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Nolita, sometimes written as NoLIta and deriving from "North of
Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...
",Roberts, Sam
"New York’s Little Italy, Littler by the Year"
''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (February 21, 2011)
is a neighborhood in the
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...
of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Nolita is situated in
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States w ...
, bounded on the north by
Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in ...
, on the east by the
Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...
, on the south roughly by Broome Street, and on the west by Lafayette Street. It lies east of
SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was devel ...
, south of
NoHo NoHo, short for North of Houston Street (as contrasted with SoHo), is a primarily residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded by Mercer Street to the west and the Bowery to the east, ...
, west of the
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally a ...
, and north of
Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...
and
Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
.


History and description

The neighborhood was long regarded as part of Little Italy, but has lost its recognizable Italian character in recent decades because of rapidly rising rents. The Feast of San Gennaro, dedicated to
Saint Januarius Januarius ( ; la, Ianuarius; Neapolitan and it, Gennaro), also known as , was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, lat ...
("Pope of Naples"), is held in the neighborhood every year following Labor Day, on Mulberry Street between Houston and
Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and com ...
Streets. The feast, as recreated on Elizabeth Street between
Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...
and Houston Streets, was featured in the film ''
The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel '' The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' ...
''. In the second half of the 1990s, the neighborhood saw an influx of
yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly ne ...
s and an explosion of expensive retail boutiques and restaurants and bars. After unsuccessful tries to pitch it as part of SoHo, real estate promoters and others came up with several different names for consideration for this newly upscale neighborhood. The name that stuck, as documented in an article on May 5, 1996, in the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' city section debating various monikers for the newly trendy area, was ''Nolita'', an abbreviation for North of Little Italy. This name follows the pattern started by
SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was devel ...
(South of Houston Street) and
TriBeCa Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...
(Triangle Below Canal Street). The neighborhood includes St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, at the intersection of Mulberry,
Mott Mott is both an English surname and given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname B *Basil Mott (1859–1938), British civil engineer * Bitsy Mott (1918–2001), American baseball player C * Charles James Mott (1880–1918), British b ...
, and
Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...
Streets, which opened in 1815 and was rebuilt in 1868 after a fire. The cornerstone was laid on June 8, 1809. This building served as New York City's
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
cathedral until the new St. Patrick's Cathedral was opened on
Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Har ...
in Midtown in 1879. St. Patrick's Old Cathedral is now a
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities ...
. In 2010, St. Patrick's Old Cathedral was honored and became The Basilica at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. The
Puck Building __FORCETOC__ The Puck Building is a historic building located in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It occupies the block bounded by Lafayette, Houston, Mulberry and Jersey Streets. An example of the German Rundbogenstil style o ...
, a nine-story-high ornate structure built in 1885 on the corner of Houston and Lafayette Streets, originally housed the headquarters of the now-defunct '' Puck'' Magazine. Since 2010, a Little Australia has emerged and is growing in Nolita on Mulberry Street and
Mott Street Mott Street () is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It is regarded as Chinatown, Manhattan, Chinatown's unofficial "Main Street". Mott Stree ...
.


Notable residents

*
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
and his wife, Iman, had a home in Nolita. * Actor
Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's ...
lives in Nolita. * Singer-songwriter
Vanessa Carlton Vanessa Lee Carlton (born August 16, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Upon completion of her education at the School of American Ballet, Carlton chose to pursue singing instead, performing in New York City bars and clubs while ...
; her song " Nolita Fairytale" was inspired by the neighborhood. * Musician
Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
lived in Nolita. * Singer-songwriter
John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...
owns an apartment in Nolita, and it was featured in ''
Elle Decor ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'' magazine. *
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
was born in Queens but raised in the neighborhood on Elizabeth Street between Prince and Houston, where his grandparents (Italian immigrants) also lived. It was part of
Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...
at that time. * Actor
David Harbour David Kenneth Harbour (born April 10, 1975) is an American actor. He has played supporting roles in films such as ''Brokeback Mountain'' (2005), ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008), '' State of Play'' (2009), '' The Green Hornet'' (2011), ''End of ...
has a loft in Nolita.
Architectural Digest. Published Nov 14, 2019.


Gallery

File:Odd Fellows Hall 165-171 Grand Street.jpg, Odd Fellows Hall (New York City), Odd Fellows Hall File:Saint Pats Old Cathedral Manh jeh.JPG, St. Patrick's Old Cathedral File:St. Patrick's Convent and Girls' School.jpg, St. Patrick's Old Cathedral School File:WTM3 Gnarly 0165.jpg, 14th Ward Industrial School, designed by
Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York C ...
File:St. Michael's Russian Catholic Church.jpg, St. Michael's Russian Catholic Church File:Bowery_Mural-20201031-KIA01320.jpg, Mural on East Houston Street and Bowery File:The Bowery Historic District-20201031-KIA01522.jpg, The Bowery Mission


See also

* Little Australia


References

Notes


External links

* Elizabeth Street Garden {{Authority control Australian American Italian-American culture in New York City Little Italys in the United States Neighborhoods in Manhattan