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A community that dates back to New York's earliest history, Tribeca is today one of the most sought-after residential locations in Manhattan. But beyond the great places to live, it also boasts diversions galore -- from the culinary to the cultural.
From refined champagne lounges to gritty, decades-old saloons, from design studios to galleries, Tribeca offers a range of delights and entertainment for residents and visitors alike. The following is a sample of some of the attractions found on the cobblestone streets and tucked-away alleys of this unique New York City community.
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Candles and champagne set the mood at the Bubble Lounge
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Best Champagne Salon
Indulging its patrons with more than 300 types of champagne, the Bubble Lounge has, since 1996, offered New Yorkers the chance to sit back and sample all different varieties of the bubbly, including 25 different kinds served by the glass, from a $13 flute of light-bodied Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut to a $35 fizzling experience of Dom Perignon.
"There was no place dedicated to what is the king of wines," says Emmanuelle Chiche, co-owner and managing partner of the lounge. "We wanted to de-mystify champagne, make it available to everybody. There is a lot to discover about champagne. This is the place to do it."
Guests to the lounge enter a romantically lit room decorated in rich red and gold colors, tiled with Mexican terra cotta flooring. In addition to its champagne bar, the lounge offers a range of hard liquors and beers and a menu of fine foods including shrimp and caviar.
After pouring yourself a glass, enjoy live jazz music and cabaret acts, offered every Monday and Tuesday, or descend down a carpeted staircase into the "Krug Room," a cozy escape outfitted with cushioned, dark red sofas and chairs.
The Bubble Lounge, 228 West Broadway, (212) 431-3433
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Fun and games go hand in hand with haircuts at Whipper Snipper
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Best Kids' Haircut
When Anita Leong started Whipper Snippers -- a full-service children's hair salon and toy boutique -- she wanted to create a downtown business where kids could get a quality haircut while having fun at the same time.
"We're trying to create a kind of community center, somewhere that the kids can hang out," she says, "a neighborhood place."
Guests to the store -- which opened just last November -- walk into a wood-floored room lined on both sides with toys, games, puzzles, and arts and crafts, everything from candle-making sets to circus-themed lunchboxes, from stuffed animals to board-games.
Toward the rear of the store, kids of all ages get their hair cut (wash, blow-dry, and styling are optional) while sitting in a motorized jeep, playing video games on Nintendo GameCubes, or watching their favorite videos, from Harry Potter to Barney. Afterwards, they can relax with a sugar-free lollipop and balloon. (Teenagers and adults are also invited to sit down for a professional styling).
"A lot of kids come here for their first haircut," Leong says. "They come in, and sometimes they're scared. So we try to put them, as well as their parents, at ease."
Leong -- a mom herself -- lives in Tribeca with her two children and husband Nelson.
"It's a real neighborhood," she says. "Most people who live here know each other. It's a small community. They meet each other at the park, at Little League games. It's really very nice for you and your kids."
Whipper Snippers, 106 Reade Street, (212) 227-2600
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R 20th Century specializes in furniture designed from 1940 to 1970
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Best Furniture
Searching for that perfect piece of vintage-modern furniture? Then head to R 20th Century, a Tribeca store that specializes in lighting and furniture from the mid-century modern movement. The owners of R 20th Century -- a New York magazine Best of New York 2004 Winner -- travel the world in search of vintage-modern classics, designed from 1940 through 1970.
Mid-century clocks, sofas, and chairs dot the downstairs showroom, which also includes lighting fixtures by designer Verner Panton, such as his distinctive shell chandeliers and plastic globe lamps, ranging in price from $9,500 to $50,000.
The first floor of the space serves as a gallery, showcasing the work of designers from the mid-century period as well as detailed histories behind the production and development of the pieces. Currently, the work of American designer Wendell Castle is on display, a collection of his plastic, imaginatively shaped, cherry red and lime green lamps and furniture. The exhibit is open to the public, for free, until June.
"The community is great," says gallery coordinator Lily Kane. "There are a bunch of furniture stores in the area. It's like a little designer community down here."
R 20th Century, 82 Franklin Street, (212) 343-7979
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Shuffleboard and pub fare draw a regular crowd at Nancy Whiskey Pub
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Best Shuffleboard
By 3 p.m. on a recent afternoon, locals had already started crowding Nancy Whiskey Pub, lining up at the wood bar for their cold pints of Guinness.
