in the second half of the 1990s, the neighborhood saw an influx of yuppies and an explosion of expensive retail boutiques and trendy restaurants and bars. after previous unsuccessful tries to pitch the neighborhood as part of soho, real estate promoters and others came up with several different names for consideration of this newly upscale neighborhood. the name that stuck, as documented in an article on may 5, 1996 in the "new york times" city section debating various monikers for the newly trendy area, was "nolita", an abbreviation for north of little italy. this name follows the portmanteau pattern started by soho (south of houston street) and tribeca (triangle below canal street).