Introducing: The Financial District

The Financial District. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. It’s basically the nose of an area at the very end of this island called Manhattan where everyone dresses up in suits and talks numbers around Wall Street. But guess what? It’s not all business, business, business there. There are, in fact, quite a few little gems in this 9-5 niche of Manhattan.

Not only is the Financial District home to motherland of money, i.e. The Stock Exchange, but with age comes history and one thing that this area has plenty of, are historical landmarks. Wall Street, for instance, a landmark on its own, nonetheless, has been housing Federal Hall since the 1700s. Though it once served as the capitol building where George Washington was first inaugurated, its duty now is to pose in pictures with the hundreds of tourists that surround the building and good ol’ George every day.

Jim Brady’s and Delmonico’s are two of the more famous gastro-pubs that have been occupying this area for years upon years. The two bar/restaurants have history ingrained in their walls and are all the more appealing because of it. But I’m not here to give you a history lesson – besides history, there is plenty of fun going on here.

There aren’t exactly early-twenty-something-year-olds running around with headbands around their foreheads and playing guitar, but there are plenty of young professionals who know how to party on Stone Street. Stone Street is a personal favorite with a cobble stone street that serves the sole purpose of letting pedestrians stumble from bar to bar without the worry of cars passing through.

The charm of the street is that everyone is there to get that end of the day buzz, you know? During the warmer times of the year, Stone Street is known to host outdoor-day-long-drinking festivals such as the popular Oktoberfest where every pub has a stand outside with bartenders dressed in their best German gear. You can go there for an after-work drink and any pub will warmly welcome you for a good time –and possibly more. 

Neighboring Stone Street is the South Street Seaport, which is always a fun place to go. The only exception is during the winter when the whole place pretty much closes up shop. However, that doesn’t mean it’s any less appealing. In fact, I almost like the seaport better in the winter because it is no longer swarming with people standing around waiting for the next impromptu show to come on. It is a silent beauty and with its new renovations it is hard to walk the seaport and not want to continue on through the walkway that overlooks Brooklyn.

You can’t talk about the Financial District without talking about what is now known as The Freedom Tower. As we all know, The Freedom Tower used to be the home of the late, great Twin Towers. Where tragedy has struck, the Freedom Tower rises like a phoenix from the ashes every night when it radiates its patriotic red, white and blue lights.

The site is surrounded by memorabilia of the tragedy and is a home to those that were lost. The Freedom Tower serves not only as another addition to the already amazing city skyline, but also a very redeeming aspect of not only the Financial District, but to New York City itself.

So all in all, the Financial District is not only a place of business and history, but like the rest of this great city, it adds to the culture and has plenty of its own charm.

Ashley Melchiorre