Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Fashionable Lower Manhattan: SoHo, Tribeca and Greenwich Village


The Ghosts of Soho
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.
Lower Manhattan is a historic and now ritzy part of NYC. It includes historic areas that were long dilapidated: SoHo and Tribeca were warehouse and manufacturing districts that somehow escaped being destroyed when they were abanadoned during the post-war years.

When artists began to rent the lofts of SoHo (which refers to South of Houston St) in the 1960's the large spaces were cheap. Artists were followed, in the 1980s, by trendy young residents, boutiques, restaurants and galleries.

Battery Park was the site of the cannon batteries which protected the colony from invasions in the 1700's and early 1800's. Today it is a beautiful park and terminus for the Staten Is. ferry.

The Lower East Side remains an area for struggling immigrants. While most of today's immigrants are Chinese, according to the New Yorler, once the Italians and Jewish Russians dominated the area.

Two parts of NYC that got names from London: SoHo and Chelsea.

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