biscuit

This street seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis – on the south side, its full of brightly coloured Chinese shops and restaurants, while on the north it has nondescript brown brick buildings, the only thing sticking out being the parking signs. It goes underneath the Manhattan Bridge, and even under the bridge, the Chinese have their shops, at least on the south side.

In the middle of a Chinese district of New York, Pell Street is typical of any Chinese shopping street in a Western city, with colourful, incomprehensible signs fighting for space up the sides of buildings, and all the shops painted a different bright colour. Some good Chinese food to be had on this street.

Whilst I wouldn’t want to live here, Ludlow St in New York is a great place to go out. Full of bars and clubs, and the rest of the street plastered in gig posters, this is a place that bustles with life and I imagine there’s always some good live music to be found here.

Walked down this street briefly and I found it to be a bustling place full of culture. There’s a strong Jewish presence here, and also a Chinese one at the other end. Down the south end it’s on the edge of Sweard Park, and the buildings on the street are generally in a better state of repair than nearby streets east of here.

Norfolk St would strike me as a much better place to live on than its counterpart in British county names Suffolk St next door, instead of being a dull and boarded up place this street has trees down it which always make a place seem nicer, and in general it had a good vibe.

A slightly nicer street than other nearby ones, Suffolk Street still consists of the same dull brown buildings, most of which seem like they’re not being used. A fairly rough part of the city, sadly every city has to have these types of areas. It didn’t strike me as a place I wanted to stick around in.

Well I was certainly impressed, driving along here when I visited New York. It’s completely different to anything I’ve seen in England, a wide, straight road right through the middle of New York with lots of high rise buildings around. Tons of character as well. One thing that struck me was how pointlessly wide it seemed to be – but then it wasn’t rush hour at the time.

Had the misfortune to have to go down here on my recent walking tour of New York, it’s filled with 60s style dull brown brick buildings, bad on their own, but they are completely covered in graffiti, ranging from monkeys saying ‘stay in school’ to the more profound. Wouldn’t want to live here. Or visit here again.

At the north end of the road, Clinton St looks like a nice place, it’s leafy and has quite tasteful salmon pink facades. Walking south it becomes a highly commercial area, every building is a shop, some good shopping to be found here but you wouldn’t want to live here.

While on my first holiday to New York City from England I walked down Cherry Street on the way to Corlears Hook Park. It’s a pleasant street, on the edge of the urban metropolis, with a lot of greenery, with a park on one side, and some fairly old high-rise apartments on the other side.