CREATIVE OZONE

An iconic artists’ community.

Anthropologist Chaiken turns her attention from villages in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to a unique vertical village in Lower Manhattan: Westbeth, the largest and oldest site providing affordable living and workspace for people in the arts. Drawing on interviews, oral histories, and archival documents, Chaiken, whose aunts and uncle lived at Westbeth, creates a vibrant portrait of the community. It opened in 1969, renovated by recently graduated architect Richard Meier from a maze of buildings, ranging from two to 13 stories, that once housed Bell Labs. In various-sized residences, tenants could configure their spaces according to their needs. The basement housed music and painting studios; the first tenant in one of the commercial spaces was the Merce Cunningham dance company and school. Prospective residents needed to meet low-income levels and provide three letters of reference from people in the same field. An evaluation committee included the director of MOMA, Julliard, the La MaMa Theater company, and established artists, such as Sol LeWitt and Elaine de Kooning. Soon, there was a long waiting list—some applicants waited decades for housing to open up. Well-known residents included poet Muriel Rukeyser, actor Vin Diesel, and photographer Diane Arbus. For children who grew up at Westbeth, the community, as one woman put it, seemed “kind of magical but also insane.” They witnessed drug use, mental illness, and “wildly dysfunctional families.” The area, blighted by urban decay, empty warehouses, and crumbling piers, was derelict and dangerous. Although residents feared break-ins and muggings, they cherished the immediate neighborhood of small shops and restaurants—a genuine village. Chaiken examines the impact on Westbeth of AIDS, Hurricane Sandy, 9/11, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the High Line, which has led to rampant gentrification. Still, the community flourishes.

An intimate cultural history.