SoHo, NYC today.
 

I just walked to the SoHo Levi's store to get a new pair of jeans and the whole walk there and back and while in the store, I was surrounded by the French and Italian languages. Italian even more so.

On the weekends, there isn't a local in sight. SoHo has been especially dead on weekends this summer except for the map-and-camera crowd who seem very happy to be here.
Tour buses line 6th Ave from Canal to Watts St.

If it's the crowded city streets that have been keeping you from visiting NYC, I guess now is your time to come.

DH and I were in SOHO yesterday too for lunch and walking around. We also felt that the majority of people were tourists, but I didn't think the area was dead. I was amazed at how many double decker buses went by. And on the subway (#6), I thought there were many, many foreign tourists.

This is the first August that I've been home in Manhattan in many, many years so I can't compare it to other summers. In general, a lot of NYers leave town on weekends in the summer. I'm actually enjoying it - so far. I also think that although the dollar is so weak, it's great for NY that so many Europeans come here and spend money!

After visiting MoMA a couple weeks ago I mentioned to my DH that I heard more French spoken than English.

I guess "dead" is an overstatement, but the weekends following Labor Day will be a different scene.

Is midtown the usual zoo?

Haven't been in midtown lately, but we were walking the lower loop in Central Park before 9am today and there were several large tour groups out already led by guides carrying big flags.

I live in Soho and fyi, we are pretty sure we are one of two native American English speakers that live in the area... slight exagerattion, but not really...

New York is not an American city anymore... and in Soho we meet new locals that are mostly French or English (as in U.K.) some Scots and well, that is about it...

An American in NYC may very well be becoming or already is the minority... just my observation... not sure if it means much except the value of the dollar is not what it used to be...

Change is in the air... onward!

I live in NY, and I am particularly pleased that so many foreigners choose to vacation or settle in NY. It makes for a much diverse, exciting city, and is a boon to the economy.

New York was never an "Aemrican City", hence the names New Amsterdam and New York.

The history of immigration is the history of New York and vice versa. More so today with over 170 languages spoken just in Queens.

I do understand this xenophobic lament about French, Italian, or any other language spoken widely in our City.

And isn't the diminished Little Italy just a few yards away from Soho? The West Village is an old Italian and Irish enclave.
What about Bay Ridge, Arthur Avenue, and Corona Heights?

Immigration and foreigners are the soul and the exceitement of New York.

As someone who was born in NYC, there are few things I enjoy more than being in the homes of friends or relatives who married into the family and learning about their cultures and learning a few words of whatever langauge and exalting in their heritage.

Yes, NYC is especially packed with overseas visitors this year because of currency exchange rates. Great!I agreed that most of us are proud tha NY still has that much international interest. And if we relied on the shrinking number of U.S tourists we'd be in BIG trouble financially!
But though I live in NY, I rarely go to SoHo anyway (except for some restaurants) because the area seems very commercialized, full of chain stores. Most New Yorkers have these store in their own neighborhoods and don't go elsewhere for them. Soho and the areas immediately around it are still much less populated residential neighborhoods than other parts of town and will naturally tend to have more tourists than locals...

I'm not sure we've got a heck of a lot of "chain stores" in SoHo.

A bunch of big-name designer stuff, sure, but we've still got plenty of old-school and neighborhood-y places, too.

What attracts so many tourists to spend so much time in Midtown, I have no idea, but it I'm glad that's the way it is.

I do not know what constitutes a chain but the following are either in or near Soho:

Pottery Barn
Crate and Barrel
Uniqlo (or whatever it is called)
EMS
Scholastic
Prada
Ferragamo
Tiffany's
A mini Bloomies
And even though it started there Dean & Deluca
Kate Spade
Apple
Swiss Army
Scholastic
Patagonia
Smith & Hawken

And those the ones I remember.

Interesting points.

I believe very much in the maxim that what's normal for some is strange and interesting for others....e.g. while your 'normal' American chain store may not attract US tourists who can get the same stuff in Podunk, Oklahoma...it's something different to a European tourist and is worth a sniff around (certainly with the way the dollar is at the moment).

I mean, while in Edinburgh or London I avoid if I can Princes Street and Oxford Street. Chain stores, busy with people etc etc blah blah.

However, I can see equally why a US tourist to London would find Oxford Street fascinating....M&S, Debenhams, Next and a 100 more. Old hat to a British shopper but new and interesting to a foreign tourist.

