Canal Street (Chinese:堅尼街) is a major east–west street inLower Manhattan, New York City, United States, running over 1 mile (1.6 km) fromEast Broadway betweenEssex and Jefferson Streets in the east, toWest Street between Watts andSpring Streets in the west. It runs through the neighborhood ofChinatown, and forms the southern boundaries ofSoHo andLittle Italy as well as the northern boundary ofTribeca. The street acts as a major connector betweenJersey City, New Jersey, via theHolland Tunnel (I-78), andBrooklyn in New York City via theManhattan Bridge. It is a two-way street for most of its length, with two unidirectional stretches betweenForsyth Street and the Manhattan Bridge.
Canal Street follows the path of underground waterworks that had been built in the early 19th century to drain a series of marshy and eventuallysewage-filed ponds, includingCollect Pond.[1]
By 1800,Collect Pond, one of New York City's few natural sources of fresh water, had become completely polluted with sewage and run-off from thetanneries,breweries, and other workshops and factories around it.[2] Run-off from the pond, including one "sluggish stream" which traveled part of the route of the future Canal Street, fed nearby swamps and marshes which prevented the city from continuing its northward growth. To deal with this, the city's Common Council ordered that the swamps be drained and, in 1803, that the pond itself be filled in. A drain was built continuing the path of the "sluggish stream" to theHudson River, which redirected the underground springs which watered the swamps. The pond was successfully drained by 1813 or 1815.[3]
The area was developed, but the springs remained and caused the "dry" land to be boggy and uneven. The Common Council then authorized acanal, in the form of a 40-foot wide, 8-foot deep ditch, which would continue carrying off the excess water.[4] Because it was not efficient, and did not have sufficient flow, it, too, became an open sewer. The city covered it over in 1819, but as it had no air traps, the covered canal became a stinking covered sewer.[3][5] Canal Street was completed in 1820, following the path of the covered canal and named for it.[6][5] The historictownhouses and newertenements that had been built along Canal Street quickly fell into disrepair, and the eastern stretch of Canal Street came within the ambit of the notoriousFive Points slum as property values and living conditions plummeted.
Early in the 20th century, the jewelry trade centered on the corner of Canal Street and Bowery, but moved mid century to the modernDiamond District on47th Street. In the 1920s, the Citizens Savings Bank built a notable domed headquarters at the intersection's southwest corner[7] which remains a local landmark. The portion of Canal Street around Sixth Avenue was New York's principal market for electronics parts for a quarter-century after the closing ofRadio Row to make way for the building of theWorld Trade Center.
Canal Street is a bustling commercial district, crowded with comparatively low-rent open storefronts, andstreet vendors to the west; banks and jewelry shops to the east. For a generation after World War II, the former segment hosted many stores selling exotic high-tech components to would-be inventors and engineers.[8] Canal Street is also the main Chinese jewelry business district of Chinatown.[9] Tourists as well as locals pack its sidewalks every day to frequent the open-air stalls and bare-bones stores selling items such as perfume, purses, hardware, and industrial plastics at low prices. Many of these goods aregrey market imports and many notoriouslycounterfeit, with faketrademarkedbrand names on electronics, clothing and personal accessories (including thefake Rolex watches that have become a Manhattan cliché).Bootleg CDs and DVDs were common, and were offered for sale on Canal Street—often before they were even officially released in stores or the theater—in makeshift stands and suitcases or simply laid out on bedsheets.[10]
Widespread sale of these counterfeit goods persists along Canal Street and in its hidden back rooms despite frequentpolice raids.[11][12] In addition, legislation was proposed in 2013 to try to make purchasing counterfeit items a crime; this would let the city's economy earn back at least $1 billion annually in taxes.[10]
After the9/11 attack on theWorld Trade Center in 2001, Canal Street was the northern-most boundary of the area initially closed to everyone but residents and emergency personnel. When the9/11 Victims Compensation Fund was established, Canal Street was again the northern cut-off for the World Trade Center Exposure Zone.[13]
Canal Street is served by theNew York City Subway at seven stations, west to east:
Canal Street is also served by theNew York City Bus system, though no routes actually run on Canal Street. Routes intersecting with the street includeM20 atHudson Street (northbound) and atVarick Street (southbound);M55 atSixth Avenue (northbound) andBroadway (southbound);M103 atBowery;M15/M15 SBS atAllen Street; andM9 atEssex/Rutgers Streets.
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