Thompson St, Greenwich Village

Thompson starts at Washington Square Park and the block kicks off with two massive churches. The Judson is from 1888 and is beautiful and the Holy Trinity was built in the '60's and is atrocious looking. The ugly church is built on the site of the former home of the city executioner. The executioner always lived at this spot because public executions were held at Washington Square Park. I guess the only thing you can put on the site of something like that is a church, right?
The block between 3rd and Bleecker has a great mish mosh of businesses and the buildings are all old and lovely. I quite like this block because it's how I would imagine the Village to look if there were no University there. There are two chess shops on this block and I find that to be so bizarre and kind of wonderful at the same time. There is a vintage clothing store and an actual record store that is still in business right next door to each other on this block. And, one of the few bars in the neighborhood, The Dove, that doesn't ever have a student crowd is also on this block. The Dove is in the former spot of an Italian restaurant that was open for almost 100 years. Thankfully, The Dove didn't change much of the aesthetic. This place is great and very pretty inside.
The next block down before Thompson gets into Soho territory is at Bleecker. Two very famous italian restaurants are across Thompson from each other on this block and they are both small and great. Rocco is almost 100 years old and is a very old school, mafia kind of hangout. And, Lupa is a trendy but great, new and hard to get into kind of joint. I like them both and at least one of them is a must during anyone's New York tenure.
Thompson is a great street because it's small, relatively quiet and relatively unfettered by the school. There are some great mom and pop places and the buildings are all lovely. For a street that's not predominantly residential, Thompson is very homey . . . in a Manhattan sort of way.