By Max Abelson 12/18/06 12:00am

The Walentas Family

Back in 1979, developer David Walentas was hanging around one of his earliest buildings—the Silk Building at Broadway and East Fourth Street, which he later converted into condominium lofts.

“I was talking to one of the kids, one of the flaky kids,” Mr. Walentas said—meaning the hipsters that hung around Silk before Britney Spears and Read More