First Block: Jersey Street between Mulberry and Lafayette

Since this first post is sort of a trial run, I chose for my first block a small side street with only one thing on it: a branch of the New York Public Library. Also, I was going there anyway to pick up a book, but never mind all that.

This street is one block south of Houston Street and I suppose it's right around the border between SoHo and Little Italy, if you're into that sort of information.

As you can see, this is the Mulberry Street Branch, even though the entrance is actually on Jersey Street. So why didn’t they call it the Jersey Street Branch? New Yorkers tend to look down on things named Jersey, even apparently those working at the public library. When a town’s library, of all places, wants nothing to do with you, it’s safe to say you’re not liked there.

The book drop outside can be seen in the photo and is very convenient, but it’s only for books. Don’t you dare put a DVD in there. What happens if you do? You’ll be given season tickets to the Brooklyn Nets and forced to attend every game.

While I’m on the subject of basketball, here is my list of the 3 best players ever:

1.  Kristaps Porzingis
2.  Michael Jordan
3.  Bill Russell

I think that’s a pretty definitive list. I’m not even sure what the argument against it would be.

Here’s a photo looking at the intersection with Mulberry Street:

You might be able to see in the photo that just across from the library is a small cemetery, which is great for creating the right mood to settle in and read some heavy literary classics.

Here’s a photo looking the other way, towards Lafayette Street:

They really want you to stop.

Seen on the right side of the photo is a nice old-looking brick building, which complements nicely the library's nice new-looking brick building on the left. If you stand at the library's entrance and look across, you can see a restaurant through this building's windows. Try not to be a peeping Tom about it, though. 

I found the restaurant's entrance around the corner on Mulberry Street and saw that it was named Chef’s Club. I didn’t go in or anything but it seemed like a nice place. Pretty upscale. In the window was an A rating from the health inspectors, so congrats to them for that! 

Since the entrance to Chef's Club is on Mulberry Street, I'm not going to count it as technically being on the Jersey Street block that I'm writing about. But I'm not adamant in this position, and I'm willing to hear arguments that it should count.

I think that’s about all I’ve got for this block. Even though it’s a side street with just one thing, that one thing is a nice library, so it’s a good block in my book. Or blog. Whatever. Anyway I recommend it, and I’ll try to find another interesting block for my next post. Maybe even one with multiple things on it. Maybe.