Gallery Go 'Round
It's said that the best portraits of a city, culture or country are often painted by out-of-towners—those who see the place with fresh, unbiased eyes. That's certainly true of this neighborhood: over the last half of the last century, many of the area's immigrants were artists looking to live inexpensively, enterprising personalities who established a cohesive scene and opened the first of the great LES gallery spaces. About a decade after the events depicted in Downtown '81 (starring Jean-Michel Basquiat wandering the streets of the LES), Aaron Rose's famous Alleged Gallery opened on Ludlow, which helped launch the careers of Harmony Korine, Spike Jonze, Shepard Fairey and Mike Mills, among others. Though Alleged is now gone, the art scene in the neighborhood has never been stronger. Half Gallery—so named for its thimble-esque stature—is co-owned by writer/editor Bill Powers and quirk magnate Andy Spade (of Partners & Spade). The space regularly overflows with the art world's cool kids attending shows by the likes of David Armstrong, Ed Templeton or Dustin Yellin. And there's a nice art crawl to be had if you start at the lower edge of the neighborhood and head north; make stops at Invisible Exports on Orchard Street, Lehmann Maupin on Chrystie and Sperone Westwater on the Bowery.