Little Italy: In and Around Elizabeth Street
Tourist chaos, delicious treats, and serious galleries with incredible art.
Last updated Apr 22, 2026
Where Little Italy and Chinatown collide and refuse to sort themselves out.
Bouncy cheesecake next to red-sauce joints. Mochi-nut shops across from dim sum counters. The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral (The Godfather one) and the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden are tucked between. It's touristy, it's crowded, and it works.
You’ll find the galleries and art project spaces up, down, and around Elizabeth Street, around the corner on Grand, and all the way down onto Canal Street and the lower end of the Bowery – inside an old garage, a church rectory, and an office that overlooks the amusement park rides during the Feast of San Gennaro.
This isn't downtown's flashiest circuit. It’s not its quietest. But it might be the most fun to wander.
Go see for yourself.
GalleryLittle Italy
Company Gallery
Feminist, queer, theatrical art in a graffiti-covered gallery with a basement speakeasy.
GalleryLittle Italy
Nathalie Karg Gallery
This elegiac, two-storey Elizabeth Street gallery is a place of worship for refined, sensual art.
Alternative SpaceLittle Italy
PARTICIPANT INC
A locally loved, black box (not white cube) alternative art space with superb shows of historic activist work and underground emerging artists.
GalleryLittle Italy
Derosia
Self-aware, socially-motivated painting about culture, media, and the moment we’re living in.
GalleryChinatown
Astor Weeks
Art for people who notice things like when the light changes and the room goes quiet.
GalleryChinatown
Ulrik
Take the pulse of the new New York scene at this spacious, sunny second-floor gallery overlooking Canal Street, where artistic careers are launched and revitalized.
Coffee Shop & BakeryLower East Side
Koré Coffee
Fuel up (or refuel) after you’ve explored the NoLita galleries at this white brick and wood-clad, family-run coffee shop on Elizabeth Street. Try the famous Tiramisu blend.
Where Little Italy and Chinatown collide and refuse to sort themselves out.
Bouncy cheesecake next to red-sauce joints. Mochi-nut shops across from dim sum counters. The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral (The Godfather one) and the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden are tucked between. It's touristy, it's crowded, and it works.
You’ll find the galleries and art project spaces up, down, and around Elizabeth Street, around the corner on Grand, and all the way down onto Canal Street and the lower end of the Bowery – inside an old garage, a church rectory, and an office that overlooks the amusement park rides during the Feast of San Gennaro.
This isn't downtown's flashiest circuit. It’s not its quietest. But it might be the most fun to wander.
Go see for yourself.
GalleryLittle Italy
Company Gallery
Feminist, queer, theatrical art in a graffiti-covered gallery with a basement speakeasy.
GalleryLittle Italy
Nathalie Karg Gallery
This elegiac, two-storey Elizabeth Street gallery is a place of worship for refined, sensual art.
Alternative SpaceLittle Italy
PARTICIPANT INC
A locally loved, black box (not white cube) alternative art space with superb shows of historic activist work and underground emerging artists.
GalleryLittle Italy
Derosia
Self-aware, socially-motivated painting about culture, media, and the moment we’re living in.
GalleryChinatown
Astor Weeks
Art for people who notice things like when the light changes and the room goes quiet.
GalleryChinatown
Ulrik
Take the pulse of the new New York scene at this spacious, sunny second-floor gallery overlooking Canal Street, where artistic careers are launched and revitalized.
Coffee Shop & BakeryLower East Side
Koré Coffee
Fuel up (or refuel) after you’ve explored the NoLita galleries at this white brick and wood-clad, family-run coffee shop on Elizabeth Street. Try the famous Tiramisu blend.
More Art Walks
Lower East Side: Bowery and Beyond
Kitchen supply stores, Supreme, the New Museum, and galleries that have been here for decades.
Chinatown: Art Between Two Bridges
Galleries in neighborhoods where generations of people have come to begin again.