So you see, last night’s brief trip evoked tremendous historical nostalgia. Meanwhile, the exhibition at the Grey Gallery at 100 Washington Square evoked its own kind of nostalgia. The place was packed with what used to be called “artistic types.”

I was reminded of the late 60s when a childhood friend of mine, fresh out of Yale School of Fine Arts had moved into a large loft on Broadway and Canal to begin his artistic career. The area had yet to be named SoHo but was burgeoning with art school graduates “illegally” (they were not zoned for residential) creating their farflung and spacious studios from the recently former manufacturing lofts that populated that part of town.

At the Grey Art Gallery of New York University for The Downtown Show; the New York Art Scene 1974-1984.

Interestingly, to this eye, the costume of the denizens then was the same as it is now – rustic, improvisational, thrift-shop chic, used clothing of quality that holds up, worn and adorning in such a way so as to identify the wearer’s professional identity and creative commitment, while at the same time eschewing any kind of uptown fashion convention.

1974 saw the enactment of the Loft Law which finally made it legal for all of these artists to live in SoHo’s former industrial spaces and so the golden hordes gathered – painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, performers, filmmakers, and writers, drawn by the very low rents (yes, believe it or not – my friend’s 3,500 square foot loft with 20 foot ceilings rented for $325 a month!).

The Downtown Show is organized in eight sections divided between two NYU venues – the Grey and the Fales Library. At the Grey are: Interventions, which examines how artists took their art to the streets; Broken Stories – a fresh look at the innovative and disjunctive narrative techniques of Downtown writer, visual artists, and filmmakers; The Portrait Gallery displaying likenesses of Key Downtown denizens that create a collective communal “portrait”; Sublime Time, exploring the period’s search for the sublime in the wake of minimalism’s reductive, formal beauty; Salon de Refuse, works referencing Downtown detritus used to create a “trash culture"; and The Mock Shop, comprising low-cost artist’s multiples, fashions and accessories featured in “stores” that sprung up in a number of influential Downtown shows.

At the Fales (which we did not see) are De-Signs, referencing grafiti and presents artists’ use of advertising’s shorthand signs and strategies; and Body Politics which features art works concerned with sexuality and identity.

The exhibition concludes with Ronald Reagan’s re-election and the rise of the East Village’s storefront art galleries. The show was designed to demonstrate how this crucial decade radically altered American art and culture. Viewing it, having lived during that time, it is curious to see how the wildly new, even radical, has settled into The Past.

The book is a tribute to Goin’s father’s enthusiasm for the same. It is full of references to her roots in the world of cooking as well as fascinating information, tips and recipes. You can almost taste the dishes as you read. And if you’re like me, you kinda wish you could just go into the kitchen and get started on a magnificent repast.

There were lots of foodies paying court and tribute to the elegant chef from West Hollywood, including Simon Doonan, Jonathan Adler, Jonathan Waxman (Restaurant Barbutto), Tom Colicchio, Coleman Andrews from Saveur, Sally Singer, Valerie Steiker, and Jeffrey Steingarten from Vogue (and Food Network), Tyler Florence, Jody Williams, Dana Cowin from Food & Wine, and Joe Bastianich (from restaurant Felidia).

From Otto we walked a few blocks more up Fifth, that part of which is also rich with architectural references to 19th century New York, such as the First Presbyterian Church, was which built in 1846 on the west side of the avenue between 11th and 12th streets and is still standing. One block south, on 10th is The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, built in 1841. When that church was redecorated in 1888-89, Stanford White designed the new chancel, Augustus Saint Gaudens created the angelic figures, Maitland Armstrong, a stained-glass artist provided mosaics, the church’s most important work, a painting of the Ascension was executed by John La Farge.

Also on Fifth and 8th stands a luxury apartment building called the Brevoort. In the 1840s, the hotel of the same name was built on that plot which belonged to the Brevoorts, a very old New York family who also owned a lot of acreage in the area.

By the beginning of the 20th century when nearby Greenwich Village was beginning to flourish as an art community, the Brevoort’s basement café was a popular hangout for Edna St. Vincent Millay, Isadora Duncan, Eugene O'Neill, and John Dos Passos.

Actors from the local Provincetown Playhouse (for which O’Neill wrote) would save for a month for one exquisite meal at the Brevoort. Theodore Dreiser, who lived in the Village often lunched there. Nathaniel West, author of Miss Lonelyhearts and Day of the Locusts lived there from 1935 to 1936, as did James T. Farrell when he was writing The Young Manhood of Studs Lonergan. The hotel came down in 1953 to be replaced by the present structure.

Norma Kamali and Stephen Sprouse designs

Across the street is one of the buildings of Parson School of Design (part of The New School University). Over there last night was the opening of their first exhibition to explore the same Downtown period in 20th Century American Design. This exhibition examines the interior, furniture, fashion and graphics design produced in the City from 74 through 84. Called Anarchy to Affluence: Design in New York 1974-1984, it will be on view at the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries at 66 Fifth from today until April 2nd.

“The mid-1970s to mid-1980s were a time of anxiety and uncertainty in New York – the city experienced economic crises, crime levels peaked and the very first cases of AIDS were detected,” said Christopher Mount, director of the exhibition. Many of the artists and designers of that time who were considered avant-garde are now mainstream, so great was their impact on American popular culture.

We ran into Judy Auchincloss who opened the first high-tech furniture and accessories store – called Ad Hoc – in 1976 on Lexington and 64th (later moved downtown). Two women who were doing a book on the design phenomenon and who also worked for New York magazine at the time – Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin, happened to come into the store on the second day it was opened. It was perfect for their project and perfect for the magazine edit, and so they did a piece in New York on the place. That immediately turned Ad Hoc into one of the hottest design stores in the City. A real New York story. The store stayed in business in 2002. Last night Kron and Slesin were also there and JH got a picture of the three women together for the exhibition, with their book and with some of the merchandise that Judy Auchincloss sold in her store – now collector’s items.

Again, it was interesting to peruse the exhibit with awareness in memory of the times in which these designs were avant-garde, far-out, what have you. I was quite proud of the fact that I recognized Norma Kamali’s creations and recalled the hipness of the store called Parachute. It is also a reflection of a time that even in retrospect was not so innocent and was imbued with lurking shades of darkness, much of which remains with us.

The exhibit at Parsons begins with the birth of Punk, both as a rebellious style and form of music. The creative spirit of the City’s artists rose out of economically harsh times when the City teetered on bankruptcy and we were all used to seeing a lot of homeless people encamped on the pavement almost everywhere. It was also a time in which the Sexual Revolution was going full throttle, where all rules and customs were being trashed and desecrated, and often with the assistance of excessive drug use. It was a wild time that changed everything (and for good, despite the reactionary embellishments), but characteristic of New York, it was a time rich in creativity and change, all of which is now celebrated in these exhibitions at Parsons and NYU. Have look; you’ll be fascinated and stimulated too.