Nolita Apartments, NYC

NoLita, which stands for North (No..) of Little Italy (..Lita), combines a bit of old New York and a healthy dose of the new city as well. This is a neighborhood in Manhattan that is North of Little Italy, East of Soho, West of the Lower East Side and South of Noho. The lineage of the neighborhood is Italian and a few remnants of the neighborhood’s immigrant past remain, like Lombardi’s Pizza, or the Italian grandmothers that sit on the steps of their building, talk to neighbors as they walk by and stare at the yuppies.

With a recent construction boom in the neighborhood, there are significantly more Nolita apartments to choose from, especially with the construction of the Avalon Properties building at Chrystie and Houston and the 284 Mott Street building. These buildings are full service, have good amenities, common roof decks (in some cases) but generally lack character. Another benefit is the increase in supply has helped to keep apartments rents below that of nearby Soho.

If you are looking for Nolita apartments with character, check out the choices on Houston Street. Some of the traditional tenements still exist on Mott, Mulberry and Elizabeth. These streets are full of charm, relatively quiet at night and easily the best part of Nolita. In addition, Crosby is a great street to live on. It has a warehouse feel to it, a good number of traditional loft spaces for rent and just enough graffiti on the buildings to make you feel like yuppies haven’t entirely taken over the neighborhood.

The layout of the Nolita is a standard grid, but, because the neighborhood is below Houston, the Streets aren’t numbered and that adds elements of confusion and personality. Nolita’s charm varies street by street and generally increases the further you are from Houston Street, Canal Street, Bowery or Broadway. At the center of Nolita is Old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the original NYC Cathedral and the church featured in the movie Gangs of New York.

One of the major drawbacks to the neighborhood is the lack of park space, but there is a children’s playground at the corner of Mulberry and Spring and parks just east of Nolita on Chrystie Street. If you are willing to walk a bit further, you walk to Union Square or over to the East River Park to take a run or play sports.

One of the best things about Nolita is it allows you to live centrally and sample lots of different neighborhoods. The East Village nightlife is within walking distance, as are the restaurants of Chinatown and the shops of Soho. In terms of public transportation, the Nolita allows you to access both the East and West sides of Manhattan via the F,V,B,D (West Side) and 4,5,6 (East Side). In addition, the N,R,Q,W runs up the middle of Manhattan and can easily be accessed from Nolita.

Nolita has a great array of bars and restaurants packed into a relatively small area. Café Habana is a Cuban style restaurant with a cool vibe and was the location for the music video for Lenny Kravitz’s Again. For great pizza you can go to Lombardi’s or to Pomodoro for a famed vodka slice. Café Colonia is a local favorite and serves Brazilian/ American food. For an evening cappuccino or some Sunday brunch, stop by Café Gitane. Lastly, for an afternoon or evening beer, Spring Lounge is always fun.

Other Manhattan Neighborhoods

• Battery Park
• Chelsea
• Chinatown
• East Village
• Financial District
• Flatiron
• Gramercy
• Greenwich Village
• Harlem
• Hell's Kitchen
• Inwood
• Kips Bay
• Lower East Side
• Meatpacking Dist.
• Midtown East
• Morningside Heights
• Murray Hill
• NoHo
• Nolita
• Roosevelt Island
• SoHo
• TriBeCa
• Tudor City
• Union Square
• Upper East Side
• Upper West Side
• Washington Heights
• West Village