Starting in the 1970s, the Lower East Side reinvented itself as an epicenter for cultural production and dissemination. The New Museum (previous page), a downtown culture-maker since 1977, erected a sleek new structure on the Bowery in 2007, making use of recent rezoning to rise ten stories above its low-slung neighbors (occupied, at the time of construction, by lighting stores, kitchen supply wholesalers, and the last Single-Room-Occupancy [SRO] residences for transients). The building was the subject of much local criticism and ultimately became a symbol of the continuing re-branding of the Lower East Side from run-down neighborhood to up-and-coming arts hub.
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