The smallish, dimly lit bar first started serving drafts and shots back in 1967. "At that time, after 6 p.m. down here, it was like a prairie," says owner Bill Wall. "We were one of the few places open at night."
As Lynyrd Skynyrd blares from overhead speakers, customers sit on simple black stools and enjoy weeknight specials of $7 pitchers of Budweiser and well priced pub food: burgers ($4.75), chicken tenders with fries ($5.25), and pizza with a pitcher of Budweiser ($14.95).
"We're blue collar mostly," says Wall. "It's a comfortable joint, like a hometown bar. We got everybody, Chinese, black, Hispanic. Everybody gets along and minds their own business."
Taking a break from the bar -- or managing to carefully balance their beers in one hand -- patrons of the downtown pub can play a game of bank-shuffleboard, the only such shuffleboard in the city, according to Wall. Unlike normal shuffleboards, a bank-shuffleboard is undersized -- about 12 feet long.
"You push the weights, trying to get as close to the edge of the board without going off," Wall says. "It's a skilled game, once you start playing it. There is more strategy to it. People come from all over just to play it."
The bar opens at 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday, noon on Sunday.
Nancy Whiskey Pub, One Lispenard Street, (212) 226-9943
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The place to shop for your name in lights
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Best Neon
Strolling along White Street, there is an eye-catching, brightly lit neon sign that hints to passersby about the unique artwork being fashioned just inside. Let There Be Neon -- started in 1972 -- creates, installs, and rents custom-made neon lighting fixtures for a wide range of clientele: television shows like the Sopranos, movies like Men in Black, and restaurants like Ruby Foo's, to name a few.
In 1982, Let There Be Neon relocated to their current Tribeca location, in part because of the distinctive spacious architecture that defines the downtown community.
"We came down here originally because we were drawn to the spaces themselves, the openness of the spaces, which is really unlike any other place in Manhattan," says owner Jeff Friedman.
During more than 30 years of working in the neon medium, the downtown shop has created displays and installations for a wide range of businesses, everything from the McDonalds on 96th Street -- an animated display with the famed yellow arches and fries -- to the new Landmarc restaurant on West Broadway -- an outdoor sign complete with intentionally rusted letters backlit by neon.
"We like to think of ourselves as the original purveyors of artistic neon," says Friedman. "We are a commercial shop, but we emphasize the artistic part of neon, whether it's Bloomingdale's or a pizzeria."
Let There Be Neon, 38 White Street, (212) 226-4883
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Washington Market Park, perfect for play and picnics
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Best Park
With the arrival of springtime here in New York, the Washington Market Park is a perfect place to enjoy those cloudless, sun-filled days in Lower Manhattan.
Located near the corner of Greenwich and Chambers Streets, the 1.6-acre park has a small playground where children climb through a bright red jungle gym, ride down a silver, curved slide, and cool themselves off under the geyser of a sprinkler.
Boys and girls -- some with backpacks, others in diapers -- converge on the playground after school, playing under the attention of parents and nannies seated on nearby benches. For New Yorkers who have outgrown slides and jungle gyms, the park also has a nice-sized green lawn -- ideal for a lunchtime picnic.
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For lobster rolls and more head to Shore
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Best Lobster Rolls
Step out of the bustling, 24-hour rush of Manhattan and into a casual, relaxed seafood tavern at Shore, a new restaurant that opened in Tribeca just last summer. Decorated with a wood-beamed ceiling -- complete with a six-foot-long Marlin suspended on the wall -- Shore resembles a New England seaside pub, offering potpies and fried fish, among other food of the beach.
"It's food that you could get down at the shore," says Michael Mazzocco, a partner and general manager of the restaurant. "It's very accessible."
Seafood lovers walk into the wood-paneled tavern, past the raw bar featuring clams, shrimp, oysters, and crab claws, and take a seat in wicker chairs at tables covered in white tablecloths and sheets of brown butcher paper. The menu includes items like grilled calamari salad ($11), fried lemon sole sandwiches ($14), sides of hand-cut buttermilk fried onion rings ($5) and classic New England cole slaw ($2.50), and, of course, lobster rolls, served on toasted, buttered buns with homemade Yukon Gold chips and watercress salad ($24).
On Sundays, stop by the restaurant for brunch, when you can dine on crab-cake eggs Benedict while listening to a live jazz band.
