Images by Kristen S

If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, shots of desolate streets in Italy, and a nearly empty Times Square at night, have starkly told the tale of the sheer magnitude of the coronavirus lockdown.

But a set of images sent to BlackBook by an amateur photographer colleague struck us as particularly jarring. On a sunny Thursday afternoon in New York’s Soho, the streets were literally deserted—completely, and utterly devoid of human life…or even automobile traffic.

Soho, for those who might be unfamiliar, is one of downtown NYC’s most vibrant shopping neighborhoods, often coming under criticism for its rampant over-commercialization these last couple of decades—after being a haven for artists and galleries back in the ’80s and ’90s. But instead we now see boarded up Coach and Dolce & Gabbana shops (Louis Vuitton did it a bit more stylishly), and a lonely picture of Fanelli Cafe, a Gotham legend dating back to 1847, with its graffiti’d security doors pulled down for some yet to be determined period.

That it was a beautiful day in regards to weather only serves to emphasize the eeriness of it all.

Curiously enough, for those of us who have long complained about barely being able to walk down the street in Soho for the weekend crush of tourists, likely nothing would make us happier right now than to see those hordes return…and start shopping again.

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