Address: 127 Prince Street

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Image Citation #1: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene New York 1970s. London: Barbican Art Gallery, 2011. Print. p57

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Image Citation #2: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene New York 1970s. London: Barbican Art Gallery, 2011. Print. p55

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Image Citation #3: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene New York 1970s. London: Barbican Art Gallery, 2011. Print. p16

Description: Food opened in late 1971 at 127 Prince Street (at the corner of Wooster). The restaurant opened and owned by artist Gordon Matta-Clark, and his girlfriend Jane Crawford. Food was, Soho’s first real restaurant. The restaurant was at the epicenter of the neighborhood, employing artists living south of Houston Street (Bernstein & Shapiro 175). Food opened in a converted Puerto Rican luncheonette and was immediately successful (Bernstein and Shapiro 175). “My goals were multiple: I wanted ‘the crowd’ out of my home, I wanted to show off my/our cooking to ‘the world.’ I wanted to have a place to eat with food that I liked that was open when I needed it to be, and I wanted to create a work place for artists that had no restriction on how many hours a day or days a week the artist worked so that they could be free to suddenly drop out as needed to produce their shows and still have a job when they through. It was successful on all counts. Food supported 300 artists during our reigh”, said Matta-Clark (Yee 18). For Matta-Clark, Food was an extension of his artistic practice, argues writer Lydia Lee. Prior to opening Food he created several works exploring the alchemical properties of food substances and roasted a pig for the neighborhood denizens as part of the Brooklyn Bridge Event in 1971, organized by Alanna Heiss (Yee 18). Today, Lucky Brand sits where Food once did. *A playgroup also opened in the basement of 127 Prince Street. The Playgroup was founded by Judy Reichler; it was a place where mothers with infants the same age would meet.

Description Citation #1: Pioneers of the Downtown Scene New York 1970s. London: Barbican Art Gallery, 2011. Print. p57

Description Citation #2: Bernstein, Royslyn, and Shael Shapiro. Illegal Living. Vilnius: Jono Mekas Foundation, 2010. Print.

Location: POINT (-74.0002000575514813 40.7256809102569903)