On January 1, 2026 SoHo Memory Project turns 15!
I thought this would be a good time to look back at the many ways that SMP appeared out in the world (i.e. outside the confines of this website) over the past decade and a half. In addition to the stories, oral histories, images, films, and archival documents that appear on sohomemory.org, an ever-expanding digital repository that represents our collective memory of artists’ SoHo, I’ve taken SMP on the road (literally, via the SMP mobile museum), and into the classroom, lecture hall, and a few unexpected places.
The first five years of SMP were spent getting the word out about the project, gaining the trust of audiences and contributors, and gathering archival documents from the folks who pioneered artists’ SoHo. While this work continues through today, years five through ten were spent working with constituent communities through partnerships with organizations that support SMP’s mission and by interacting with the public through presentations and lectures. I also spent a good amount of time fundraising and speaking with media outlets. For the past five years I have been much less visible, working “behind the scenes,” creating a robust digital archive that lives on an expanded website.
Looking ahead, I plan to spend the next five years pulling it all together. What will that look like? Growing the digital archive? Finally getting that book idea off the ground? I know enough not to make any specific promises, but one thing I can promise is that I’m not finished, there is more to come!
And in the meantime, let’s take a stroll down SoHo Memory Lane….
2011
SoHo Memory Project Begins
SMP begins as a WordPress blog on 1/1/11.
2012
SoHo Life Magazine
SMP founder Yukie Ohta writes a series of articles about SoHo for the short-lived SoHo Life magazine, including this one about McNally Jackson founder Sarah Mcnally.
2013
Living Lofts: The Evolution of the Cast Iron District
Yukie’s article about the evolution of SoHo, written to coincide with the re-opening of Judd Foundation’s restored building at 101 Spring Street, appears in Urban Omnibus Magazine.
2014
Archivism as Activism: The Preservation of SoHo
SMP sets out to collect an archive of SoHo history centered on activism and preservation. This archive is now housed at The Patricia D. Klingenstein Library of The New York Historical.
Read the 2014 post that started the ball rolling here>>
2015
SMP Raises $20K for Mobile Museum
SMP raises $20,000 in 30 days via Kickstarter to build a Mobile Museum that navigates the bustling urban environment of today’s SoHo while showing us a glimpse of its past. Using unconventional media, the museum chronicles the evolution of SoHo from farmland to high-end retail hub, charting its cycles of development and thus placing current day SoHo in the context of New York City’s history.
Find out more about the Mobile Museum here>>
Read about the 2015 Kickstarter campaign here>>
2015
The Memory-Keeper of SoHo
Yukie is named the “Memory-Keeper of SoHo” by SoHo’s own Kyle Spencer in The New York TImes.
Read all about it here>>
2015
StoryCorps
StoryCorps invites SMP for a day of recording. Six pairs of SoHo old timers came by to share stories at the StoryBooth recording studio down in Foley Square, and the recordings are now preserved and archived in the American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress.
Listen to excerpts from the conversations here>>
2015
MAS Summit
Yukie speaks about “The Smells of SoHo” at the 2015 MAS Summit celebrating Jane Jacobs hosted by the Municipal Arts Society at the Times Center.
Watch her talk here>>
2016
SoHo Stories
A Neighborhood Oral History Project
SMP teams up with The New York Public Library to record 51 StoryCorps-style oral histories about SoHo, now preserved at The Milstein Division for U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy.
Listen to the SoHo Stories here>>
2016
Jane’s Walk
Yukie leads a tour of SoHo history for the Municipal Arts Society’s Jane’s Walk, a neighborhood walking tour that takes place in hundreds of cities each year to honor the influential urbanist and activist Jane Jacobs.
2016
The Leonard Lopate Show
Yukie appears with Aaron Shkuda and Jared Bark on WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show to discuss “How Gentrification, Industry and Art Have Transformed SoHo” to coincide with the publication of Shkuda’s book The Lofts of SoHo.
Listen to the conversation here>>
2016
Residency with the SoHo Arts Network
The SoHo Arts Network receives a grant from Humanities New York to host SMP at five of their member arts organizations: JUDD Foundation, The Drawing Center, The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, The Storefront for Art and Architecture, and The Center for Italian Modern Art.
2016
JUDD Foundation
To kick off SMP’s residency with the SoHo Arts Network, Yukie presented the SMP Mobile Museum at a series of four ticketed public sessions at JUDD Foundation that included a lecture and a “tour” of the museum.
2016
The Drawing Center
The Drawing Center hosted the SMP Mobile Museum in their lobby bookstore over the course of two weekends in February and March.
2016
The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation
The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation hosted SMP outside their building and upstairs with a dinner for 50 guests and a lecture by Yukie about SoHo history via the Mobile Museum.
2016
Storefront for Art and Architecture
Storefront for Art and Architecture hosts the SMP Mobile Museum on a busy Saturday afternoon in June.
