Spring St Between 6th Ave and Varick St

With an open, airy feeling, the beginning of this street welcomes you in with its wide sidewalks, tall trees, and older buildings. The northern corner holds a plaque, mentioning how this is the former site of Richmond Hill.

However, once you get down the block a ways, things start to get dull. With some construction sites, and glass-covered condos on the south side, the north side is left with just older store fronts and offices. By the time you get to Varick Street, you're suddenly in an area that feels a lot like the Financial District on the weekend.

11th St Between 6th Ave and 7th Ave

Finally, returning to Manhattan, we have this quiet stretch of 11st Street. Starting with a row of stores and a school on the 6th Avenue end of things, the block is primarily just residences. The street is down-right picturesque when blanketed with snow, and while it's not home to any real destinations, it does connect the bustling thoroughfares of 6th Ave and 7th Ave...the latter of which begins the disintegration of the grid as one enters Greenwich Village. The strange cluster of streets formed by 7th Ave, 11th St and Greenwich ave great for a nice, wide-open area from which you can scope out the entire square - which includes many bars, restaurants and stores.

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8th Ave Between 17th St and 18th St

A quick one today for the short stretch of 8th Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets. I wanted to cover this block just because of the cool collection of signs which grace it. The standout for me has to be Silom Thai about half-way down the street on the east side. Made out of metal, the sign has terrific typography, a subtle yellow light behind it, and perhaps best of all, a metal 'awning-like' element which has a lace design cut out of it. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the lace detailing is laser-cut which, if that's the case, is awesome.

Also worth a glance is Cola's and Flight 151 which sit on either sides of the avenue. Concerning Flight 151's sign, there's some imperfect elements to it, which I can't quite decide if they're intentional or not.

Otherwise, this is your typical stretch of downtown 8th Avenue. 4958 restaurants, a dry cleaners and a liquor store.

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21st St Between 6th Ave and 7th Ave

If you can walk down this street without getting hit in the head with a canvas carried by an SVA student, then you're either walking there in the summer, or ARE an SVA student.  Once around the corner from a very large Barnes & Nobel bookstore that has since closed, this stretch of street may as well belong to The School of Visual Arts.  One of the school's larger buildings is located about half-way down the block, housing it's fine arts and art history programs.  Across from SVA one can find a DaVinci art store, which in this author's opinion would have been QUITE helpful if it decided to open a few years earlier.  In recent years the street has become a hotbed for new construction.  Next to an old cemetery rises 21 Chelsea, a presumably expensive luxury complex.  Across from 21 Chelsea is a newer building which scores some extra points on the creative front, but still worries me in it's blandness. 

There's an old parking garage further down the block (alas there is no competing parking across the street).  The west end of the street has several really great, old buildings which are either covered in paint or are simply cool looking.  Be sure not to miss the big, old Kove Brothers Hardware mural at the end of the block. 

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