New York Guide
Tribeca and Soho
The adjoining neighborhoods of Tribeca and Soho encompass the area from Ground Zero north to Houston Street and east from the Hudson River to Broadway. Acting as a sort of segue between the Financial District and the relaxed artiness of the West Village, the district is home to wealthy New Yorkers with a taste for retro-industrial cool and the stores that cater to them. Nineteenth-century warehouses have been converted into vast lofts overlooking cobblestone streets, and the area's cast-iron buildings (and their enormous ground-floor windows) make it perfect for purveyors of fine art, antiques, and luxury goods.
The art scenes that flourished here in the 1970s and 1980s have, for the most part, moved on to Chelsea and the outer boroughs, but there are still plenty of reasons to visit the area. Tribeca feels more residential, its sidewalks populated by stylish moms and their hip tots, as well as the occasional celebrity. Soho is also the haunt of young and fashionable Hollywood types, with rents that have now eclipsed the West Village, though the focus here is on dining and especially shopping.