Clinton St, Lower East Side

Clinton street is what Avenue B becomes when the neighborhood turns from the East Village to the Lower East Side. I don't go on this street a ton and I wouldn't ever want to live on it. It's pretty dirty and crowded. And, because it doesn't have a million bars like every other LES street, it's pretty sketchy at night. There are a couple of spots to hit, but all in all, it's a pass street to me.
Right at the corner of Clinton and Houston marks one of my favorite Brunch spots in the city: Clinton Street Baking Company! It's delicious and has a great vibe. The only problem is that everyone feels that way so if you don't get there early, the wait can be hours. Just down the street is a barber shop called Beautiful Hair. I would never get my hair cut there but it's where Michelle Pfieffer worked in Married to the Mob which I think is kind of awesome. There are actually a ton of restuarants on Clinton but whenever I go to the Lower East Side, I patronize other ones. Basically, I don't think anything south of Clinton Street Baking Co is all that worth going to.
The rest of the street going down into Chinatown and downtown is a mix of apartment buildings that look like tenement homes and little hole in the wall eateries. Clinton isn't exactly at the forefront of nightlife and stuff to do in this neighborhood but it's a pretty big street so it's easy to walk up and down even on crowded days.

To me, East Broadway's most dominant visual aesthetic is the brick-park feel of the huge housing developments all over the area, which unfortunately out-shout the quiet charm of some of the smaller residential buildings. Originally intended as lower-income housing, these towers never were, and never will be beautiful, no matter how many of them they deregulate and put on the market. That said, it doesn't get more international than this: the Iglesia Cristiana, the United Hebrew Community of NY, and the Ling Liang Evanagelistic Mission, are all within a couple of blocks of each other. About as melting-pot as it's possible for a melting pot to melt, you could say. Much less visible are a couple of reportedly good art galleries, though you'd have to know where to look for them, plus Bar 169, a decent establishment that attracts the hipper crowd in the area. I passed the West Side Arts Coalition, the Mazur Theater, plus a brownstone with a hand-made sign in the window that read “The Paper Bag Players.” So culture is definitely happening here, but in the odd interstices, and for a select crowd. By the way, East Broadway has nothing to do with Broadway proper, either geographically or in terms of atmosphere, a detail which can be confusing for newbies.

Broadway may have all the headlines and glamour but East Broadway is the home of a number of different cultures and communities which makes it a great stop for seeing different lifestyles clashing and converging. The Jewish and Chinese communities live side by side bringing a fantastic mix of shops and facilities. The Trans World Buddhist Association front really catches the eye and is a great place to learn a little more about this popular faith.

East Broadway is definitely not to be confused with the Broadway of theater fame. It’s deep in the Lower East Side, for one thing, and certainly lives life on a much smaller scale. That’s not to say that the street doesn’t get its share of traffic, but the environment is one of former tenement housing and Chinese restaurants.

Clinton Street features a list of places to go and things to see; there are especially a lot of restaurants, food stands, and bakeries on the street. A stroll down the street will reveal the varieties of Latin American and Spanish places to eat there; especially noticeable on sight is the colorful exterior of the Dominican Cibao, and notable for great food is the Spanish tapas bar Tapeo 29.

East Broadway has a great dining atmosphere, both high-end and lower end food. Broadway East offer a comfortable dining experience with great local wines. 88 Palace Restaurant is a great place to stop in as well for some tasty Chinese fare. Located all but under the bridge it's an amazingly strange atmosphere to be in.