After a recession slow down, the outdoor mall that is SoHo is back, baby. The Times today looks in on the area below Houston and finds the area bursting with shops and shoppers—the last few months have seen more than twenty stores, both regular and of the pop-up variety, open in the area with many more coming. And it isn't just that the stores are opening, clever marketing has meant almost everyother day there seems to a block-long line for this or that hot new thing. more ›

SoHo restaurant Lola, located on Watts Street and forever plagued with problems, has shuttered. The Observer reports that owners Tom and Gayle Patrick-Odeen have lost after a "longstanding struggle, which took on racial overtones, spurred multiple lawsuits and mounting legal bills [and] ultimately resulting in the business filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy." SoHo Alliance director Sean Sweeney was on the opposing side of the establishment, and represented the part of the community that, according to Lola's owners, feared it would be "a tipping point to turn Soho into another Harlem," and mislabeled it "a black, hip-hop club." This all came out in a sprawling piece on the restaurant in December's Black Enterprise magazine. Meanwhile, while talking to the Observer, Sweeney "liked to joke that he was secretly prejudiced against Swedes," saying, "They're so blond and beautiful." more ›

The Apple store in SoHO has become a magnet for lines, whether it's for the new iPhone or a big act performing in their intimate space. Seems the SoHo Alliance isn't happy with the company congesting its sidewalks, and the NY Sun reports that "the last straw came when thousands of teenage girls poured onto the streets en route to an in-store Jonas Brothers concert." Amongst the list of complaints were screaming teens, blocked traffic, and allegedly one resident was injured in a "crush." On any normal day their complaint list includes: "Apple employees lounging, eating, smoking, littering — in effect, trespassing — on nearby people's stoops." The Alliance has written a letter to elected officials airing their complaints, and they believe the store's performances are violating zoning laws. In the end, they want the "irresponsible" corporation to, you know, simply end sidewalk congestion. Time for the Apple geniuses to start an urban planning committee? more ›