Walker St, Chinatown

I consider Walker's run through Chinatown to start around Cortlandt. The architecture changes as does to commerce and before that, it's just very not Chinatown. The corner of Cortlandt and Walker holds an art space and a Chinese Baptist church. A lot of neighborhoods have this great little transitional period where they bleed into each other for a couple of blocks and I think the art space and Chinese church is a pretty good example of the bleed.
Once you cross Lafayette, however, you know you're definitely in Chinatown. There's a Chinese home store, a music center that is called Vien Dong, I believe, and an office building that has been completely feng shui'd. I think the office building thing is pretty cool but I always find that feng shui isn't necessarily aesthetically catching or practical. That's probably why my life is so chaotic, though . . no feng shui.
The street continues on with the Chinatown aesthetic and businesses right up until it runs into Canal. There's a pretty good Chinese restaurant right on this corner and a little information pagoda on the other side of the street. I've never actually been up to pagoda to ask what kind of information they give but maybe it's for tourists? I have no idea.
You can live on this street and the rent is, typically, cheaper than a lot of other downtown areas. But, I'm not a huge fan. A lot of the buildings look like old tenements and it's just not that pretty. Plus, there's not much of a neighborhood vibe here. There aren't a lot of local hangouts which I think is huge in shaping the feel of an area. It's not bad, it's just not my taste. Plus, it's always really crowded around here.