Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco. Frank Sinatra saw a man who danced with his wife in Chicago. And Liza Minelli said, “It’s up to you, New York, New York.” Even the hapless Crescent City has, “Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?”

Nobody ever wrote a song about Bridgeport. The third-poorest city in Connecticut, Bridgeport has long suffered the irritation of being the black sheep of Fairfield County, bumping up against neighbors who are the wealthiest in the state. Like a marriage long gone stale, the towns lie back to back, ignoring each other.

But southwestern Connecticut is now paying attention. Something is happening on Broad Street that is bringing a new glow to the battered streets. Artspace — a national company that buys up old historic buildings ready for demolition — acquired the old Read’s Department Store. The complex had been vacant for thirty years when Artspace took on the renovation project. Because the organization prides itself on “green building” — the building, systems, designs and construction are approached with the intent of minimizing environmental impact and reducing energy consumption — Read’s was turned into sixty-one healthful, light-filled, high-ceilinged spacious artists’ studios and residences. The rents in the new place, called Sterling Market Lofts, though most people refer to it as Artspace, are reasonable, too, ranging between $300 and $1,000 a month. And it didn’t take long for artists to turn it into a buzzing hive of creativity.

Even better, the new Artspace presence has cast a new influence over the neighborhood, where new galleries such as City Lights are starting to appear. “It’s the best thing that’s happened in this city in years,” crows Bridgeport Mayor John M. Fabrizi, who is happy to see new people moving into his city.

Artspace is not the first huge facility in Bridgeport to be taken over by artists — many factories have already been converted. But a high-ceilinged department store was especially well-suited to the task, and inspecting the freshly built interior walls you would have little idea that this was once a mecca for lady’s handbags, millinery and eau de cologne.

When Read’s first opened as a department store in 1857, the five-story, brick building was everything one could expect of an elegant emporium. The upper floors, now residential studios, used to be a vista of girdles, lamps and toys, as well as the Venetian Tea Room. Now it is an explosion of art of all kinds. And did we mention the parties? Well, the younger artists especially like to enjoy good things besides fantastic workspaces.

Wary of Bridgeport?

When art teacher Anna Chamberlin’s  marriage ended two years ago, she and her six-year-old daughter and infant son had no place to go. “At first I thought we would go to my family home where I grew up in Greenwich,” she said, “but after one night there I realized that was not going to work.”

So they moved around Fairfield County to one town after another. Then she learned about Artspace in Bridgeport. “I was a little wary of Bridgeport,” she says, “because I knew they didn’t have a great school system, but I thought we ought to try it, and when I saw the studio space, I was convinced.”

A painter and photographer, Anna Chamberlin helps to support her family by teaching at the Montessori school in Milford. “Since I’ve gotten my own place and a good job, I feel like I am finally standing on my own two feet.

“Artspace has made me feel good about my art. I had really lost sight of it while I was married; it was squashed out of existence, but people here are always asking, ‘What kind of art do you do?’ or saying, ‘Come see my work.’ It’s wonderful to be around creative, artistic individuals. And it really feels like a community. The day we moved in people were holding the doors and the elevator, introducing themselves; it was so welcoming. It reminded me of going to NYU as a freshman; there’s a dorm-like feeling in the building.”

An artist who has not exhibited in five years because of her necessary preoccupation with raising kids, Anna says her new community has inspired her to prepare a piece for the first of six exhibits. “Being surrounded by art helps me to fulfill that part of myself,” she says. “I also think it’s going to be a great influence on my children. Now that I have this much space, I’m going to prepare one wall for them to draw or paint on.”

Art in the Halls

Carol Leskowitz, a painter of large striking canvases and her husband, Joel, a documentary filmmaker, live and work in a spacious 1,600-square-foot studio/ home, which allows private studio space, a master bedroom and a large combined living room, dining room and kitchen. They moved from Seattle because they wanted to be near Joel’s extended family in Connecticut. When they learned from Westport friends Priscilla and Dan Long about the proposed Artspace, they immediately applied.

“We were looking for an artists’ community,” says Carol, who paints narrative portraits that depict relationships, “and this was the best one we found.”

The wide halls outside the studios are lined with some of the artists’ paintings, among them Carol’s larger-than-life painting of a white woman and black man seated on the grass facing away from each other as if it is a defining tense moment in a fraught relationship.

