Menu

Tag / Canal Street

November 15, 2013

…visited a Buddhist temple

One of the busiest, noisiest spots in the city has to be the Manhattan side of the Manhattan Bridge, where there are queues of traffic and plumes of delicious pollution. But bizarrely, it’s also the location of one of NYC’s serenest places: a Chinese Buddhist temple. The temple sits on the corner of Bowery and Canal Streets and …

Read More
October 14, 2013

…admired the Eldridge Street Synagogue

Thanks to an Anglo-Catholic education, I grew up in chapels and churches – and although I don’t go to services anymore, I still love exploring those buildings. Today I expanded my religious education with a visit to a synagogue – and admired it in much the same way. I don’t know if I expected many …

Read More
October 3, 2013

…spotted an animation from the Q train

Ryan and I were traveling on the Q train from Brooklyn to Manhattan tonight when he told me to look out the right-hand-side window. Before I knew it, I was looking at a colorful animation created by panels on the walls underground. Check out the video: As you can see, we slowed down halfway through, …

Read More
September 17, 2013

…traveled to a ghost subway stop

The subway platform for the 6 train at City Hall used to be one of the most opulent in the transit system’s underground maze. The station, which opened in 1904, was dripping with chandeliers and decked with colored tiles – and some of Manhattan’s richest residents would venture to its vaults after dinner just for …

Read More
September 13, 2013

…feasted at San Gennaro

Last year when I lived in Little Italy, there was nothing I dreaded more than the Feast of San Gennaro. Every year for 10 days, the festival fills the six blocks stretching from Prince Street to Canal Street – and my recollection of it is noise, tackiness and stinky, greasy food. Of course, living there, …

Read More
July 3, 2013

…tasted gelato in Little Italy

I lived in Little Italy for 18 months but I never tested its wares, if you can believe it. I spent all of my time elbowing tourists, dismissing restaurant hecklers and tutting at street vendors plonked right in the middle of the sidewalk. I never actually looked up to take it all in. Little Italy …

Read More
February 28, 2013

…devised a Subway art tour

Whenever I’m using the subway, I’m in a rush. My head is always down – either to gawk at my phone or to avoid eye contact with the creeper in the corner. But when I looked up for a brief moment at 23rd Street last week, I realised that there were hats painted on the …

Read More