South St Between Robert F Wagner Sr Pl and Catherine Slip

I doubt the title of today's block could be any more convoluted.

Running along the river and an elevated segment of the FDR drive, this block of South Street is mostly just a back yard for the Al Smith house's megablock to the north. If you venture across the street and under the viaduct you'll be presented with some rather nice views of Brooklyn, and the bridges. Unfortunately this isn't the "fun" part of South Street- that's a few blocks past the Brooklyn Bridge. But if you're like me, that means you'll appreciate the lighter crowds and comparable views.

I'm particularly fond of the elevated roadway here – I think there's a certain industrial beauty (similar to the High Line) the way it snakes along the riverfront. 

Robert F Wagner Sr Pl Between Pearl St and South St

For a street with such an obnoxious name, Robert F Wagner Sr. Place sure has some pretty stunning vistas. With a clear, unobstructed view of the Brooklyn Bridge, it's perhaps the ideas place to get your picture taken with the 126-year-old landmark. However, other than that, the street is pretty isolated. Sure, it'll take you down to South Street, and by extension the seaport. But with a housing project to the east, and a series of off ramps to the west you're basically stuck on a service road. 

But again, it's really about the bridge here. It's always fun to see the structures that lead up to the famous towers. It's the part of the bridge you rarely get to see in photographs- and in many ways it's equally as beautiful.

Chrystie St Between Canal St and Hester St

With with grand entrance to the Manhattan Bridge behind me (along with the towering mass of buildings in the Financial District), walking north along Chrystie street into the maze of blocks that make up the Lower East Side can be a bit disorienting. The tangle of streets that make up the various ramps onto the bridge create for a bit of a pedestrian nightmare. If not for the massive arch structure acting as a visual clue to traffic, it'd be hard to tell where to go.

The right-hand side of this street is home to a big, open astroturf field which belongs to Pace High School. Also starting here is the 7-block-long Sara Roosevelt Park (Which Google Maps misspells as "Sarah"...in similar fashion to how it misspells "Grammercy"). It also seems, at least according to my map, that the school is located in this park, but that may be coincidence .

By the end of the block, much of the park space is fenced off, and is under construction. It seems that by next spring there will be some really interesting changes coming to this part of the LES.

Madison St Between Rutgers St and Clinton St

This area seems to me like a patchwork of surrounding neighborhoods. With the East River and East Broadway defining the general boundaries of this sub-grid of streets, there's only so far you can go before you stumble upon something completely different.

With Madison Street being a large, double-wide road (to me, it seems bigger than Madison Avenue, but I could be wrong), you can get a pretty clear view down either direction. There's a large housing project on the south side while older buildings (and some new construction) make up the north.

Cherry St Between Pike St and Market St

With the constant rumbling of the subway traversing the bridge overhead, the area directly below the Manhattan Bridge's western anchorage is mostly filled with parks, stores and more parks. While there are certainly apartments to be found, most are on adjacent blocks.

Cherry Street has the privilege of going directly through archway under the overpass. With the overwhelming smell of urine present, you won't find much time to ponder the lone tree stump in the middle of the tunnel. Exiting to the west, there is a long line of ball fields, basketball courts and playgrounds. With plenty of shade and lots of open space, it's a rather pleasant place to hang around – even if it is a tad grimy.

Madison St Between Catherine St and St. James Pl

Madison Street (not to be confused with Madison Avenue, which doesn't venture this far south) is unique to the Lower East Side.  Existing only between Grand St. and the Brooklyn Bridge, you'll pass through a series of different neighborhoods along the way.  This particular stretch, just south of the historic Five Points area, feels like you're transported to another city. With several dead-end streets intersecting on the north side, a housing development on the south, and a strange, curvy apartment complex looming in the distance, I almost felt like I was in LA.

The street isn't heavily commercialized. Most of the stores are locally-owned, and plenty of neighborhood institutions, like churches and parks, line the blocks. In the far distance you can see the foreboding obelisks of the financial district peeking through, including the under-construction Frank Gehry project down by the bridge.

I think the abundance of open space is what gives this street its strange feeling. With such congestion in the surrounding areas, its both nice and strange to see the wide sidewalks and open walkways around here.