The SoHo Memory Project is a nonprofit organization that celebrates the history of SoHo with a focus on the years 1960–1980, when it was a thriving artists’ community. It chronicles the neighborhood's evolution, charting cycles of development and placing current-day SoHo in the context of New York City's history. Its aim in preserving the past is to help the present generation make informed decisions about the future. Founded by Yukie Ohta in 2011, the project began as a blog and has developed into a vast collection of stories told via conventional and unconventional media, including a digital archive of documents, photographs, videos, oral histories, objects, and ephemera. Although SoHo is most famous for its art and creative scene, the SoHo Memory Project focuses on the diverse families, businesses, and community groups that laid the groundwork for its becoming the upscale retail and residential hub it is today. SoHo history The area bounded by Houston Street to the north and Canal Street to the south is a neighborhood that has changed dramatically over a short period of time. That is part of what makes it such an important place to document and preserve according to Yukie Ohta, the SoHo Memory Project's founder, who says: “‘New York changes so much, it’s like instant nostalgia. It keeps changing in little ways and big ways. Everybody has their own New York, so that’s why I’m asking for everybody’s stories, because it’s not just one story.” Like most of lower Manhattan in the Colonial Period, the area that SoHo now occupies was farmland. It was part of a block of land granted to former slaves freed from the Dutch West India Company. It developed into a residential district, until, in the mid-1800s, commercial buildings began to replace the houses. It became home to high-end retailers such as Lord & Taylor, Arnold Constable & Company, and Tiffany & Co., which were followed by theaters and upscale hotels such as the St. Nicholas. The first of the now-iconic cast-iron loft buildings was built in the mid-1800s. New technology allowed the cast-iron facades to be manufactured at a foundry and then erected on site relatively quickly and cheaply. Small manufacturing concerns and brothels moved in, encouraging the emigration of the residential population. By the end of the 19th century, the area was dominated by larger manufacturers, especially textile producers and machine shops. It remained a thriving industrial neighborhood