Park Row, Chinatown

Park Row really starts off with a bang in Chinatown. . . . the two corner buildings at Worth are a low income housing project and a middle income housing project. Nothing really says welcome to the neighborhood than two modern day tenements. I don't know why they always have to make projects so ugly, too. It's like they're just asking for us to think the Candyman is lurking just behind the bushes. They always look like prisons and not having much money is depressing enough.
Speaking of prisons, the corner just across Pearl holds a Correctional center and the headquarters to the NYPD. So, I guess you'll be pretty safe if the Candyman does happen to be lurking in the projects. They're both hideously ugly buildings but the saving grace to this block is that two beautiful structures lie just beyond them. The Municipal Building is a gargantuan beautiful government office space that has a tower with the second tallest statue in New York. It's one million square feet of government including the Mayor's office and it seems like such a waste of pretty for dirty deeds, but I guess that's the US. Across from the Municipal Building is the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge isn't famous for nothing: it's beautiful. I walked across it when I first moved here and it was freezing but well worth it. It was built between 1870 and 1883 and people were so excited for the bridge that there was actually a mob to get on which resulted in 12 people being trampled to death. Add that to the 16 people who died constructing the bridge and it's a good thing this bridge is so pretty. It'd be a shame if all of that happened for something like the Manhattan Bridge (I kid . .. sorta).
I wouldn't live on Park Row even if I could but there are some lovely sights to see for an afternoon.