until upheaval in the post WWII period, when textile manufacturers moved to the South, leaving many buildings empty. Some were converted into warehouses or printshops, others were replaced by auto garages and parking lots. The quantity of fires in the 40s and 50s, along with the deserted streets when the workers left for the day, lead to the nickname Hell's Hundred Acres. In the late 1950s, artists in search of affordable studio space began to move into the neighborhood, in defiance of zoning laws that disallowed the buildings for residential use. Art scene The enormous, unobstructed spaces, cheap rent, and natural light attracted artists. The lofts allowed for a new way of living, where work and life, art-making and the social scene were all blended seamlessly together. Nam June Paik and Chuck Close were early arrivals. Someone recalls hiring a plumber and his assistant was John Cage. Ohta recalls playing on a giant piece of foam in their new loft, only to discover later that it was a John Chamberlain sculpture. Warhol, Haring, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, Basquiat—the names of (now) art world luminaries show up constantly in the SoHo Memory Project archives. The first documented artist cooperative was on Wooster Street, founded in the late ’60s by Fluxus movement creator George Maciunas, sometimes called “the father of SoHo.” It was home not only to visual artists; Laurie Anderson, choreographer Trisha Brown, and a young Betsey Johnson all spent formative years there. The artists attracted the galleries; Paula Cooper was the first to arrive, quickly followed by many more, including Sonnabend Gallery, 112 Greene Street (now White Columns), Leo Castelli Gallery, and The Kitchen. The SoHo Memory Project also memorializes smaller spaces now in danger of being lost to time, like the Museum of Holography or, more obscurely, Rick Parker's Barking Dog Museum. Much of the artwork produced in this period was ephemeral, experiential, or poorly preserved, so it has been the project of many archivists and art historians to recover and document what they can. The SoHo Memory Project archive reveals how inseparable the art scene was from the neighborhood and community. Lofts Ohta recalls the SoHo of her childhood: “When I was a kid, it really felt like a small town – or what I imagine a small town would be like. We didn’t have a single traffic light in SoHo. The kids played on the street, as there was