Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHINATOWN, LITTLE ITALY AND NOLITA
Chinese immigrants have been coming to New York since the 1850s, making this Chin-
atown one of the oldest and biggest in the Western hemisphere. Indeed, with over
100,000 residents, Chinatown is Manhattan's most densely populated ethnic neighbour-
hood. Since the 1980s it has pushed across its traditional border on Canal Street into the
smaller enclave of Little Italy, and has begun to sprawl east across Division Street and
East Broadway into the Lower East Side. Little Italy itself, now squeezed into a narrow
strip along Mulberry Street, is far more dependent on tourists than Chinatown, but
both neighbourhoods are fun places to eat, with cheap noodles, roast duck, gelato and
huge plates of pasta on offer. On the northern fringes of Little Italy, the hip quarter
known as Nolita (“North of Little Italy”) is home to a number of chic restaurants, bars
and boutiques.
