East 12 St, East Village

It's pretty crazy how the street (like a lot of streets in Manhattan) switches from these beautiful, old townhouses to enormous commercial buildings once 5th Ave hits. There are skyscrapers galore on 12th and 5th which house mostly school oriented business. There is a restaurant called Gotham on this block that is supposed to be some of the best and priciest food in the city. I haven't dined here yet, though, so I can't say. The corner of 12th and Uni marks Bowlmor Lanes. This is one of the only bowling alleys in Manhattan, and in my opinion, it's the best one. This is the only place we go to bowl in Manhattan.
The block between Uni and Broadway is pretty much all residential buildings. You wouldn't know it from the outside, but the large majority of them are all built by the same people and all of the apartments are grand, beautiful lofts. The corner of 12th and Broadway houses one of my favorite places in the city: The Strand. The Strand is a three-story book heaven. It is just rows and rows of books and every different kind of person perusing them. You can get anything here. And, it's much cheaper than Barnes and Noble. I can spend hours in this place; and, the staff recommendations are always spot-on.
East of Broadway there are a lot of old, big apartment buildings. The insides of some of them --notably, the Petersbuild -- are grand. They are so different from, say, the enormous new lofts you would find on the west side. And, in my opinion, so much better. They have character and nooks where you can imagine someone once had a grand piano and everyone would come over to drink and play.
There's a really lovely Italian restaurant called John's at 12th and 1st. It has been around since 1908. The food is good, the place is quaint and there are candles everywhere.
East of 1st is starting to come up, but I just try to avoid Alphabet City north of 10th. It scares me.