NYC Grid is a photo blog dedicated to exploring New York block-by-block and corner-by-corner. Updated every weekday, each post covers a new street with a focus on the mundane and ephemeral.

  

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Friday
May152009

Houston St Between Mercer Street and LaGuardia Place

Perhaps this goes without saying, but: there's a lot of trees in Manhattan.  I've really just started noticing this in the past few weeks, as things start to green-up, that practically every block has at least a few, if not several sprouting up through the sidewalk. Some blocks are nothing but trees. I find this interesting, since it goes against my normal mental image of New York (and cities in general).  If I were forced to illustrate a city block on paper, there's a very good chance I would have forgotten to include any greenery. Though I can assure you, that wouldn't be the case now.

Even a big, busy street like Houston is full of plant life - from the center divider to the surrounding streets and alleyways. I suppose I really shouldn't be all that surprised, but it certainly is refreshing to walk face-first into low-hanging, untrimmed branched with soft leaves rather than ones with brittle twigs.

Of course, this is the main dividing line between NoHo and SoHo...which is really quite striking. If you look down the right streets, you can see the immediate change as cast iron architecture and cobblestone streets take over. The adjacency to NYU create for some dead-end streets (and inexplicable signs) which only cause to increase the stark transition between the two neighborhoods.


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