Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GRAND STREET
MUSEUM OF CHINESE IN AMERICA
215 Centre St between Howard and Grand sts. Subway J, N, Q, R, Z, #6 to Canal St.
212 619 4785,
www.mocanyc.org
.
Tue-Sun 11am-6pm, Thurs 11am-9pm. $10, free Thurs.
MAP
This fascinating museum opened in plush new premises in 2009, its core exhibition provid-
ing an historical overview of the Chinese in the US through evocative multimedia displays,
artefacts and filmed interviews. Galleries are arranged around a sun-lit courtyard reminis-
cent of a traditional Chinese house.
ITALIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND MULBERRY STREET
155 Mulberry St. Subway J, N, Q, R, #6 to Canal St. 212 965 9000,
www.italianamericanmuseum.org
.
Mon-Fri by appointment, Sat 11am-6pm, Sun noon-6pm. Donation
$5.
MAP
Little Italy's main strip,
Mulberry Street
, is home to many of the area's cafés and restaur-
ants - and filled with tourists. There are no stand-out restaurants, although the former site of
Umberto's Clam House
, on the corner of Mulberry and Hester streets, was once notorious as
the scene of the vicious gangland murder of Joe “Crazy Joey” Gallo in 1972. On the corner
of Grand Street, the
Italian American Museum
, housed in the former 1885 Banca Stabile
building, holds small exhibits on the old neighbourhood.
ST PATRICK'S OLD CATHEDRAL
263 Mulberry St at Prince St. Subway R, N to Prince St.
212 226 8075,
www.oldcathedral.org
.
Daily
8am-6pm. Free.
MAP
The first Catholic cathedral in the city,
St Patrick's Old Cathedral
began by serving the
Irish immigrant community in 1809 and is the parent church to its much more famous off-
spring on Fifth Avenue and 50th Street.
Chinatown temples
Chinatown is a good place to observe traditional Chinese temple rituals, though the ar-
chitecture is usually modern - most temples occupy converted shopfronts.
The Eastern
States Buddhist Temple
, 64 Mott St (daily 8am-6pm), was established in 1962 as a so-
cial club for elderly Chinese men. The main deity here is Sakyamuni Buddha, but there's
also a glass-encased gold statue of the “four-faced Buddha”, a replica of the revered im-
age in Bangkok's Erawan Shrine. Chinese influence is more obvious at the gilded and
peaceful
Mahayana Buddhist Temple
, 133 Canal St (daily 8am-6pm). Candlelight and
blue neon glow around the giant gold Buddha on the main altar. At the corner of Pell St
and the Bowery is one of Chinatown's few Taoist temples:
Huang Daxian Temple
(daily 9am-6pm).
