Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
dens, basketball courts, a trapeze school, food concessions and, best of all, a ribbon of a
cycle/skate/running path that stretches 5 miles up to 59th St.
Tribeca & SoHo
The 'TRIangle BElow CAnal St,' bordered roughly by Broadway to the east and Cham-
bers St to the south, is the more downtown of these two sister 'hoods. It has old ware-
houses, very expensive loft apartments and chichi restaurants.
SoHo has nothing to do with its London counterpart, but instead, like Tribeca, takes its
name from its geographical placement: SOuth of HOuston St. SoHo is filled with block
upon block of cast-iron industrial buildings that date to the period just after the Civil
War, when this was the city's leading commercial district. It had a Bohemian/artsy hey-
day that had ended by the 1980s, and now this super-gentrified area is a major shopping
destination, home to chain stores and boutiques alike and to hordes of consumers, espe-
cially on weekends.
SoHo's hip cup overfloweth to the northern side of Houston St and the east side of La-
fayette St, where two small areas,
NoHo
('north of Houston') and
NoLita
('north of Little
Italy'), respectively, are known for excellent shopping - lots of small, independent and
stylish clothing boutiques for women - and dining. Add them to SoHo and Tribeca for a
great experience of strolling, window-shopping and cafe-hopping, and you'll have quite
a lovely afternoon.
Chinatown & Little Italy
More than 150,000 Chinese-speaking residents live in cramped tenements and crowded
apartments in
Chinatown
, the largest Chinese community that exists outside of Asia
(though there are two other major Chinatowns in the city - Sunset Park in Brooklyn, and
Flushing in Queens). In the 1990s, the neighborhood also attracted a growing number of
Vietnamese immigrants, who set up their own shops and opened inexpensive restaurants;
depending on what street you're on, you'll often notice more of a Vietnamese than
Chinese presence.
The best reason to visit Chinatown is to experience a feast for the senses - it's the only
spot in the city where you can simultaneously see whole roasted pigs hanging in butcher-
shop windows, get whiffs of fresh fish and hear the twangs of Cantonese and Vietnamese
rise over the calls of knock-off-Prada-bag hawkers on Canal St.
