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Trudy Kawami

Trudy Kawami
y.ohta
Mon, 04/05/2021 - 09:57
When did you live in SoHo?

1970s

Where did you live in SoHo?

I lived in a loft on Kenmare Street and spent many weekends wandering through SoHo enjoying the architecture. I had taken a course on American Architecture with a 19th century specialist while a grad student in Iowa and was thrilled to walk the quiet streets among those marvelous buildings. 

What was your occupation when you lived in SoHo?

Graduate student

What do you miss most about SoHo in the 1970s?

The quiet, the building facades in the sunlight, the cobbled streets and the sound of jazz swirling here & there. A magical timewarp with the 19th & 20th centuries melding together!

What do you miss least about SoHo in the 1970s?

No grocery store except for the Pioneer T-bone in Little Italy. Fresh fruit - fuggedaboudit!

If you no longer live in SoHo, why did you leave?

The rent was going up & my cousin who lived n Brooklyn said rent was really cheap there.  Been in Brooklyn ever since.

What is your most vivid SoHo memory?

The insane fireworks on July 4th put on by an ad hoc groups of locals in the center of the street

Is there anything else you would like to add to your profile?

I hate the way money has changed things. I don't mind that new people come and even new buildings, but the people who come now don't care about urban history, the people who lived there before them, much less the Common Good. They have no soul.