“It’s incredible living in a community with other artists; to be able to just walk across the hall and talk to a friend about what you’re working on,” she says. “I’ve had wonderful critiques from some of my fellow artists here, which have really pushed me into making my work less ‘surface’ to where I now have a greater commitment to form.”

Carol claims her artistic style is evolving as a result of having moved into Artspace. She is in transition from realistic paintings that depict a specific emotional moment between two people to more abstract pieces that explore what she calls “the gap between consciousness and matter.”

“All the resources we could want are in this building,” says Joel Leskowitz, whose documentaries have featured Joe Namath, Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass, Doug Henning and Al Gore, among others, “to accomplish whatever we want.”

Now working on a series of corporate-training videos for such companies as Citibank, GE and American Express, he has employed some of his neighbors, such as a video engineer who helps him with shooting, an animation filmmaker who is cutting a trailer for him and a fledgling record company that is doing the music.

“There’s a spirit of sharing here,” he says. “Artists usually work alone in their studios, but the reason people are here inspires a deeper connection.”

The Motivating Dynamic

Mexican-American artist Yolanda Petrocelli was at first surprised at being around so many ambitious women. Now, after having lived in Ridgefield and Westport, she has grown comfortable with the home, studio and social environment that has brought a new flowering to her photography and art.

Aisha Perez, a sometime model, was able to fire up a new fashion business here called Amore Couture, specializing in evening wear and wedding ensembles. “Being around all these artists is a big motivation for me,” Aisha says.

Another who treasures the stimulation is sculptor Andrew Davis — the son of Joel and Carol Davis of Westport — who served his artistic apprenticeship in Kentucky and then Italy. Although Andrew has worked in all sculptural mediums, he is now concentrating on stone. “I love to quarry my own limestone from a quarry in Canaan, Connecticut,” he says.

“It’s great here because there is so much energy,” he adds. “When I had a studio in the Berkshires, it was a long haul to meet and talk to other artists. Here I just open the door and step into the hall. I can have solitude when I want it and I can choose to speak to another artist whenever I wish.”

Comedian and Teacher

Actor, writer, dancer JoJo Wilcox is an assistant teacher at Bridgeport’s Barnum School. He is working on a one-act play about the great Frederick Douglass while pursuing a teacher’s certificate. After graduating from Bridgeport’s Sacred Heart University, he studied acting with the Harlem Theater Company and also did some theater work at Yale’s School of Drama.

“I just finished a film called Six Niggers in a Cadillac, which examines the ‘N’ word, and we’re planning to take it to Sundance,” he says. “I usually get cast as a drug dealer or a gangster, but I really consider myself a comedian.”

Wilcox claims that living in Artspace is expanding his world. “It’s been one of the best blessings,” he says, “and it is giving me great confidence to explore things I wouldn’t have explored otherwise. For instance, my neighbors Kelly and Roland Becerra are filmmakers who are getting some of their films ready to take to major film festivals and they have introduced me to a couple of new opportunities.”

A resident of Artspace’s fifth floor, which has become the community’s throbbing social center, Wilcox says they give terrific potluck suppers for which everybody brings something and to which everybody in the building is invited. “We light candles; some of the musicians perform; sometimes we barbecue or each person brings salads or desserts,” he says. “I usually bring the wine or sodas. It’s a lot of fun. We’re also in the process of starting an Artspace recreation club where we’ll take weekend trips for movie nights or openings in New York or trips to Long Island on the Port Jefferson Ferry. When artists aren’t working on their crafts, they need an escape.”

Wilcox sees Artspace as a life-changing scene for him. “I’ve made connections here that I think will be lifelong, and it’s giving me confidence as an actor that is making me want to reach out — put my foot into it. It’s making me think maybe I’ll go to Los Angeles next summer and try for television.”

As to its impact on the greater community, he says, “We are it. We are a major part of the beginning of the renaissance of Bridgeport.”

One of his fifth-floor neighbors and a prime mover in the active social life is professional marketing writer Pam Lacey, who is also a metal and clay artist and jewelry designer. Pam moved from a 400-square-foot studio in Wilton to the luxurious 1,150-square-foot space she now has at Artspace. “I realized everything was about to change,” she says. “I used to work for Kraft Foods as a specialist in new product development.” She is now developing a Japanese bonding material that can amalgamate pure silver or gold particles and then burn the bonding material away in a kiln. “My other studio was so isolated,” she says, “and here every day I am having conversations about what exhibits are coming up, new gallery spaces. Sometimes I can hear the bass player next door practicing or the piano downstairs. It’s being part of like-minded people; the creative brain.

