See-Worthy!
LONG dissed as a salty tourist trap, and more recently ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, the South Street Seaport’s ship has finally come in.
A fleet of vibrant new stores and restaurants have dropped anchor alongside such historic haunts as the Paris Cafe, a legendary watering hole on South Street for nearly 150 years.
“There’s a rising-tide feeling down there that’s really interesting right now,” says Eric Demby, co-founder of Smorgasburg food market, which set up in 2013 to help reinvigo- rate the area, post-Sandy. After skipping last summer, the Brooklyn-based foodie favorite has returned with some of its top-selling purveyors.
While work continues on the Pier 17 shopping center, slated to reopen in 2017, design darlings such as William Okpo and Brother Vellies have opened shop on Fulton Street in the last few months. Seaport Studios — a highly anticipated pop-up shop featuring high-end designers — debuts Friday.
“You are surrounded by skyscrapers, but it’s a unique little pocket that has been preserved,” Demby says. “We love the market like feeling and atmosphere in a place that has historically been a place of commerce.”
In fact, developers are calling it the “Seaport District” to give it a shiny, new-penny feel with a nod to its past — minus the pervasive aroma from the Fulton Fish Market, which closed in 2005.
“We’re really trying to put this seaport back together,” says Amanda Zink, a Seaport-area resident for 20 years who owns the Salty Paw grooming emporium on Peck Slip. “I think there’s a way to mix the old and the new spots.”
On the following pages are some of the best new spots, along with some old faithfuls, that are making this waterfront nook something wonderful.