Nolita

Lower Manhattan to Houston Street

NoLIta may have many of the same features as the adjacent SoHo and Little Italy, but the atmosphere of NoLIta (for the north of Little Italy) is charming. It is a destination thanks to the great cafés, the trendy boutiques and the buzzing bar scene. Visit independent designers’ facilities and relax at famous restaurants and lounges along the streetside. Few areas in Manhattan have better observation on a warm and bright day.

History

The area was considered part of Little Italy for many years but has lost its recognizable Italian character in recent decades due to steadily rising rent. Every year following Labor Day, on Mulberry Street between Houston and Grand Street, the Feast of Saint Gennaro (“the Papal of Naples”). The feast, as it is recreated on Elizabeth Street, is celebrated in the area.

A surge of yuppies and the proliferation of expensive shopping, restaurants and bars happened in the second half of the 1990’s. After failed attempts to sell this newly trendy neighborhood in SoHo, real estate promoters and others came up with different names. Named after the newly fashionable neighborhood, Nolita was the abbreviation for North of Little Italy, as reported in an article published in the New York Times City Section[quite necessary] on 5 May 1996. The name fits the pattern of the portmanteau created by SoHo (Houston Street South), and TriBeCa.

The neighbors include St. Patrick ‘s Old Cathedral, which opened in 1815 and was demolished after a fire in 1868. At the junction of Mulberry, Mott and Prince Streets. On June 8, 1809, the cornerstone was laid. The new St. Patrick’s cathedral was opened in 1879 on Fifth Avenue in Midtown and was known as the Cathedral Roman Catholic in New York City. Now it’s a parish Church, St. Patrick’s Former Cathedral. In 2010, the former cathedral of St. Patrick was named to be the basilica at the present St. Patrick’s. The Puck house, a decorated structure built in 1885 on the corner of Lafayette Streets and Houston streets which originally was the head office of the now defunct Puck magazine[8], is another neighborhood landmark. A small Australia has grown in Nolita since 2010 and is growing.