Laguardia Pl, Greenwich Village

Laguardia starts off with a horrific looking building that is, of course, NYU. It has a glass roof and appalling, Fahrenheit 451 stairs. It used to some school for geniuses where a bunch of soon to be famous writers lived in the early 1900's. What a shocker, NYU tore it down. I hope those people haunt them, but I digress . . . . Across the street is another NYU building: the main NYU library. It tries to look old to fit in with the neighborhood aesthetic, but it's pretty new. Apparently, NYU students that want to do themselves in have a penchant for throwing themselves off the top floor to land in the foyer. How's that for dramatic?
One NYU story I do love, is that the massive housing complex it built at Washington Square Village is what prompted the neighborhood preservation movement. You can't miss this building. Every time I walk through it or by it, I feel like I'm heading in to a hospital. It is so ugly and doesn't match anything else in the neighborhood. There are a couple of little restaurants and shops on this street, but it is pretty much NYU dominated. The good news is that you can't rent a place here, though. And, that's good news because who wants to pay that much to live in Greenwich only to be surrounded by 18 year olds?

With construction and redesign afoot in Washington Square Park, it is somewhat in flux. Add in the surges of New York University students in between classes and there is a motion to the park. Not that this is new, having had roles from military parade grounds to pauper burial grounds, this has always been an interesting spot. Nowadays, it regularly plays host to street hustler chess players, acoustic guitar and jazz buskers, light saber battlers and hula hoop aficionados. Always interesting!

These few blocks on a north-south street running between Houston and Washington Square Park are a peaceful, relatively quiet respite, especially compared to the usual frat boy bedlam that reigns a couple of blocks west, in the bars of the Village. This is in particular true now that the infamous Senor Swanky's has closed. What remains are a few low-key gems for those foodies willing to llok around. Bruno's is an Italian bakery and coffee shop that turns out incredibly flaky cookies and pastries; we return time and time again, however, for the remarkable assortment of cakes (it's become a hallowed birthday tradition where I work). Nearby, Marumi's is a quiet, understated place to catch excellent sushi for a great price; a step above your average local sushi joint, ask to sit in their cozy covered garden in the back.