Palermo Soho

The buildings are cracked with vines of trees growing atop window cornices hold bits of facade together. Skinny/Tall metal and wooden doors punctuate the low one-story buildings with a showy presence indicative of a prosperous neighborhood, but now betrayed through neglect- rusted and chipped. The streets are still broad though and the trees have grown full. Light filters through the large tree canopies bringing the summer temperature down several degrees. Far from the main boulevards and lush with vegetation the air is free from much of the diesel smog one finds throughout the city.

It is a neighborhood that has gone full circle and now stands poised to take advantage of its obsolescence. Encouraged by low rents and the area's character designers and inventors have been moving into Palermo Soho for the last decade or so. They work in the backrooms and courtyards of these old houses and use their front rooms as showrooms.

One benefit of the 2002 economic meltdown was that for the smaller designers the marketplace was awash in cheap talented labor. With the multinational companies gone, the little guy found his day and Palermo sprang to life with tiny shops each of great creative vision and uniqueness. Today it is a mixture of crumbling buildings and sleek storefronts, each an adventure to look through their wares and to meander through the backrooms and courtyards.