The Real Deal New York

From the November issue: Lafayette Street begins at Astor Place — and heading south, one passes the Public Theater, high-end boutiques, crowded bars and luxury condos. But below Canal Street, everything changes. There, Lafayette crosses into Chinatown, where throngs of bargain hunters look for fake Fendi bags. There is an off-track betting parlor, a homeless shelter, a New York University dorm and a liquor store where the owner is barricaded behind a wall of plexiglass.