Oliver St, Chinatown

Unmistakably a crossroads, the Bowery, East Broadway, Mott Street, plus a couple of smaller streets, all converge here, in a confusing tangle that somehow also forms a mid-point between the mouths of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. It's all soot and honking horns around this square; I can't imagine being a resident nearby and stepping out into this kind of madness every day. The noise level is barely bearable. There's a statue of General Lin Zexu at the center of the square, which, until only recently when I took the trouble to cross the street and find out for myself, I used to believe was a likeness of Confucius. I'm not quite as confused about Confucius as you think, though, because nearby there is indeed the Confucius Plaza housing cooperative, a 44-story mega-housing development owned almost entirely by Chinese Americans. Someone told me—yes, I know this must be an urban legend—that if you go to Confucius Plaza at 7 in the morning, you will see a crowd of people all practicing Tai Chi in the open air, with everyone in sync. The thought of it is so wonderful, I just had to pass it on, though I'd love for someone to write in and either verify or deny this.