Shore, 41 Murray Street, (212) 962-3750
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Notus features Brazilian antiques crafted from exotic woods
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Best Antiques
The only gallery on the East Coast specializing in Brazilian antiques, Notus welcomed New Yorkers into its brand-new space just eight weeks ago. The 3,000-square-foot, two-story business showcases rare antique furniture and decorative items, from 19th-century dining tables made from dark aged jacaranda to steamer trunks crafted from cedar and leather.
Before opening their store, husband-and-wife team Stephen Hurrell and Julie Sherlock first surveyed the antiques of Southeast Asia, traveling to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. But those markets of antiques appeared too developed, according to Hurrell. Then they landed in Brazil.
"We went to four areas of the country," says Hurrell, who speaks with the accent of his native England. "We were shocked by how much we discovered."
While they did initially consider the Upper East Side as a potential community in which to establish their gallery, the couple ultimately chose to invest in Tribeca.
"Tribeca has a reputation for quality design and antiques," Hurrell says. "Also, it's physically very attractive and has great restaurants. And there is a sense of community here. We've been welcomed by the neighborhood."
Today, patrons enter a simple, refined space decorated with exposed brick and eucalyptus-colored walls, lined with mostly Brazilian Colonial antiques. The beautiful pieces of furniture are defined by their native craftsmanship and fine, aged South American hardwoods like jacaranda and quebracho.
There is a wide variety of antiques from which to choose, everything from a baroque, 18th-century Brazilian oratory complete with original gilding ($62,000) to an elegant, 19th-century round table made from blond rosewood ($4,000).
The couple travels to Brazil themselves to search for aged, authentic hardwood pieces, which they then ship back to New York. The next 40-foot container of antiques arrives in early May.
Notus, 184 Duane Street, (212) 334-0291
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Charts, nautical equipment help you see the world from your armchair
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Best Nautical Charts
Ahoy matey! One of the oldest nautical supply stores in the country, New York Nautical has provided mariners -- professional and recreational alike -- with equipment and support for more than 100 years.
Owner Erik Zibilich says that the business primarily serves commercial interests, providing a selection of more than 30,000 nautical charts for shipping companies around the world, from England to China.
"You're mingling with so many different cultures, so many different captains of commercials vessels," says Zibilich. "They come from all over the world. And dealing with nautical charts, you see the world every day without leaving your chair."
For recreational boaters and would-be commodores, New York Nautical also sells gifts, like weather instruments, GPS devices, globes, and binoculars, which cost anywhere from $45 to $1,000. Toward the back of the store, there is a glass showcase of nautical clocks -- handsome, wood-and-brass pieces, selling from $90 to $2,600.
The store has been located in Lower Manhattan throughout its century-long history. For Zibilich, one reason that Tribeca is now such an attractive community to work in is the rainbow of first-rate culinary experiences available in the downtown neighborhood.
"There is a variety of restaurants, Greek, Korean, Vietnamese, and they're all top quality," he says. "But it's walk-friendly down here, so you can walk it off."
New York Nautical, 158 Duane Street, (212) 962-4522
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Tribeca Hardware caters to your construction needs
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Best Hardware
When Paul Weisenfeld decided to open a hardware business in 1997, he called his friend Steve Stoppert to assist in putting up the store. Stoppert -- a construction worker with more than 25 years of experience -- completed all the carpentry in the downtown location. Two years later, Weisenfeld again called his friend, this time offering him the chance to put down his tool belt and become manager of the shop that he helped to build.
"It was a trial basis, see if I could open the same door five days a week," says Stoppert, a bearded 47-year-old dressed in blue jeans and a simple white T-shirt. "Turns out, I didn't mind it, and Paul treats me well."
Today, Stoppert oversees 10 employees at Tribeca Hardware, a 950-square-foot space housing more than 15,000 items: paints, building supplies, plumbing tools, and appliances, everything from brooms to screwdrivers, ladders to garbage cans, wrenches to flashlights.
About 200 people visit the store every day, according to Stoppert, including local superintendents and contractors. But most patrons are walk-in customers, stopping by the shop to pick up a key ring, thermometer, tube of glue, or maybe an item for their garden, like a clay pot or bag of soil. Tribeca Hardware also rents a full line of tools, including floor refinishing equipment and carpet cleaners.
"We have a real variety of products," says Stoppert. "We don't specialize. We're generalists. But if someone asks for something that we don't have, we'll find a way to get it."
The store is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Tribeca Hardware, 154 Chambers Street, (212) 240-9792
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