Dishing with Sixth Street Studios

Interviews and photos by Diane Daly

ixth Street Studios sustains an artist enclave that’s as solid as the cured concrete walls surrounding it. Last month, I interviewed them.

The most important question of each interview was,”How would you like to see the future of these warehouses handled, and by whom?” Their answers were all similar: David Aguirre should manage these warehouses because, as Ismist phrased it, “He knows the pulse of this place.” Beyond that, most want the warehouses to be artist-run. And Otto Reality added, “if rents go up at all, the entire dynamic of this place is going to change.”

Most Common Answers

Favorite quality about your warehouse: Summed up best by Gavin Troy: “The collective creative community” of other artists.

What you’d like to change about your warehouse: The lack of permanency they feel at the studios; the deafening horns of the trains, for which Gavin Troy hopes to develop “an acoustical tile to absorb the sound.” Many hope to clear cars out of the courtyard and replace with landscaping and outdoor workshop space.

Artist there you most admire: Gwyneth Scally for her work and for her work ethic, David Aguirre for his “gentle communication,” Flam Chen’s stylish fire performances, and Tucson Puppet Works’ senses of family and “I can’t believe what they get away with!” humor, were also favorites.

The Artists and Interview Highlights

1. Matt Cotten, painter and member of Tucson Puppet Works, there 2 years

Favorite quality: Everyone here is living a rejection of mainstream people. We’re always making mockeries of different people, so strange people are a resource. I love that there’s a guy dressed as a woman doing tricks on a BMX in front of my studio.

Role: Doing workshops outdoors, bringing life to the neglected corners of the property.

Favorite experience there: When we transformed the parking lot into the midway for a kids’ carnival.

2. Gwyneth Scally, painter, there 6 years

Favorite quality: The enormous, beautiful space. Also: walking out of my studio and seeing fire spinning

Role: To legitimize the place; to put my work out there in a career-oriented fashion.

Favorite experience: Flam Chen’s performances after the All Souls’ Procession.

3. Otto Reality, painter, there 3 years

Favorite quality: All the timeless characters. I was talking to Gavin the other day; I would mention a name and he would just burst out laughing.

Doesn’t like: With artists you have to be focused sometimes, and accept other people’s space when they have to focus. It’s humbling not to be said hello to.

Role: A crazy cousin that’s always on the outskirts of events.

Favorite experience: My first time at David Aguirre’s little feast after Open Studio Tour, an experience we’d all shared. That was the first time I said, “I’m in the right place.”

4. Hornita Day Job, one sweet bitch, there 4 years

Favorite quality: The wild parties, the drunken nights, and all the uber-hot residents.

Would change: There’s a few people that stare at me with less than absolute admiration.

Role: French Maid. Or maybe German Nurse.

5. Jeff Collins, BICAS mechanic, there 4 years

Favorite quality: I like Pasqualina’s Mural; I like that this place is a home for BICAS.
Would change: All the drama.

Role: Master Break Taker. I’m really good at it; I could do it all day long. Also, I weather storms. A lot of people leave when it gets choppy; I stick around.

6. Charles Swanson of Tucson Puppet Works, there 2 years, involved much longer

Role: We’re the family-style entertainment; a multi-generational venue lends legitimacy to the whole area. With our high-profile location here, we’re also sort of the flagship of our building.

7. Mario Lizarazu, BICAS mechanic, there 7 years

Role: The charity part. BICAS is a place that low-income people can get what they need.

8. Ismist aka Bill Ziebell, multimedia artist, involved 4 years

Favorite quality: Everything that goes along with getting ready for the All Souls’ Procession.

Doesn’t like: That a lot of street punks and drug addicts know about this place. And I wish ADOT would put more money into it.

Role: I’m the one person here who knows a little more about digital technologies.

9. Ezequiel Leoni, metalsmith, there 2 weeks

Favorite quality: That the building is close to resources. That eventually I can ride a bicycle here.

Would change: Everything outside my space is run down. Concrete chunks everywhere; stuff against the fence.

Role: I’d like to be in charge of keeping the yard clean. Changing the stereotype of bohemian, unorganized artist. If we are artists we are the right people to make the place look good.

10. Hortense, puppet, there “about 6 inches”

Favorite quality: I don’t like it here.

Doesn’t like: Low wages, long hours, and no fucking respect. The other puppets get to sleep peacefully in their milkcrates while I make money for these people. I’d rather eat human feces.

Would change: The color of this studio. Lime green crossed with cheerful lavender makes me want to puke.

Role: Kaiser.

Most admired artist: Dude, the Guitar Gooroo bro! Besides, have you seen his hair?

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Beneath Wood, Brick and Steel: a Look at the Warehouse Districts of Four American Cities

by Phyllis Cook & Mae Lee Sun

hat makes a city sing, hum and vibrate with enough action and variety that it’s considered a great place to live, work and play? For cities such as Austin, Cleveland, Providence, and Pittsburgh, many would say it was the energy that radiates out from the shops, cafés, galleries and residences that make up their colorful warehouse districts.

Although different in size, economics, and history from one another, these cities have discovered that adaptive re-use of old buildings can create destination locations and a thriving downtown economy. Other common ingredients include a significant residential base and solid infrastructure to keep these districts rockin’.

