Thomas St, Tribeca

Thomas Street was named for Thomas Lispenard (everyone in his family has streets named after them). It's a pretty small street and it only runs through Tribeca. It starts off at Hudson with the Western Union building which is a pretty cool building as far as communications buildings go. The building kind of sets the tone for the rest of the street as well. It's a very commercial street though most of the neighborhood looks commercial even it isn't. The next block over houses a French-ish restaurant called the Odeon. It's quite a famous place though not trendy anymore. It was quite the scene for artists and musicians back in the Warhol era and was the place that launched Tribeca into being a desirable neighborhood. Next door to Odeon is a, currently, trendy sushi restaurant called Megu. And, bizarrely, across the street from that is the New York Superior Court.
Once you cross Church, the street becomes very commercial with massive buildings and a business kind of hustle and bustle. In general, if you're going to live in Tribeca, the further west the better. There's an AT&T building right at Church but the spot used to be a brothel where Helen Jewett was murdered. She was sort of famous for being the most beautiful prostitute of all time and she was killed by an axe blow to the head in 1836. The trial was highly publicized.
There's not a whole lot going on past there on to Broadway. But, if you're into architecture, there's a really cool Gothic building that looks totally out of place right on the corner.
I'm not a huge fan of most of Tribeca. There's not a lot in the way of social activities and a lot of it is very commercial and Fidi looking. If you're looking around Thomas street, I say stay west of Church to have a more neighborhood vibe.