Marlon really loved Soho. I was there today. I sat on the curb where I could see Housing Works Book Store where Marlon volunteered when he was 15 for quite a few months, and where we went to see The Moth story telling a couple of times. I could also see Houston Street, a street he and I crossed often. When we first moved to New York, Marlon learned Jiu Jitsu a couple of blocks up from Houston. His friend Oscar lives near there, we bumped into him walking a few years ago. It was the winter of 2020, dark and cold – maybe even snowy – and Oscar came stalking along with a couple of friends. We had a small chat. Do you remember that, Oscar? You probably have plenty of stories of Marlon in Soho. We went to Angelika’s cinema there often to see things – Marlon loved theatre and got me there often. I went into REI, today – right there on that corner – where I bought Marlon some hiking boots for India in 2018.
Soho was one of the first Manhattan neighborhoods that Marlon was familiar with. He loved Soho because of its history of art, music, and the Avant Garde. He loved it because of Bowie, because of Warhol. He loved it because of Oscar.
Marlon Labovitch 