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Canal Street (Manhattan)

 
Canal Street (Manhattan)

 
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Canal Street (Manhattan)
 
 
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Canal Street is a major street in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, crossing lower
Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the New York City....
 Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
 to join New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
 in the west (via the Holland Tunnel
Holland Tunnel

The Holland Tunnel is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland....
 I-78
Interstate 78

Interstate 78 is an Interstate Highway in the Northeast United States, running 144 miles from Interstate 81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown, Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and downtown New York City....
) to Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
 in the east (via the Manhattan Bridge
Manhattan Bridge

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn on Long Island....
). It forms the main spine of Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan

||-||-||-||}The Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan — a borough of New York City — is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Han Chinese immigrants, similar to Chinatown districts in other United States cities....
, and separates it from Little Italy
Little Italy, Manhattan

This article is about the neighborhood currently known as Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. For the neighborhood once known as Little Italy in Upper Manhattan, see Italian Harlem....
. It also forms the northern boundary of the Tribeca
TriBeCa

TriBeCa is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. The name is a abbreviation#Syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street." It runs roughly from Canal Street, Manhattan south to Park Place , and from the Hudson River east to Broadway ....
 neighborhood and the southern boundary of SoHo
Soho

Soho is an area in the centre of the West End of London of London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is an entertainment district which for much of the later part of the 20th century had a reputation for its sex shops as well as its night life and film industry....
.

Canal Street takes its name
Street name

A street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. The street name usually forms part of the address . Buildings are often given House numberings along the street to further help identify them....
 from an actual canal
Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
 that was dug in the early 1800s to drain the contaminated and disease-ridden Collect Pond
Collect Pond (Manhattan)

The Collect Pond was a body of fresh water near the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City, covering approximately 48 acres and running as deep as 60 feet ....
 into the Hudson River
Hudson River

The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk , the Great Mohegan by the Iroquois, or as the Lenape Native Americans called it in Unami, Muhheakantuck, is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York....
.






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Chinatown Little Italy Manhattan 2004
Canal Street is a major street in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, crossing lower
Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the New York City....
 Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
 to join New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
 in the west (via the Holland Tunnel
Holland Tunnel

The Holland Tunnel is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland....
 I-78
Interstate 78

Interstate 78 is an Interstate Highway in the Northeast United States, running 144 miles from Interstate 81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown, Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and downtown New York City....
) to Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
 in the east (via the Manhattan Bridge
Manhattan Bridge

The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn on Long Island....
). It forms the main spine of Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan

||-||-||-||}The Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan — a borough of New York City — is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Han Chinese immigrants, similar to Chinatown districts in other United States cities....
, and separates it from Little Italy
Little Italy, Manhattan

This article is about the neighborhood currently known as Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. For the neighborhood once known as Little Italy in Upper Manhattan, see Italian Harlem....
. It also forms the northern boundary of the Tribeca
TriBeCa

TriBeCa is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. The name is a abbreviation#Syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street." It runs roughly from Canal Street, Manhattan south to Park Place , and from the Hudson River east to Broadway ....
 neighborhood and the southern boundary of SoHo
Soho

Soho is an area in the centre of the West End of London of London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is an entertainment district which for much of the later part of the 20th century had a reputation for its sex shops as well as its night life and film industry....
.

Canal Street takes its name
Street name

A street name or odonym is an identifying name given to a street. The street name usually forms part of the address . Buildings are often given House numberings along the street to further help identify them....
 from an actual canal
Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
 that was dug in the early 1800s to drain the contaminated and disease-ridden Collect Pond
Collect Pond (Manhattan)

The Collect Pond was a body of fresh water near the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City, covering approximately 48 acres and running as deep as 60 feet ....
 into the Hudson River
Hudson River

The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk , the Great Mohegan by the Iroquois, or as the Lenape Native Americans called it in Unami, Muhheakantuck, is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York....
. The pond was filled in 1811, and Canal Street was completed in 1820 following the angled path the canal had. The elimination of Collect Pond actually made the surrounding land even marshier, as the area had many natural springs that now had nowhere to drain. The historic townhouse
Townhouse

Historically in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries, a townhouse was a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city....
s and newer tenements that had been built along Canal Street quickly fell into disrepair, and the eastern stretch of Canal Street came within the ambit of the notorious Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan

Five Points was a notorious slum centered on the intersection of Anthony , Orange , Mulberry , Cross and Little Water and the eastern corner of a public park called ?Paradise Square?, on Manhattan island, New York City, New York, in the United States....
 slum as property values and living conditions plummeted.

Early in the 20th century, the jewelry trade centered on the corner of Canal and Bowery
Bowery

Bowery may refer to:* Bowery , an area of and street in New York City** Bowery Amphitheatre, a building in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City...
, but moved in mid century to the modern Diamond District on 47th Street
47th Street (Manhattan)

47th Street is an east-west running street between First Avenue and the West Side Highway in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs one way along the street, from east to west, starting at the United Nations Headquarters....
. In the 1920s the Citizens Savings Bank built a magnficent domed headquarters at the Bowery, facing the Manhattan Bridge plaza which remains a local landmark.

Today, Canal Street is a bustling commercial district, crowded with low-rent (compared to other Manhattan real estate) open storefronts, and street vendors to the west; banks and jewelry shops to the east. Tourists as well as locals pack the Canal Street sidewalks every day to frequent the open-air food stalls and bare-bones stores selling items such as perfume, purses, hardware, and industrial plastics at very low prices. Many of these goods are grey market
Grey market

A grey market or gray market is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer....
 imports and many notoriously counterfeit
Counterfeit

A counterfeit is an imitation made usually with the intent to deceptively represent its content or origins, thus increasing sales appeal due to the reputation of the imitated product....
, with fake trademark
TradeMark

TradeMark is a tall, primarily residential, skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was completed in 2007 and has 28 floors. There are 200 hundred residential units....
ed brand names on electronics, clothing and personal accessories (including the fake Rolex watches that have become a Manhattan cliché). Illegally produced
Copyright infringement

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works....
 CD
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
s and DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
s are very common, and offered for sale on the Canal Street sidewalks in makeshift stands and suitcases or simply laid out on bedsheets, often before they are even officially released in stores or the theater. Widespread sale of these counterfeit goods persists along Canal Street and in its hidden back rooms despite frequent police
New York City Police Department

The New York City Police Department , established in 1844, is currently the largest police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within Borough of New York City....
 raids.

External links

  • (from A Journey Through Chinatown)
  • - photographs of buildings and stores along Canal Street.
  • - a virtual walking tour.