2016
Center for Italian Modern Art
CIMA hosts the closing session of SMP’s residency with the SoHo Arts Network. This free event included a lecture by SMP founder Yukie Ohta, explaining the genesis of the project and sharing stories from the sessions at the various SAN sites.
2016
Studio Visits
Classes from Princeton, Parsons, and Sotheby’s, among other schools visit the SMP studio to learn about SoHo history and the mobile museum.
2017
Marte Profile in The Villager
Yukie profiles Christopher Marte, candidate for New York City Council Member for District 1, which includes SoHo, for The Villager (now AMNY).
Read the profile here>>
2017
Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York includes an item from the SMP Archive for its show “Mastering the Metropolis: New York and Zoning, 1916-2016”
2018
New Website!
SMP launches this website that includes stories, a digital archive, interactive features, and more.
2018
SMP in the Classroom
Yukie returns to her alma mater, Stuyvesant High School, to teach high school students about the sights, sounds, and smells of old SoHo. She also presented her work to classes at NYU, Pratt, the iSchool, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2018
SoHo Block Party
The SMP Mobile Museum makes an appearance at the SoHo Block Party on Sullivan Street.
See photos here>>
2018
Gucci Screening Room
SMP curates a series of short films about SoHo for the Gucci Screening Room at the Gucci SoHo store.
2019
Culture Trip Magazine
Yukie and SMP are featured in Culture Trip Magazine. Read the online article here, or the print article here.
2019
The Soul of SoHo
Yukie and SMP are featured in The Soul of SoHo, Culture Trip’s first original short film, which premieres at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin. The film compares and contrasts three SoHos, in New York City, London, and Hong Kong through its people and places.
Watch the preview here>>
2020
The SoHo Memory Project Documentary
Directed by Or Szyflingier, SoHo Memory Project is a documentary film that artfully (and concisely!) captures the who, what, when, where, why, and how of SMP from its inception to its future, all the while telling the story of SoHo’s transformation from a declining manufacturing zone to an artist community to a retail hub.
The film premiered at DOC NYC and was also included in the Asian American International Film Festival.
Watch the film (14 min) here>>
2020
In Vogue: The 1990s Podcast
Yukie is interviewed for the segment “NYC: The Rise of Downtown,” about the rise of American fashion in and around SoHo, along with Claire Danes, Isaac Mizrahi, Donna Karan, Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs, among many others.
2021
GESSO GPS-Guided Audio Tour
SMP launches “SoHo: A Retrospective,” a free GPS-guided audio tour of SoHo in collaboration with Gesso.
Click here to take the tour>>
2021
Christopher Marte’s Marathon: Going the extra Mile in Council District 1 Race
Yukie profiles Christopher Marte, current New York City Council Member for District 1, which includes SoHo, in The Village Sun.
Read the profile here>>
2021
SoHo Memory Project Wall at Uniqlo
SMP unveils an exhibition about the creativity and community that shaped SoHo into a neighborhood for generations of artists at Uniqlo’s flagship store on Broadway. The exhibit is still up, so stop by and check it out!
2021
SMP+Uniqlo
SMP and Yukie are featured in Uniqlo’s celebration of 15 years in SoHo through a magazine interview, a video, and much more!
2021
SoHo: A Legacy of Creativity
An article by Yukie about the creative legacy of artists’ SoHo appears in Uniqlo Magazine, November 2021.
Read the article here>>
2021
2021
NYPAP 2021 Preservation Award
SMP and Yukie are awarded the 2021 New York Preservation Archive Project Preservation Award. The award is presented by Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Village Preservation. Former awardees include Barbaralee Daimonstein-Spielvogel, Robert A.M. Stern, and Joan K. Davidson.
Read more here (p.3)>>
2022
NYPAP Archival Assistance Grant
SMP receives a New York Preservation Archive Project Archival Assistance Grant to digitize photographs and newsletters and to transcribe oral histories.
2023
The New York Historical
The SoHo Memory Project paper archive moves to its permanent home at the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library of The New York Historical where it will be processed, preserved, and made available to researchers.
2024
SoHo: Art and Memory in a Changing Neighborhood
Yukie presents SMP and speaks on the panel “SoHo: Art and Memory in a Changing Neighborhood” as part of the series Memories of Manhattan at the Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation.
2024
Today’s Subject and Yesterday’s Object: Yukie Ohta in Conversation.
Yukie is interviewed by Marian Chudnovsky at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA); Introduction by Agustin Schan.
Read the interview here>>
2025
SMP on Arté
SMP is featured on “Loft story, une historie new-yorkaise” for the show Invitation au Voyage on Arté, a European public media channel dedicated to cultural programming. Yukie is interviewed about the origins of loft living and the history of SoHo.
2026
SoHo Memory Project Turns 15!!!
January 1, 2026