ABSTRACT
I f earlier American bohemias were portrayed as rebellingagainst bourgeois America, the denizens of early SoHo were likewise differentiating themselves culturally, if not so pointedly. The key word in defining their culture was “downtown,” which was meant to distinguish the SoHo world from “uptown,” which was everything north of Houston Street to some or 14th Street or 23rd Street to others. From big things to small, downtown was different. Even certain words were used differently downtown. Early on, Stephen Koch noticed that when a SoHo artist spoke of “work,” he meant his art. A “job” is what he or she did for money, usually uptown, if not farther elsewhere. “How is your work going?” was for many years a cordial greeting, referring exclusively to one’s art. It was also a blanket invitation to someone else to educate me, not only about themselves but art in general. As a single gent, I learned early not to date uptown
“professional” women who would invariably boast about their money, much of it wasted profligately, avoiding them out of a fear of acquiring contagious bad habits I couldn’t afford (although other artists succumb to them, to their regret).
