Listening to SoHo: A Day of Recording with StoryCorps
Back in October 2015, The SoHo Memory Project held a day of recording with StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate the lives of everyday Americans by listening to their stories. Six pairs of SoHo old timers came by to share stories at the StoryBooth recording studio down in Foley Square, and their 40-minute conversations were recorded by StoryCorps staff. Each conversation is unique and tells a fascinating story. The stories as a group tell the larger story of SoHo as it developed from an industrial area to a thriving artists community to a retail center. Below are excerpts from the conversations recorded by StoryCorps, which will be preserved and archived in the American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress.
SoHo Stories: A Neighborhood Oral History Project.
This oral history project is a partnership between The SoHo Memory Project and The New York Public Library. This project collects conversations with people who have lived or worked in SoHo, past and present. The recordings are available in a preservation archive at The Milstein Division for U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy, as well as on the New York Public Library website.
SoHo Stories: Video interviews with SoHo artists
Paul Tschinkel, an artist and filmmaker, is a long time resident of a SoHo. Over the years, Tschinkel has been an active member of the contemporary art community. He has been witness to the many changes that have transformed SoHo and its artistic life over the years. As an artist-turned video filmmaker, he recorded much of the art and music scene, including interviews with many SoHo artists.
More SoHo Stories
The SoHo stories in this collection include: Carol Goodden on how she came to open the restaurant Food, Betty Cunningham remembers opening her eponymous gallery, Ken Hiratsuka describes how he surreptitiously carved a SoHo sidewalk, bit by bit under cover of night, Ingrid Cusson remembers moving to SoHo, living on the Bowery, and working at Food, and Rene Moncada talks about his “I Am The Best Artist” murals.
