We are past the “Welcome to Little Italy” sign and in the heart of the neighborhood. The architecture is pretty much the same as Chinatown, but all the signs have changed. Some stores are proudly flying the Italian flag. That’s one of the fun things about New York: walk a few blocks and the entire character can change. While the architecture is unquestionably American, the differences in food and culture make it feel like you’ve warped from Asia to Europe.

I love the string lights and signs in Italian that stretch across the street from building to building. They look like they light up, and if so, I need to visit in the evening. I can imagine the glow from these lights would add another dimension to this urban scene.

As we continued to walk north, we were greeted with the Empire State Building in the distance, an unexpected pleasure. Switching to a vertical orientation seemed natural. The low-slung brick buildings frame the street and create a trench of architecture that appears to lead to the Empire State Building. That little background detail identifies this as a definitive New York scene.

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