Mary Ellen Cagnassola Wrote About One Of The Remaining Independent SoHo Businesses

For Hell Gate, Mary Ellen Cagnassola wrote about “one of the few remaining independent SoHo businesses from the 1970s and the iconic couple that started it all.” 

Cagnassola told Study Hall about her reporting process and the origins of her article. She said, “Earlier this year, I stumbled into a SoHo storefront called Paracelso and met its owner, Jeffrey Norfolk. What began as a chance encounter soon turned into weekly visits listening to Norfolk share his and his late wife Luxor Tavella’s history as unsung elders of Downtown Manhattan’s cultural transformation in the 1970s.”

She added, “The couple first opened the business on a whim when the neighborhood was transitioning from a high-crime industrial district to a community of bohemian artists, some of whom would come to define the era. As one of the few shops serving the new demographic, Paracelso evolved into a clubhouse for the countercultural milieu — becoming a third space for William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and more.” 

Cagnassola’s writing has appeared in People, Money, Newsweek, and other outlets.