NYC NoLIta – Elizabeth Street (2024)

Elizabeth Street NYC

New York City’s North of Little Italy, or NoLIta, is a must-visit. Here’s a quick tour through Elizabeth Street packed with upscale & trendy shops & expensive restaurants.

Practical info

NoLIta, is a trendy and upscale neighborhood next to NoHo, SoHo, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side. It is bordered by Houston Street, Bowery, Broome Street, and Lafayette Street. This neighborhood is relatively new; when gentrification of Manhattan began in the 1990s NoLIta was born and quickly filled with young wealthy professionals. It is a tenement building filled area with one-of-a-kind boutiques lining the streets.

Walking through the neighborhood, you’ll see hipsters and designer-clothing-clad trendsetters. The three distinct streets that run the length of this smallish neighborhood are Mulberry, Mott, and Elizabeth. Even if you aren’t in the mood for spending outrageous sums on designer duds, it’s always fun to window shop.

Elizabeth Street Garden

Allan Reiver, the proprietor of Elizabeth Street Gallery, transformed the space into a community garden with neoclassical sculptures from his own collection. The main gravel road connecting the L-shaped garden to the street is lined with a stone-and-granite balustrade created by French landscape architect Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber. The balustrade was taken from Lynnewood Hall, a 36-acre estate that is regarded as one of the largest Gilded Age houses in the Philadelphia area.

The Elizabeth Street Garden courtyard has a whimsical feel thanks to pear trees, cement lions resting among overgrown rose bushes, and beds of black-eyed Susans mixed among the sculpture. Under the trees is a copper gazebo with wreaths of iron flowers created by Olmsted Brothers for Burrwood (the old home of Walter Jennings), while a small protected space used for public programs and exhibitions abuts the back wall. Napoleon LeBrun, the official architect for the New York City Fire Department, designed the neighboring firehouse where the gallery is located in 1883.

Elizabeth Street Gallery

209 Elizabeth St., New York, NY 10012

As you enter Elizabeth Street Gallery, take notice of the statues on your left and right. Take in the colors as you go through the flower gardens: canary yellow, magenta, and fresh green. Children can be seen weaving in and out of the blossoming blossoms. Consider the possibility that, after all, there can be justice in the world. Sundays will fly by if you come for a stroll, a snack, or a quiet day of reading. Leave through the gates, encountering oncoming traffic and hearing the city’s hum and bustle once more.

Where is it?

Elizabeth Street is the easternmost street next to Bowery. It actually starts at Bleecker, one street up from Houston, but this block isn’t considered on this tour.

This tour starts at Houston Street and ends at Broome Street.

Project Runway contestant Emmett McCarthy’s clothing boutique EMc2 is at 240 Elizabeth. This shop also has been designed by other PR contestants.

For handmade men’s and women’s shirts and suits visit Seize sur Vingt at number 243. The front of the shophouses pre-made shirts, but for made-just-for-you clothing go to the back where you will be measured for “modern and clean” styles.

Check out the trendy women’s clothing boutique Mayle at 242. It has an unmarked storefront, but that makes finding and shopping here that much more exclusive. Pick up the latest looks but be prepared to pay because celebrities with large bank accounts have been known to browse the racks.

Just down the street at 239 is Me & Ro, an upscale jewelry shop is known for their celebrity fan base

At 232 Elizabeth is the Brazilian-themed restaurant BarBossa. Check out their popular co*cktails and brunch.

Just down the street at 229 is Café Habana. Most of the time there is a long line out in front of this hipster neighborhood hangout that doesn’t take reservations. But once inside you can order satisfying Cuban cuisine that won’t make too big of a dent in your wallet.

The building at 211 Elizabeth Street embraces this historic Nolita neighborhood’s architectural heritage — and is noteworthy because of its use of handcrafted detailing, traditional materials, and classic design. These are real homes constructed with real materials in one of New York City’s last authentic neighborhoods.

At 210 is a fashionable fusion restaurant Public.

On the corner of Elizabeth and Prince streets at 14 Prince is the bakery Le Poeme.

Just past Prince Street at number 202 is Cinema Nolita, great for independent and foreign video rentals.

At number 196 you’ll find Lovely Day Thai restaurant. And for the expensive neighborhood, this place is cheap, everything is $10 or less.

194 Elizabeth is an upscale Italian restaurant Peasant, popular for its visible wood-burning oven and open kitchen.

Walk down the street and crossover Spring and Kenmare, at 151B you’ll find tapas bar Xicala Wine and Tapas bar. Enjoy delicious small Spanish plates and their extensive wine selection.

Continue onto Mulberry Street and Mott Street

Getting there

Take the B/D/F/V to Broadway/Lafayette stop, exit at Lafayette, and walk three blocks east to Elizabeth.