Tribeca

Tribeca is the place where you’d better watch out at night…it gets pretty deserted, but hey—that’s half the fun of going clubbing isn’t it? Cos you certainly won’t get yelled at for a noise violation when all the people live in lofts on the higher floors and everyone on the ground is rockin clubs and bitchin bars.

Nightlife highlights, uh huh…check out Sway, Club NV, Don Hill’s, and other bastions of nightly splendor. It’s fun to hang out in this little area around Spring and Greenwich=--loads to do and models galore, it’s a funfest of looking good and copping attitude with the little doorperson in the furry coat. Technically, Tribeca stands for the “triangle below canal,” but as time passes the boundaries have expanded slightly northward to almost Houston Street. This are, though formerly classed as SoHo west, can more properly be defined as Tribeca, as it retains the flavor and character of the rest of the triangular neighborhood.

While the area can get a bit quiet at night, there are usually always a good number of amenities within walking distance. Expect to find as many Duane Reade drug stores as you can handle (this is, after all the geographical location of both Duane and Reade streets…), lots of bodegas and gourmet delis, and a decent amount of banks as you get closer to the southern expanse near the financial district and to the east, near SoHo.

Tribeca is serviced by the A,C,E, 1 and 9 trains, all of which make several stops in the area. Residents living along the river will have a farther hike to subway stops than some of their more easterly neighbors, but the walk can be worth the tradeoff for out-of-the-way, cavernously converted loft spaces lining the side streets. Although spaces in Tribeca are not as cheap now as they were for migrating artists in the 1970s, the better deals are still the ones farthest to the west, near the piers and the Hudson River.

Otherwise, Tribeca’s history is full of factory life and today, of book publishing. Publishers line the streets down here, from West Broadway to the river. This was and is the publishing district of New York—major publishing houses and the little guys alike do their business in the ancient loft spaces lining West Broadway, White, and Leonard Streets. Expect to find an overabundance of buildings with manually operated elevators—a big plus for the people person who loves to gossip about the day’s events with Fred the elevator guy.

Besides fodder for your bookshelves, Tribeca can provide ample stock for your belly—both in the form of healthy and sinfully bad for you food options. Spilling out west from SoHo are some of the best, or sometimes just the most talked about, restaurants in the city, including ol’ Bobby DeNiro’s Tribeca Bar & Grill.

Unlike other neighborhoods, it is hard to identify a strong blanket community of residents in Tribeca, a detail that proves appealing for anyone who wants to feel a part of a relatively “new” neighborhood scene, one that is based around the active and creative lives of its inhabitants. Locals are, for the most part, between 25-40 years of age and often still members of the NYC single scene. This is a fantastic place to gather a group of single friends together in one loft space, while perhaps not the top neighborhood to settle down and raise a family. While there are some stellar schools in Tribeca, the sometimes desolate landscape is not really conducive to playing children, and the lack of outdoor parks and green spaces makes it difficult to find a

Tribeca is also home to the Holland Tunnel, a fact which made the area a bit of a traffic squeeze. This was alleviated by the construction of the West Side Highway, an elevated stretch of land to replace West St. Noise is a consideration if you live in the far nothern tip of Tribeca, close to Broome and Canal streets, otherwise—the street noise at night is negligible and mostly reserved for night owls crawling home after a night out.

Also location of several attractive schools, including PS 234 and the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Tribeca is all about interesting architecture and the reclusive celebrity. This is a great place to live if you’ve got money, but don’t want to live in a high pedestrian traffic area. It seems almost perfectly catered to those shy by day but crazy by night party animals, for whom the many clubs and lounges in Tribeca are well-suited. Just a good spot for big rooms/spaces, privacy, and proximity to the best Manhattan has to offer—from shopping in SoHo to the eating, clubbing, or relaxing that can be found right in Tribeca.