Lots of great info can be found on compass.com.
A pocket of downtown Manhattan rich with history and tradition.
As the largest “Chinatown” in the United States, New York’s Chinatown has had roots in Eastern traditions since the mid-1800s. An influx of immigrants from Hong Kong and the Fujian Province during the 1900s helped the neighborhood to solidify its identity. Today, Chinatown remains true to its cultural heritage while inviting newcomers to explore and get to know the neighborhood.
A westside hub for art & culture.
Chelsea has consistently served as the setting for iconic pop culture moments with artists like Andy Warhol and Patti Smith living and working in the neighborhood. Now, Chelsea is home to a thriving gay community, world-famous retrofit architecture, and some of the finest art galleries in the city.
The city’s fashion heartbeat with gritty exterior.
Since the early 1800s, the Fashion District (also known as the Garment Center and Garment District) have been the epicenter of the national retail and clothing industries. Despite it’s small size (slightly less than 1 square mile total) this studio-packed neighborhood accounts for over $14 billion dollars of retail sales around the globe, and is the home base for legendary fashion designers from Diane Von Furstenberg to Calvin Klein.
The heart and soul of lower Manhattan.
For most of the 20th century, Greenwich Village was the center of downtown culture. In the 60s, the Village was the birthplace of the beatnik generation. Allen Ginsberg was known to pop up at Cafe Reggio, while Bob Dylan was a regular performer at Cafe Wha.
Where history feels like home.
Harlem is known as an important touchpoint of American jazz, literature, and civil rights history. And for good reason: major streets like Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., Malcolm X Blvd., and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. pay homage to civil rights leaders that actually walked those passageways. Meanwhile, venues such as The Apollo Theater, Hotel Theresa, and Sylvia’s Restaurant stand as iconic landmarks frequented by both history buffs and culture seekers alike.
Traditional roots in busy downtown Manhattan.
Little Italy got its name back in the early 1900s when thousands of Italian immigrants moved into the small neighborhood. Since then, many of the area’s Italian-American residents have relocated to other Italian enclaves like East Harlem, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Still, their original legacy remains, and is woven into the fabric of this culturally distinct pocket of lower Manhattan.
Vibrant sites and scenes of the city.
The Theater District has undergone serious transformation over the last century. During the early 20th century, the area was known as home to history-making families such as the the Astors and the Rockefellers, and was officially named for the New York Times original headquarters on the square in 1903. The post-Depression era saw an influx of downtown-bred music, dance, and drama venues (hence, the term “Theater District”), and a mid-century decline followed by a city-led commercial rebrand and tourist boom. Today’s Theater District is a hub for awe-inspiring happenings around every corner.
from an industrial powerhouse to a haven for NYC’s creative communities.
Soho has a long history of inspiring New York’s creative communities. The same lofts that used to house manufacturing factories in the 1950s are now home to photo studios, fashion houses, and art galleries.
Brooklyn’s creative outlet.
Williamsburg has long been the setting of many seminal films and books that represent life in Brooklyn in the 1900s. As a manufacturing neighborhood, the area attracted hard-working New Yorkers. Decades later, Williamsburg began to attract an overflow of artists from downtown Manhattan, and since then it has become a beacon of Brooklyn creativity.
The three blocks of East Eighth Street that run from Astor Place to Tompkins Square Park—has become a symbol of the East Village. Head shops serve as a reminder of the street’s hippie heyday, while stalwart Federal mansions remain a link to the area’s more distant—and upscale—past. If something has happened in the East Village in the last two centuries, there’s a good chance St. Marks Place has played a role. Yet the street has never been a perfect microcosm of the East Village; those mansions were an anomaly, and the hippies were, too.
In 1977, Manic Panic, the country’s first punk boutique, opened at No. 33; Theatre 80, which had seen, somewhat incongruously, the premiere of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967, became a movie revival house in 1971, drawing crowds of cinephiles. The former Russian baths at No. 6 became the New St. Marks Bath, purportedly the world’s largest gay bathhouse when the Department of Health shut it down in the midst of the AIDS crisis in 1985.
Also check out ABC No RIO and these Punk walks