“I love this. There is a feeling of optimism, energy and momentum here — a forward movement and I feel very fortunate to be among the first artists to experience life here as Read’s itself is reborn and transformed.”

Kelly Becerra, a young artist  who  recently won a grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism for her digital collages, shares her 1,600-square-foot studio residence with her husband, Roland, a painter and filmmaker, who has an MFA in painting from Yale’s School of Art and who also shares her enthusiasm for the building’s vibrant social life.

In addition to coordinating the revolving exhibitions in the main floor galleries, the Becerras are among the most creative party givers. “We had two variety shows in our studio last year,”  the high-energy and gregarious Kelly reports. “We made a stage out of packing pallets and hung a red curtain twenty feet across and all the performing artists performed. We had go-go dancers, singers, musicians and something we called ‘stupid boy tricks,’ which were all kinds of stunts.

“I’d talk to a wall if nobody is around,” Kelly adds. “In addition we give parties every time we open an exhibit and every time the Playhouse on the Green opens a show. We have potluck suppers, barbecues, Thanksgiving dinners and other times we just hang out together at the local bars. We’re all doing two jobs; one to pay the rent and the other is our art, so we try to keep each other on track with what we really want to do. It’s awesome.”

Norwalk’s Big Loss

Bridgeport’s gain is Norwalk’s loss. When Norwalk real estate developer Bill Kraus learned that the former Norwalk Lock Company, a 100-year-old building which had been turned over to artists for living and working space, was to be taken away from its residents to be turned into a parking garage for the Maritime Center, he began researching nonprofit development entities that were known to rehabilitate historic buildings for artists.

“The National Trust Historic Preservation Commission in Washington, which has a real estate development division, referred me to Artspace in Minneapolis,” he says. “I felt this was a project that should be done. I felt it had real economic development potential that could strongly benefit Connecticut.”

To pursue his vision, he had to find the right combination of local and financial support as well as the right building site.

“When I saw Read’s,” he says, “I realized that would be the right building in the right location, near the train station, the library and Housatonic Community College, to turn around downtown Bridgeport.  The building was slated for demolition and I also realized we had to work quickly.”

Enlisting the enthusiastic cooperation of State Senator Bill Finch and his Bridgeport Development Corporation, which is an affiliate of the Bridgeport Regional Development Council, they started to raise predevelopment funds from the business and foundation communities, putting together $50,000 in four months. Ultimately, they raised $800,000, which, with tax credits and low-credit loans, provided the $14 million the project would cost. The tax credits come from people who need tax shelters and invest in projects like this for tax breaks.

“I will do whatever I can to make sure this project is successful,” Kraus says, noting that he now has eighteen other downtown buildings surrounding Artspace that had been slated for demolition and are now slated for redevelopment. “I want Artspace to have as large a catalytic impact as possible.”

Senator Finch, whose district covers Bridgeport, Trumbull and Monroe, describes the challenges of a city like Bridgeport as being a small land mass with just fifteen square miles with a population of more than 100,000. “So we’re totally dependent on property taxes to pay for government,” he says. “When the idea of converting Read’s to housing came to us as part of Bridgeport’s development plan, we shopped it around very quietly because the housing here doesn’t bring enough taxes.

“Eventually we got the City Council to turn the building over to us for $1. The Artspace survey on the property came back stronger than any they had ever done in their eighteen projects.”

“It means a lot of things,” chimes in Mayor Fabrizi. “The artists who are living there have already reached out to downtown businesses and are planning all kinds of events, like cabaret nights and concerts; it’s bringing diversity into the city. And we’re now in preliminary discussions with Artspace to do another building in Bridgeport.”

Another Artspace would be a good thing, considering the number of inventors and artisans there are looking for an affordable place. Just last year the residential studios established in the former Remington Arms complex on Barnum Avenue were shut down, forcing a number of artists to find new locations.

Finch is so passionate about the renovation of Read’s, he claims to go down four times a week just to touch the walls. ”The positive impact of this will go well beyond its walls and well beyond the $14 million it cost. What makes America great is its creativity in its art and industry. This building is dedicated to creativity.”

With all this lovely harmony in the air, Bridgeport might yet get its first love song.