Mercer St Between Canal St and Grand St

You know, there's a very good chance that I hate Canal Street with a stronger passion than even Times Square. The mob mentality of the people who saunter along at this disturbingly slow rate is unparalleled anywhere else in the borough. It's certainly not a street to walk along if you need to get somewhere; it should be treated purely as a destination.

The relief I feel as soon as I turn northward onto Mercer Street is rather indescribable. It's a combination of a good bowel movement and graduating college – somewhere between an emotional release and an accomplishment.  Mercer, by comparison, is sparsely visited and for good reason: There ain't much here. A few shops and boutiques, but most of the old buildings house specialty stores and offices which are of little use to the blindly-shopping tourists a few hundred feet away.

The buildings here are all beautiful in their own ways. Some are restorations which sparkle and deserve praise. Others are simply rotting with (I can imagine) crooked stairwells and uneven floors. A few newer buildings have popped up and while I'm sure there's been plenty of words typed to deride them I like seeing the contrast to the old classics.