Early SoHo loft dwellers could obtain utilities illegally for free

Evidence

In 1965, enterprising urban pioneer Dean Fleming moved into a loft on Broome Street, off Mercer—LOMEX ground zero—painted it white, “tapped the gas, tapped the lights, tapped the water, got everything for free.” Don Judd camped out around the corner, quite possibly the only other resident in a one-block radius. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1012

Categorization

• QUESTION: Did ‘tapping’ utilities mean outright theft (illegal connections) or simply lacked metering because the buildings were zoned non-residential?
• SHARE: Anecdote for someone interested in how artists hacked urban infrastructure legally and illegally to make scenes affordable.