In Austin, touted as the “live music capital of the world”, the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association in the Warehouse District focuses on the need for more quality housing. The Community Redevelopment Project proposed the development of up to 95,000 sq. ft. of office/retail space as well as new work/live loft units and single-family housing. Added to that are the dozens of existing restaurants and businesses, galleries, an already proposed city library, the Austin Museum of Art and numerous other cool and funky places that constantly attract visitors.

The Warehouse District bursts with entertainment and arts activities, but visitors and retailers alike often complain of traffic congestion, insufficient parking and high rents. Some retailers have opted to move out, leaving the district prone to “mono-culture” says Mike Knox, a principal planner for the city, adding that the only businesses left who can afford it are typically the bars.

Not all cities have seen their warehouse districts develop as arts districts. Former industrial space in Cleveland’s emerging warehouse district--which is significantly more vertical than Tucson’s--is being converted into rather upscale residential and commercial uses . . . while Pittsburgh’s Strip District has more of a working class atmosphere. Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar is a local favorite, and has been open 24 hours a day since the 1930s.

Knox feels that an even bigger challenge the district faces is general upkeep of the land which he says is becoming increasingly expensive. “Although the infrastructure is in place, it’s also very old and needs to be upgraded. We are finding that redoing the streets is half the cost and the other half is redoing the utility work under the streets. There is planning underway to address other needs such as additional parking structures, wider sidewalks and streetscaping.”

In Cleveland, Tom Yablonsky, executive director of the successful Historic Warehouse District, deals with different infrastructure issues. His focus has been on fostering a strong public/private partnership in reworking building codes and development policy to make the Historic, the Flats and surrounding warehouse districts a success.

“We have taken a grassroots approach to the development of the Warehouse District that is based on economic strategy and design. Our focus is on historic preservation, adaptive re-use and mixed-use and working to change building codes to make districts like this more doable. For example, if an old building had a dead-end corridor inside, modern building codes would essentially lead to it being demolished, leaving a standing shell. Some architects believe that’s what they have to do. They don’t look at alternative building codes, which exist in many states, that would lend itself to an economically successful rehab vs a gut rehab. Educate your own infrastructure of people who will know what to do in the long term, such as architects, lenders and building code officials so that your development projects don’t become a sea of parking lots without character.”

And character is not something an industrial city like Pittsburgh is lacking in, yet with a declining population and tenuous financial base, the city could certainly be faced with dilution of character. In comparison to Cleveland’s warehouse districts with their trendy restaurants, art galleries, jazz clubs and upscale loft apartments, “The Strip” as it’s affectionately known, is a true melting pot of ethnic food stores and restaurants, with a sprinkling of hi-tech companies, non-profits, produce and meat companies and museums.

Bob Reppe, zoning administrator for the City of Pittsburgh, says that the Strip is the poster child for other districts in that its success can primarily be attributed to enacting zoning that allows everything except for the extreme ends of the land use continuum. “To make it successful, we tailored the zoning to encourage the continuation of what was already there—a range of mixed-use and residential properties with the exclusion of single-family and heavy industrial. We’ve taken a hands-off approach because the area has done fine on its own. There’s no limitation on what can be there.”

And Reppe’s not kidding. Just ask Toni Haggerty, manager of the famous Primani Brothers restaurant or Demetria Fortunes-Cefola of Fortunes Coffee Roastery. Haggerty and Reppe have seen it all as part of two businesses that have been in the Strip since the 1930’s and 50’s respectively. They attribute the success of the area to community loyalty and patronizing the same establishments year after year. Says Haggerty, “There is so much history here. The trucks came to deliver the produce and before that the trains. Now with the Heinz History Center and the new convention center, it’s brought in 60,000 new people from just one of the events they had.”

Fortunes-Cefola appreciates the fact that many businesses have been handed down for generations and that locals are so loyal to their roots. “I don’t know if you could re-create the Strip in any other place. Other cities may try but they tend to create something more upscale and don’t have the character of Pittsburgh. We have something for everyone. Activities go on well past midnight. The Starbucks crowd is not the same crowd that generally sustains the place.”

Realizing the importance of sustaining projects for successful urban revitalization, the city of Providence, Rhode Island, with a population of about 180,000, created a Department of Art, Culture and Tourism (DACT), for its downtown warehouse district. As part of that effort and to encourage urban transformation, Mayor David N. Cicilline announced the creation of a $100,000 revolving loan program available to area artists for operational-related expenses. He also launched a new city website to support the DACT as well as unveiling a three-part downtown development strategy for Providence: a week-long summit of business, government and community leaders led by internationally renowned architectural designers to focus on ways to develop an east-west artery; a comprehensive analysis of the city’s economic base with an in-depth look at what drives the downtown and city economies; and an overall development plan.

“Most of all, we must link our economic development plans to those who need it the most—the residents of our city who have the furthest to climb up the economic ladder, “ Mayor Cicilline proclaimed. This is a rather unique statement for a city whose revitalization efforts thus far has spawned an IMAX theater, award winning restaurants and bars, not to mention that it’s the only major city whose entire downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Yet the Mayor is clear that responsible stewardship of the city’s finances heads his agenda and that ethics reviews have resulted in contract information, once available for the privileged few, have now become available on-line.

As hip as warehouse districts are, there doesn’t seem to be one winning recipe for success as Austin, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Providence have collectively shown. Unique to each city are those factors that create a sense of place that defines the city. It’s why we live in or visit them. Yet each example demonstrates that nothing successful is accomplished without great vision, effort and support from the city and community.

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