Product Description

This book exposes the meeting of art and real estate markets, the happy meeting between artists' demand for housing and city officials and homeowners who wanted to 'upgrade' their neighborhoods by private market means--and how those artists were used and abandoned by real estate developers and investors who were banking on rising property values.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #408317 in Books
• Published on: 1989-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 249 pages

Customer Reviews

Author's comments: what LOFT LIVING tells us about cities
When I wrote this book about the transformation of lower Manhattan a number of years ago, SoHo was already recognized as an artists' and a landmark loft district. Because of the many modern art galleries and the neighborhood's general ambiance of being "discovered," it also became a tourist destination. I wanted to explain the process of discovery--how derelict loft spaces attracted artists in the 1960s and 1970s, and through them, provided a cultural core for the commercial redevelopment of the central city. Did I predict that the art galleries would flee to another neighborhood, and be replaced by clothing stores and shoe boutiques? That rents would rise and struggling artists would be replaced by rock stars and rich people? LOFT LIVING lays the groundwork for these developments, exposing the connections between chic urban lifestyle, media hype, and real estate developers. This book was fun to write and, I think, prescient.

A Necessary Book
I thought it was going to be more about the adventures in loft living (or something like that), but it was about economics, politics, and class/race. At times, it was dry. However, I know it's a fairly classic text and an important read.