Bonding with Bond St.

My favorite block in New York city for architecture and interior design is on Bond St. between Bowery and Lafayette.  I ambitiously signed up for a 10:45 SoulCycle (kick-your-ass-spin) class this weekend and on my walk home, I found myself taking an alternate route to ‘bond’ with Bond St.

I love this block for many reasons, one of which is the intricate façade of golden dancers crawling up the front of a building. It is artistic and fluid and fits nicely next to it’s neighbor, a modern green glass building with a silver coral motif.  The modern elements are juxtaposed with the exposed brick and graffiti on surrounding buildings. 

UnitedNude, an edgy show store, stands out with it’s sleek and simple decor – a mostly black layout with bright colors intermittently changing to expose the silhouette of the shoes. They’ve done a great job with the interior, setting up beautiful back-lit shelving to present art for your feet.  The shoes are so unique you find yourself buying two pairs when your goal was to walk out of the store empty handed.

Across the street is The Smile cafe, a quaint restaurant/coffee shop. They’ve done a great job creating a rustic look and feel.

A few doors down is an apartment building that was pointed out to me because of a photograph on the wall.  Above the concierge hangs a piece from Roberto Dutesco’s collection, “The WIld Horses of Sable Island”. Dutesco has a fascinating story as he was granted access to the unpopulated Sable island to photograph wild horses.  The outcome, beautiful artwork (that I would die to hang in my own apartment!) and a feature documentary titled “Chasing Wild Horses” that premiered in 2008.

Beyond Bond, the neighborhood is bustling with art and music. Just around the corner is the Bowery and Houston graffiti wall, canvas for many world-famous graffiti artists including RETNA and FAILE. A block away from that, is CBGB where many famous musicians and poets made their name (Patti Smith included, author of my favorite book, Just Kids). I’d highly recommend starting at the intersection of Bond and Bowery and exploring the neighborhood without a specific destination in mind.