Maiden Ln, Financial District

Maiden Lane becomes Maiden Lane after Broadway (it's Cortland west of Bway). And, it really starts off with a bang of convenience that rarely happens in the Financial District. Right at the corner there is a liquor and wine store that delivers, a deli that delivers, a sushi joint and a Mediterranean restaurant. This kind Manhattan convenience just doesn't occur all that often in this neighborhood so it's pretty nice. But, it wouldn't be the Fidi if there weren't historical sites. So, the first block of the street also has 19 Maiden Lane. This is where James Madison lived when he wrote The Federalist Papers.
The corner of Maiden and Nassau boasts another historical but also currently important building: The Federal Reserve. The place looks like an Irish Fortress and it actually is a fortress in some sense. The basement vault holds 90 million dollars worth of gold. All of the other buildings on this block are really modern so the Federal Reserve building really stands out.
The block around Pearl is predominantly apartment buildings. They're, for the most part, luxury buildings where a lot of bankers and young people who work downtown live. They offer things like sunbathing decks and a Chipotle on the ground floor. I guess if you have to live in Fidi, this is the area you would want to start looking. I don't generally think of Fidi as a desirable place to live for young people but this is the hippest part of the neighborhood.
Maiden Lane is a pretty cool street as far as this part of town goes. But, if you do live here, you will be living in a skyscraper. That's pretty much all there is here. The units are nice and new but really expensive for a boring part of town. There aren't a lot of cool restaurants and bars, but the convenience factor is much more apparent here than most other streets in the area. But, like most of Fidi, the street is insanely crowded during the day and dead at night. If you're not into that, pick a different neighborhood.