Manhattan’s Chinatown is my second favorite neighborhood next to Fort Greene. It’s full of people, odors, bars, clubs, cafes, and restaurants. There’s always something going on here.
I am a 23 year old camera-operator and story-teller, originally from Minnesota, but I now live and create in New York City. My stee-lo is to record the world around me - mainly the interesting people and places that I encounter.
This is my local spot and one of my bad habits. The bartenders make sure I don't do anything to embarrassing and its full of regulars. Has dangerously replaced my living room. It's one of the only real dive bars on Smith street. Layers of funkiness help keep away the frat boys and bachelorette parties. Never closes before 4am so all the other neighborhood bartenders, cooks, and waiters stop by after work. Needless to say that only the best business decisions get made here!
If you are in need of a moment of solitude, this is the place. On my first visit I was in awe of how time seemed to stand still inside. It has now become a sanctuary from the city when I need the pace of life to slow down.
Occasionally I'll look at the Manhattan skyline and wonder what it was like in 1931 when people around the world were saying, "Holy shit, did you hear what they just built in New York?" Just get up there and trip out about humanity. And be sure to keep an eye out for the unmarked locked door guarding a set of stairs leading to a hidden terrace that was originally designed as a fucking docking station for zeppelins.
A modern natural history museum located in a freight elevator dedicated to its signature curatorial style of "Object Journalism" that draws parallels to the older cabinet of curiosities model.