This article is such a mess. It’s talking about 1950’s 80’s and early 2000’s (with reference to “but 15 years on”) so is basically generalizing half a century in a few paragraphs.

Across all these periods of time large parts of Manhattan had relatively cheap property. Soho/Tribeca were probably favorite spaces for studios compared to other parts of Manhattan because they included non-residential buildings with huge open spaces with higher chance of natural light.

15 years ago the greatest density of NYC’s new artists were probably found in Williamsburg for some similar reasons, today they’ve been priced out and are probably more likely to be found in Bushwick. In 2035 they’ll probably be centered in some other neighbourhood.

What the author fails to mention is the enormous number of artists that died during the AIDS epidemic.

I know this is just fluff to provide something in between advertising of the NYT magazine, but this is exactly why I’ve cancelled my subscription. GAH!