Downtown Manhattan
The districts located south of 14th Street are considered part of "Downtown" (note: to go "Downtown" in Manhattan means to "go south"):
- Lower Manhattan - Long the center of the American economy, the Financial District is full of impressive turn-of-the-century buildings and is a hive of activity during the day. At night it clears out considerably, though it is becoming an increasingly residential area, giving it more flavor than it has had in the past. Wall Street, the World Trade Center site, South Street Seaport, and Battery Park -- a departure point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Staten Island, and Governors Island -- are all in this neighborhood.
- TriBeCa - the "Triangle Below Canal Street". Home to trendy restaurants and Robert DeNiro's annual film festival, it is popular with the affluent trendy crowd and replete with trendy restaurants. Unlike SoHo to the north, Tribeca is not over-filled with shoppers on weekends, and Greenwich Street could be mistaken for the main street of a beautifully preserved small town.
- Soho - "South of Houston Street" flows north from Canal Street between the Hudson River and Lafayette St. The ultimate urban gentrification story, SoHo was a rundown industrial area until the 1960s, when artists began inhabiting its spacious and then-cheap lofts. After the artists came the galleries, then the celebrities, then the shoppers, and now the visitors. Filled with gorgeous cast-iron architecture (Greene Street especially), SoHo is a great shopping and dining destination, even if many of the artists have moved on.
- Lower East Side - famous as the Jewish immigrant ghetto of the early 20th century, the neighborhood today is enjoying a renaissance, with dozens of bars and restaurants.
- Greenwich Village - coffee houses, wine bars, lowrise but high art and literary connections, located between Houston and 14th Streets. The bohemian center of yore, today's Village is strongly upmarket (especially west of 7th Avenue) but retains its diverse flavor, with its historic community around Christopher Street and thousands of students who attend NYU.
- East Village - gritty and diverse but redeveloping, this area lies east of Broadway. Pockets of Ukrainians, Japanese, Indians and young professionals make it one of the most vibrant Manhattan areas. The once-shabby area formerly known as Alphabet City, centered on Avenues A through D, is now considered part of the East Village.
- Chinatown retains its scruffy, exotic atmosphere, especially around Mott and Canal Streets. The diminishing Little Italy still exists on Mulberry Street (and comes out in full force for Italian festivals such as the Feast of San Gennaro in September), but the surrounding blocks are morphing into fashionable Nolita ("North of Little Italy") or have been annexed by Chinatown.
Midtown Manhattan
As the name suggests, Midtown Manhattan occupies the approximate middle reach of Manhattan Island, sandwiched between Lower Manhattan (below 14th Street) and Upper Manhattan (above 59th Street / Central Park). Midtown is divided into a number of neighborhoods, often indistinct (considerable overlap exists between them!):
- Chelsea Garment District - now the center of New York's "village", this district will appeal to all with its great mix of fashion, design, art, culture, bars and restaurants.
- Gramercy Flatiron - a chic, stylish district of stately residential areas, gardens and squares, trendy restaurants and bars
- Theater District - 34th-59th Streets, roughly west of 6th Avenue - the name says it all: Broadway, Times Square, 42nd Street, Hell's Kitchen, Columbus Circle; often overlapping in the area between Fifth and Sixth Avenues with Midtown East. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is down on the Hudson River.
- Midtown - also termed "Midtown East", this extensive area east of Sixth Avenue includes a number of New York icons: the Empire State Building, the United Nations, Grand Central Station and more.
Uptown / Upper Manhattan
- Central Park - with its lawns, trees and lakes is popular for recreation and concerts and is home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park Zoo
- Upper East Side - primarily a residential neighborhood, it remains New York City's most desired address. Museums and restaurants abound.
- Upper West Side - often called the city's quintessential neighborhood and made famous by TV's Seinfeld, it includes delightful residential streets, the twin-towered facades of the old apartment hotels on Central Park West and Riverside Drive, two of the city's best-known markets (Zabar's and Fairway) and one of its major museums - the American Museum of Natural History
- Morningside Heights - home to Columbia University and some large churches
- Harlem - America's most famous black community, now home to an increasingly diverse range of cultures.
- Washington Heights - a lively, predominantly Dominican neighborhood north of West Harlem, and also the home of Fort Tryon Park, the site of the highest natural elevation in Manhattan and home of The Cloisters, the Medieval annex of the Metropolitan Museum.
- Inwood - at the northernmost tip of Manhattan, contains Inwood Park, the last remaining virgin forest on the island.
- Roosevelt Island - an elongated strip of land in the East River between Manhattan and Queens. Part of the island is actually across from Midtown, but because of its quiet character, it really doesn't belong in the "Midtown" category.
Featured Neighborhood:
Chelsea
Chelsea is this month’s featured neighborhood in Manhattan.
Chelsea is hip, young, fresh, and unfortunately expensive. This trendy neighborhood has always been one of the hotspots as a gay and artistic community, filled with art galleries , designer boutiques, hot restaurants, and nightclubs. However, that is slowly changing as more business professionals are moving into the area. Chelsea is located on the West Side and is bordered by Hell’s Kitchen and the Garment district to the north, while Greenwich Village and the Meatpacking District are located to the south
| This page uses contents retrieved from WikiTravel. Retrieved sept 26, 2007 |
show
GRAFFITI (1)
Write a quick note about this place
or see the existing scrawl.
MAP
