SoHo and Little Italy

SoHo (South of Houston) and NoLita (North of Little Italy) are shopper's paradises, supertrendy, painfully overcrowded on the weekends, often overpriced, and undeniably glamorous. Not too long ago though, these neighborhoods were quiet warrens of artists' lofts and galleries, and the only reason to visit was to go gallery hopping. Checking out the art is still a big reason to come to SoHo, but shopping has for the most part supplanted the quest for visual stimulation. In between whipping your credit card out of your wallet and feverishly searching for a café with empty seats, do take a few seconds to savor what other passersby may miss: the neighborhood's Belgian brick cobblestones and turn-of-the-20th-century lampposts.

And then—just east of Broadway—you'll find the remains of what once was a thriving, lively community of Italian Americans: the tangle of streets that make up Little Italy. A few nostalgic blocks surrounding Mulberry Street between NoLita and ultrabusy Canal Street are all that remain of the vast community that once dominated the area, but what remains is still a cheerful salute to all things Italian, with red, green, and white street decorations on permanent display and specialty grocers and cannelloni makers dishing up delights. (If you want to see a current and far less nostalgic Little Italy, head up to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.)