Centre St Between Canal St and Broome St

Riding a thin line between Little Italy, Chinatown and SoHo, Centre Street is a very aptly-named thoroughfare. Sharing a common beginning and end point with its parallel neighbor, Lafayette St, Centre doesn't seem to get as much attention. With a few blocks of industrial storefronts featuring quite a bit of wholesale seafood, there isn't much for the average person here.

Architecture is a bit of a mixed bag. Canal Street is a hodgepodge of different styles with little concern for its surroundings – which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes the most authentic-looking New York streets are the ones without any defined style or era overwhelming the neighborhood. It's the classic melting pot image. Looking south, it's really striking to see Frank Gehry's Beekman Tower rising from the historic downtown skyline – I wasn't aware of how tall it was going to be until seeing it like this. 

Between Grand and Broome a tremendous Baroque-style building fills the entire narrow block. Originally police headquarters for most of the 20th Century it's now – ready? – luxury apartments. Yes, for the low, low price of 19 million dollars (and though I'm known to, I'm not exaggerating) you could have a 4-bedroom apartment just steps away from the tourist trap nightmare that is Canal Street. Still, it's hard to question the beauty of the building; it's really something to take in. But I'd probably cry myself to sleep each night knowing that my apartment cost the equivalent of a small Polynesian Island-nation's GDP.