Soul Patrol

I usually don't have much use for Time Out New York, what with its vacuous, trend-sucking content, buzz-word journalism and general tone of wise-ass, self-amused, hipster irreverence. But I have to hand it to the editors for the current issue, whose cover story asks "Has Manhattan Lost Its Soul?" The issue does the City a service by pointing out to the willfully deluded and blinkered that New York has indeed been shedding the better parts of itself for a decade or more, and nothing has been done to halt the atrophy.

"New York has been dying, if not decomposing, for years," the intro to the feature reads. "These days, unless you live in Brooklyn or Queens, one block has the barber, but the next ten have nothing but Chase banks and Duane Reades." It goes on designate chain stores as sure "soul killers" of neighborhoods.

I'd have to agree with most of their choices of nabes that still retain city grit and personalty, though I'd put Chinatown in the number one spot instead of number two. Otherwise, Alphabet City, Inwood, Washington Heights, East Harlem—all good choice. (Lower East Side, Little Italy, I don't know.)

I also agree with their verdict that such once-great areas as Soho and Yorkville now possess virtually no authenticity. Soho, however, has one major mitigating factor in its favor: it's unique cast-iron architecture. As long as those buildings are there, Soho can lay claim to a wisp of a soul.