Grand St, Lower East Side

I would, technically, consider Grand as the partition from the Lower East Side into Chinatown and Grand is much more Chinatown than LES. The block of Grand between Eldridge and Allen is entirely comprised of Chinese restaurants and stores so you know you're entering a completely different neighborhood than hipstertown. There's even a Chinese bakery on this block that sells baked goods . . . and fried chicken. Seems a little suspect to me but people seem to enjoy it.
The corner of Grand and Allen has a building that used to be the biggest department store in the city. Apparently, Grand street used to be the place to be for women's fashion at the end of the 19th century. The building next door (70) was where Billy the Kid was born. The other corner of Grand (at Orchard) was also a fancy department store and is still a department store --- though the name is now Jodamo Hi-Fashion and I can't imagine that it's fancy. It's hard to imagine this block as ever having been a big money block.
The block between Eldridge and Ludlow is entirely old apartments with Chinese store fronts. I don't cook (or wear nylons) so I don't have a reason to really hang out around here. And, I think it smells around here. It's just not appetizing grocery shopping for my tastes.
The block after Essex has the best bialy joint in the city: Kossar's Bialy. And, it's next to a bakery and a deli, so this block kind of smells like heaven once you get away from the fish smell of the previous blocks. If you lived at Essex, you would basically be fat because all you can smell are different stores of bread 24 hours a day. Though if you live on this block, you'll also live a block away from a ton of public housing because that's all that's after Clinton.
I would never live as far down as Grand. It's dirty and I don't like the buildings. Plus, it's crowded and smelly and there are no bars in Chinatown for the most part. But, the student set doesn't seem to mind living down here. The rent's much cheaper and it's pretty close to public transportation.

Straddling a wealth of downtown neighborhoods and enclaves - including SoHo, Chinatown, the Lower East Side, and Little Italy - Grand Street serves as a border of sorts, connecting these disparate Manhattan neighborhoods on a single city block. Such a connection immediately ups Grand Street's culinary credentials - from Italian trattorias to Chinese dim sum places, Grand Street has it all (check out the food at New American standby O'Neals Grand Street, which suffers only slightly from having been placed on the Sex and the City tour.) The architecture is a mix of old new - 240 Grand is known for its gorgeous baroque look, and has been home to several models and celebrities over the years. There's also a wealth of locations of historic interest, from the Italian-American Museum near Mulberry Street to historic century-old Ferrara's pastry shop to the 1894 Bowery Savings Back designed by infamous Stanford White. This neighborhood is alive with New York's history, a history that dates back significantly further than the pre-war and Deco architecture that dominates much of uptown and midtown. While the area isn't exactly "homey," it certainly is exciting, and with its diversity, architectural, ethnic, culinary, or otherwise, it's sure to be a treat for any New Yorker looking for a vibrant place to live.

Gentrification hasn't quite sunk its cruel little fang into Suffollk Street yet, so the street has retained a good bit of the atmosphere of the Lower East Side before the hipsters took over. It is grungy and crumbly, and still mainly residential, with a middle and high school nearby, and signs of many Hispanic, and a good smattering of Chinese residents all along the street. Hipsters live here too, of course, and there are some eccentric new little shops around, but the main bar and restaurant scene of the Lower East Side is farther west. Just as well: with the rest of the area being snatched away from its more modest Hispanic resident base by skyrocketing rents and yuppie demand for gourmet coffee and tofu, maybe the eastern fringes of the Lower East Side will hold out a bit longer in the onslaught. The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, a once-ornate church building which has long been on a track to dramatic decomposition into a huge, gothic ruin, has been re-invented in recent years into its current incarnation as a cultural seedbed. The center holds performances and supports artist residencies, with an emphasis on Latino cultural projects. Below Delancey, Suffolk Street shows signs of depressing poverty and I wouldn't recommend it at night.

If you are fan of the subway, the closest stop to this street for you is the Delancey st stop along to VF line. Other than that, you're pretty much guaranteed twice the walk. Suffolk street is right at the cusp of where the East Village meets the Lower East Side. This is a nice area to walk around in if you've never been here, or if you have a specific purpose, such as going to see some type of independent show at an artsy theater. The street is lined with low, brownstone buildings and there is a smattering of delis and fast food places. The mos exciting dining location might be "SOY", a small hole in the wall place that boasts some pretty good Spanish food. It is far away from any supermarkets, I think the closest one might be the Whole Foods on E. Houston st. If you don't live here, or don't have any real reason to go here, just stay west.

Well I was certainly impressed, driving along here when I visited New York. It’s completely different to anything I’ve seen in England, a wide, straight road right through the middle of New York with lots of high rise buildings around. Tons of character as well. One thing that struck me was how pointlessly wide it seemed to be – but then it wasn’t rush hour at the time.