spring Street at #149. #SoHomemory
Photo: Robert Weinreb

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West Broadway at Broome Street (SW corner), 1974
Photo via NYC Nostalgia, an outrageously fantastic Tumblr page with what must be thousands of great photos (https://t.co/C0f1ltcpuY) #SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Recreation of a Brigada Ramona Parra Mural, 1973. Read more about the Sept 11, '73 civic-military coup that overthrew the Chilean democracy and sparked protest in the US, including the visual arts: https://t.co/RGDD8VkBdP
(📸: Alfonso Barrios, @archivesamerart)
#SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

This building on Prince Street has seen better days, maybe back when it housed a billiard hall. I wonder how much they were asking for it in 1923. #SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Dave’s Corner (SE corner of Broadway and Canal) at night, date unknown. Photo: Charlyn Zlotnik via NYC Nostalgia, an outrageously fantastic Tumblr page with what must be thousands of great photos (https://t.co/C0f1ltcpuY) #SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Dancers on Fire Escape in SoHo, 1972. I wish we still saw stuff like this in the ‘hood! Photo: Robert Weinreb
#SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Librarian, author, and critic Jesse Karp and I grew up in SoHo at the same time, born just days apart, but we somehow never met. In this month’s guest post, Jesse looks back at how SoHo had a hand in shaping the person he is today. Photo: Robert Weinreb https://t.co/wnrHAN04Nl

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

From the SoHo Memory Project Archive: A selection from a set of around 50 “baseball” cards where all of the players are artists.

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Remember this place? The slightly overpriced outdoor salvage store on the northeast corner of Houston and Elizabeth (in NoLiTa). What was it called again? I LOVED looking around at their signs and their odd assortment of antiques. (Photo: Grégoire Alessandrini)

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Remember this scene from the movie GHOST? The moment when Patrick Swayze becomes a ghost on Crosby Street near Prince. (Photo: Paramount Pictures, 1990) #SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

All white! Southeast corner of Prince and Greene in the 1970s (photo: Gil Amiga). I love the ad for the pinking shears up above. #SoHomemory

[SoHo Memory Project @sohomemory]

Welded sculptures by Bobby Bolles where Watts and Broome and West Broadway intersect, looking east. You can see the Broome Street Bar, where Bolles was a regular, in the background. (photo: Robin Forbes, Archives of American Art, 1975) #SoHomemory