Shall We Walk to TriBeCa?

[Photos belong to: Gabriela Yareliz]

By: Gabriela Yareliz

This summer, I worked in Tribeca (triangle below canal street). It became sort of a second home, this neighborhood. I think Tribeca is a neighborhood second only to the Village. It’s clean, renovated, trendy and by the river. This is where you can find shops with French opera posters, you can walk to the courts, drink $15 juices (or just drink the samples until you are full, as many like to do–the Cardamom thing is awful, by the way), or cheaper juices, and then, there are the Turkish baths.

There is Billy’s Bakery on Franklin St. Warning: At Billy’s you can find an employee who hates her life; who will put your friend’s birthday pie upside down in the box and give you the cupcake with no icing (I speak as a witness). Always check your order before you leave, if you dare make a purchase here. You can find parks with “baby grass” and benches galore at the Washington Square Market Park. Cobblestone streets help you twist your ankles as you walk in your work heels. Shout out to Smile at Shinola on Franklin Street. It has amazing gluten-free goods like quinoa-banana muffins and peanut butter cookies. Also, there is the lady at the Hudson Street Deli who never looks happy when you give her business, but the place is so good and reasonable that you keep coming back to it.

Strollers can be found on every sidewalk navigating past dog walkers, and flowers outside of delis perfume what seems like every corner of Hudson Street. The door men have inside jokes with the small children who go out with their nannies every morning; they give each other high fives as the children leave their glassy homes.

The walk from the Village to Tribeca may be one of the friendliest walks one can take in New York. Tourists don’t interfere with the walk and charming people cleaning sidewalks and walking around will greet you. I got to know Tribeca very well. I know where the best juices, ice cream and taco can be found. I also know where you can get chips and guac that are too expensive for anyone in their right mind to buy. I know how to get into the Barnes and Noble on Warren Street (not to be confused with the Whole Foods, Bed Bath and Beyond and Bank of America entrances). And I know where to get watch batteries changed (if you speak to the man in Spanish you have a chance of scaring the vendor out of his mind and he is less likely to rip you off), and I know where you can buy a salad with soba noodles in it.

Celebrities and young downtowners who make bank inhabit this neighborhood; in the morning you can see expensive cars and people suited up crossing Hudson and Greenwich St. Everyone rushing to work, but walking slow enough to be noticed. Walks to and through Tribeca will always top my list.

Here are some of the views from a walk from the Village to Tribeca. Some parts may not be exactly in Tribeca, but who’s drawing lines here? The Village, SoHo and Tribeca–three neighborhoods this good can seem to just mesh together at times; especially by the glittering gray Hudson.