Revel in New York
A look at the city through its people
TriBeCa
TriBeCa is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan. It takes its name from the acronym TriBeCa, for Triangle Below Canal Street.
The name has an interesting etymology. In the early 1970s, a couple of years after artists in SoHo were able to legalize their live/work situation, artist and resident organizations in the area to the south, known then as Washington Market or simply the Lower West Side, sought to gain similar zoning status for their neighborhood.
A group of Lispenard Street artist/residents living on the block directly south of Canal Street between Church Street and Broadway, joined the effort. Just as the members of the SoHo Artists Association coined ‘SoHo’ after looking at a City Planning map which marked the area as ‘So. Houston’ and shortened that to SoHo, these Lispenard Street residents likewise employed a City Planning map to describe their block.
By the 1960's Tribeca's industrial base had all but vanished. The predominance of empty commercial space attracted many artists to the area in the 1970's. Since the 1980's, large scale conversion of the area has transformed Tribeca into an upscale residential area.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, TriBeCa suffered financially however, government grants and incentives helped the area rebound fairly quickly. The Tribeca Film Festival was established to help contribute to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan after 9/11. The festival also celebrates New York City as a major filmmaking center. The mission of the film festival is "to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience." Tribeca is a popular filming location for movies and television shows.
Amidst the recent real estate boom, TriBeCa housing prices outpaced even those of the highly popular Manhattan market as a whole. Tribeca has become one of the most trendy residential neighborhoods in the city. Forbes magazine ranked TriBeCa's 10013 zip-code the 12th most expensive zip-code in the United States in 2006.
