soho

Prince St and Broadway

On the NW corner is the Guggenheim SoHo, more rebellious than its uptown sister museum, though entering through the bookstore adds the right merchandising flair. Across Broadway is Armani’s A/X, Eddie Bauer, William Sonoma, Pottery Barn - all recent additions to what was once a down at the heels warehouse district. Fight the crowds into Dean and Deluca, a trendy New York food/style emporium/coffee bar with what seems to be as many branches as McDonalds. Take a Deb tip and wait til 7PM when they start marking down all their high priced fancy produce, first 20, then 30, then 50% off. Rounding out the intersection is Kate’s Paperie, the place for all things stationery, beautiful hand-made books, and our wedding invites.

Soho Stroll

Walk down Prince St over to West Broadway, down to Spring St, then back up Greene or Mercer Sts. Along the way, you’ll see the old cast iron factories, occupied illegally at first by abstract artists in the 1960’s and 1970’s because of their large spaces and good light. Now, the streets are the first stop on every stylish European’s grand tour of America. Soak up the atmosphere at Jonathan Morr’s Coffee House cum gallery, as well as Jerry’s on Prince St, or Felix at Grand and Broome. Check out the books at Rizzoli and postcards at Untitled on Prince St. And of course, see what’s shaking up the art world at the Castelli Galleries, The Drawing Center, Exit Art, Paula Cooper, Larry Gagosian, Ace Gallery, the New Museum, Barbara Gladstone, and the Museum of African Art.

Dia Art Foundation

The Dia Art Foundation owns two ‘only in New York’ experiences in SoHo. They’re open to the public W-Sa after noon. The New York Earth Room is at 141 Wooster St on the 2nd Flr. The Broken Kilometer is at 393 W. Broadway. See them both and let me know what you think.

Also check out:
Portico Home, Commes des Garcons, Beau Brummel, Platypus, Zona, Ad Hoc Housewares, Agnes B, Otto/Tootsi Plohound, Morgane le Fay, Robert Lee Morris, A Photographers Place, Art et Industrie

Fanellis Cafe
A SoHo mainstay before there was a SoHo. Classic tavern food at prices not too bad for the neighborhood. Prince St/Mercer

Brothers Barbeque
Before they moved, Brothers was known for the scene in ‘Goodfellas’ where Joe Pesci’s pounds someone’s head with a baseball bat. Now in new digs, it’s still the place for down-home barbeque and the most interesting bar clientele in the city - ad people, models, old printing press operators, and the occasional bum. 

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december 1999