New York Guide
Chinatown, Little Italy, and Nolita
With some 200,000 residents (more than half of them of Chinese descent and the rest of other Asian heritage), seven Chinese newspapers, a dozen Buddhist temples, around 500 restaurants, and hundreds of garment factories, Chinatown is Manhattan's most densely populated ethnic neighborhood. For generations bounded by Canal Street to the north, over the last twenty years it has pushed across its traditional border into the smaller enclave of Little Italy, and today it has begun to sprawl east across Division Street and East Broadway into the periphery of the Lower East Side.
On the northern fringes of Little Italy, the hip quarter known as Nolita is known for a number of chic restaurants, bars, and boutiques. Together, these three bustling neighborhoods can make for a diverting side-trip away from Manhattan's more ordered districts. Chinatown and Little Italy are best reached by taking the #6, #J, #M, #N, #Q, #R, #W, or #Z trains to Canal Street. The Spring Street stop on the #6 is the most direct to Nolita.