Grand St, Little Italy

Grand is the de facto border between Little Italy and Chinatown and this street is where you see a lot of drastic changes between the neighborhood energy. This shift can be seen right at the outside of the street in Little Italy. The north side of the street has some fun old buildings that hold an old cafe and a building supplies store. And, the south side of the street has an asian bakery and a motel . . you get the idea.
Across Centre street, there are some fantastic buildings. There's an old police station on the corner that was a precinct until the '70's when it was turned into a luxury loft building that a lot of supermodels bought units in. I'm sure those lofts have got to be amazing. There's a really cool building across the street that used to house a guild for people that didn't fit into other unions. It's called Odd Fellow's Hall and I think that name is pretty funny considering. You could never call anyone an "odd fellow" today if they didn't fit in. Next door, there's another Asian bakery that people say is great but I have yet to patronize it. There's a great bar right at Baxter called O'Nieal's that has been around forever. It's very old world and old wood; it was Aidan and Steve's bar in Sex and the City. There's a great Italian Salumeria on the same side of the street as the bar and it's nice to know those are still kicking especially this far south in the neighborhood. Across the street from the bar is the oldest gun shop in New York City. It's about 100 years old and a sizeable percentage of guns related to violent crimes in the city can be traced back to their purchase at this spot. I don't like guns but I do kind of enjoy the fact that the resident gun shop of the city is still located in Mobtown USA. Next door to the gun shop is the Italian American Museum . . but, of course.
The oldest cheese shop in the city, Alleva (1897) is right on the corner at Mulberry. This place is very old school and absolutely fantastic. It would be a very sad day if this place ever closed. On that same note, the best Italian bakery in the city is across the street. It's called Ferrara's, it has been around since the 1890's and it is mind blowingly good. There's another cheese shop on the opposite corner of this block -- thank god there's a gun shop up the street to handle that rivalry, eh? And, just to make sure that the charm and greatness of this block is killed . . a 99 cent store right across the street. Oh, New York.
In a turn that I mentioned earlier, the entire block between Mott and Elizabeth is run over with Chinatown migration. There are two asian bakeries, a dumpling shop, an eastern herb store, Asian fashion store, an asian wings joint, and a Chinese restaurant. It's almost unbelievable as you cross Mott that you are on the same street you were just on at Mulberry. A lot of streets make quick turns but this is one of the quickest and most pronounced around.
There are two very grand buildings just before Bowery which, again, indicate a turn into another neighborhood. They are both old banks and one still houses a bank and the other an event space. They are massive and romanesque and a pretty good reminder that you're not in Little Italy in 5,4,3,2 . . .
I'm not a huge fan of Grand street. It's too busy and dirty and the neighborhoods mish mosh too much for there to be any sort of tangible vibe. It's not a bad street, it's just still a little up and coming and the bar, restaurant, theatre, shopping scene is definitely lacking on Grand save that one little block at Mulberry. And, even that block is lackluster compared to other Mulberry intersections.