It's all part of life's big cultural mattress.... :-)

Aduchamp, your point is taken but I hope you can agree that you've listed 14 (Scholastic twice, Crate & Barrel and Tiffany not in SoHo) commercial establishments out of....I don't know....several hundred...in the neighborhood.

I'm not about to list the privately-owned stores and restaurants I frequent in the neighborhood, but rest assured they are here...struggling to pay their inflated rents, but they're here and there are a lot of them.

NYer, I get the impression you're comparing SoHo to some place like the Lower East Side or something.
There's a reason why there are so few businesses there.

There are many residences in SoHo, especially compared to the West Village with their rows and rows of three and four story single-family brownstones and townhouses. We don't have high rises, but we've got plenty of apartments dwellers.

Traditionally for locals, the best times in SoHo tend to be on week nights or around closing times for the restaurants when the chefs and staff are out partying. Check out Raoul's, Shorty's 32, Blue Ribbon, Café Noir, Lucky Strike...to name a few.

I am not comapring Soho to any other neighborhood. I was simply pointing out that the charcter of the area has changed dramatically, yet again, in the past few years.

The neighborhood has become extremely commercial and I avoid Broadway, especically on the weekends.

Fortunately or unfortunately I remeber the neighborhood from the time Robert Moses wanted to cut a swatch through it for the Cross Manhattan Expressway. And I also recall when the real estate people changed the name to Soho (south of Houston).

I have been going to Dean & Luca when they both used to work in the store around the corner from the present location. And I had a few exhibits at the other restaurant Raoul's used to own. I am fully aware of the area.

As to your editing, I noted that the stores are either IN OR NEAR SOHO, Crate and Barrel is extremely far away on the other side of Houston. In fact I just checked their site and they call it their Soho store.
You are right, however, Tiffany's never did complete the store there but I did leave off another chain,

Le Pain Quotidien

I hit the wrong button.

My points (my own opinions, that is) were that

-Soho is not as densely populated as, say the Upper West Side or Upper East Side. You just don't have all those huge high rise buildings with 200+ apartments--yet. There aren't gigantic office towers filling the area with workers/locals like there are in midtown. Therefore, the number of tourists vs "locals" will often be skewed towards tourists.

-Since Soho does indeed have many chains that are common in other neighborhoods (not to say that Soho is only chains, but that you have your share, and then some... :) ), people who live or work in neighborhoods in NY that also have these stores don't necessarily go there> Sheer numbers mean that if you don't get as many semi-locals (New Yorkers, but from outside the neighborhood), and there are fewer residents, you will seem to have more tourists.

I agree the neighborhood does seem to have a disprotionate amount of tourists.

Yet, the cast iron buildings are still the centerpieces of the area.

I dunno, man.
I'll still take SoHo over just about ANY part of midtown or the LES.

You know what's becoming pretty cool, though? That area just east and south around the Flatiron building.

ciaony, I'm a little confused
or perhaps I misread some of the thoughts here.

Noone is "dissing" Soho (or valuing it less or more than midtown, LES, UWS, etc)--just explaining why we think "On the weekends, there isn't a local in sight." "and the whole walk there and back and while in the store, I was surrounded by the French and Italian languages. Italian even more so"

Other people have added "In general, a lot of NYers leave town on weekends in the summer" which also makes sense.

Personally, I like to encourage visitors, those from abroad, those from across the country, and those just a short drive away, to come and visit NYC! See all the neighgorhoods that interest you. I just don't think that there's much of a surprise element in saying that places popular with visitors/tourists are full of tourists ;)

OOOPSS My husband and I are coming from the UK to NY in May 2009 for our 10th Anniversary (without the kids yay)we are planning to stay in or around Soho. The main reason for us wanting to stay in this area is that we don't want to stay in a 'chain' hotel or in the hustle of the more popular tourist areas. I love the streets of brownstone houses and really want to idle around eating nice food on terraces, in an area that isn't packed with people (contradiction for NY i know).
We plan to do some of the 'tourist' things as well, and maybe some shopping (as the £ is good against the $, and it's so much cheaper over your place anyway).
Don't know if i have misread some of these posts....but are some of you saying you don't want tourists in your neighbourhood?
Anyway any tips on good drinking (casual not pretentious) around the city would be appreciated, as would the dress code for restaurants (men and women).
Thanks