Soho Monday afternoon April 2009

Sorry about the number of pictures but the diversity of shops and architectural styles is just breathtaking. When I first visited this neighborhood in the early 1970's there was hardly a person to be seen on the streets. A newspaper article described the main economic activity being the recycling of rags, paper and other low value kind of stuff. If that is true then this must have been the historical low point of the neighborhood because no one would have put up such beautiful and solid buildings with such low end uses in mind.Light manufacturing such as the garment industry, musical instrument manufacture, furniture factories, etc probably occupied these buildings in the gas light era. You can just see swarms of mechanics (the 19th century term for those who worked with tools) bustling about. Horse drawn drays with teamsters cursing and whipping their horses, the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd. Many of these shops probably displayed items made in the factories located in the same buildings (instead of selling goods made in China). Then there would have been many saloons, catering to these swarms of hungry and thirsty workers.

SOHO Monday Afternoon April 2009