Resting along the border between SoHo and NoLita, Crosby Street exhibits a bit of character from each neighborhood (or is it NeigBorHood?) Featuring a mix of posh upscale architecture (embodied by the new Crosby Street Hotel) and rundown industrialism (embodied by all the other buildings rotting away across the street), the block is a perfect example of what seems to attract so many yuppies down to SoHo– all the grit, none of the grime.

Street art seems to have held on to a prominent place in SoHo culture, despite the rampant redevelopment of the past 30 years. Every building along here that didn't have a doorman was covered with all sorts of interesting pieces ranging from nonsensical to political. I wonder how many people really stop to take notice of the vast culture outpouring that can be found on streets like this. Years from now, it wouldn't surprise me if pieces like these find mainstream exposure as lost relics of a forgotten era in expression.

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.

Though not as crowded and shopper-centric as its neighbors to the east, this long stretch of Thompson is still definitively SoHo. The rows of old short buildings, overflowing with every type of store and restaurant imaginable, wrestles with the sidewalk for space and attention. Though claustrophobic, the small blocks and low skyline allow for taller buildings a few blocks away to peek through.

Thompson feels much less like a tourist destination and much more like a hoppin' local neighborhood – at least when compared to the main SoHo thoroughfares. The staggering amount of space taken up by cars parking on both sides of the street, really bring to light the short-sightedness of the original city plan when it came to allowing for the free flow of traffic. Parts of these blocks are starting to change as the old tenements are bring taken down to make room for chic hotels like Sixty Thompson

South of 9th St, Sixth Avenue acts as a barrier of sorts, holding back the mess of streets that make up the West Village from interfering with the conformity of the grid. As you get closer to Houston, the avenue begins to lose this battle- as evidenced by Minetta Lane, which creates an extra mini block between Bleecker and MacDougal.

A series of open squares along this stretch creates for a wide open, yet hopelessly disorienting experience. Park space is a given as most of the buildings sit back on the side streets. This is one of the few places where 6th Avenue still retains some of the original signs from when it first became "Avenue of the Americas". A popular area to grab some food, it's generally not too crazy down here (that's reserved for West 4th, or further into Greenwich Village).



Lined with restaurants and places to shop, the western end of Houston St is a good deal different than its eastern counterpart. Gone are the bars and trendy clubs, instead you'll find churches, apartments and quiet(ish) side streets. Sure, there's still the bustle of Greenwhich village just a few blocks north, but compared to the inane noise of the LES/East Village, this is nothing.

The side streets that peek out into the middle of the busy intersections all seem very anonymous and similar. Houston is a massive street - complete with a middle island; something only a handful of other streets in Manhattan share (Park Ave, B'Way, and Delancey come to mind). All-in-all, this part of the block feels much more like a neighborhood, whereas a bit to the east it feels like a destination.