Soho at a Glance:

• Before it was known as Soho, an acronym for SOuth of HOuston Street, the neighborhood has gone through several transformations over the years.
  
  
• From quiet residential neighborhood in the early 1800's to cast iron wonder of the mid-19th century — the area eventually became a raunchy sweat shop-filled 20th century slum otherwise known as "hell's hundred acres".
  
  
• As the factories and sweat shops were abandoned, artists & hippies quietly began moving in to the area in the 1960's, squatting in buildings without electricity or phone lines to establish a new bohemian enclave. Only a decade later, gentrification and skyrocketing rents forced artists out of the spacious loft apartments they helped pioneer.
  
  
• Today, the neighborhood is the epitome of New York "trendy" featuring upscale restaurants and wine bars, designer fashion boutiques and art galleries all centering around Prince Street. Although looked upon with a jaundiced eye by most natives, Soho is most popular with tourists and busiest on the weekends.
  
  
• Note: schedule your trip around lunch time. Harking back to its bohemian roots, most Soho stores don't open until 11AM.
  

How to get to Soho by subway: 6 train to Spring Street or N/R to Prince Street.

How to get to Soho by bus: M103 to Prince and Bowery or M6 to Broadway and Prince Street.

More about Soho around the Web:

Soho Photo Tour

SoHo - Wikipedia

Soho store & restaurant map