COMMUNITY STOREFRONT
THE CITY’S NEVER-ENDING GENTRIFICATION CYCLE
During the 1970’s, Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood started gentrifying, the artists and designers who “homesteaded” there moved to Manhattan’s lower east side, currently known as LES. Despite the economic hardship, decay and drug-related crime of the neighborhood, artists still moved there in search of larger space and cheap rents. The neighborhood became an example of urban decay and cultural cross-pollination. The resulting counterculture that emerged was fueled by the explosive music scene, nightlife, shopping and cafes.
Here we see depicted via the artist’s illustrations the neighborhood’s challenges of crime, drugs, political activism and the infusion of money accelerating the gentrification, all of which contributed to the strife and unrest of the time.
Rispoli photographed these images on a Saturday afternoon. When he returned the following weekend to document more, the storefront had already been demolished because of the ecomonic pressure driving gentrification.
