Where They’ll Know You’re a Visitor If You Say It Like The City In Texas

Did you know I’ve got a contest going on right now, to win a little prize package from NYC? Click HERE for more info!

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan is SoHo. SoHo stands for “South of Houston (Street)”, but don’t say “Houston” like the city in Texas. The street in Manhattan is pronounced “How-ston”. And yes, there is a NoHo, “North of Houston”.

SoHo is a fun, artsy area with tons of galleries, quaint shops, and gorgeous buildings like these:

On this day, we had some key spots we wanted to see: a couple were new to just Jim and the boys, and a couple were new to ALL of us.

First stop? Kidrobot. Kidrobot is hard to describe. It’s sort of a high-end toy store, but not really. Okay, here’s the description from their website: “Kidrobot is planet Earth’s premier creator & retailer of limited edition toys, clothing, artwork & books.” Yeah, that’s about right.

The big item at Kidrobot? The Smorkin’ Labbit. Don’t ask. Just click it. They came in all different colors and sizes. Interesting!

The next stop is one of my all-time favorite places in the whole world. It’s a grocery store. Not just any grocery store. There wouldn’t be any meat-touching at this one, for sure. It is my fantasy grocery store, Dean & DeLuca. If you’ve seen the catalog in your mailbox or visited their website, you’ve had a little taste of what the store is really like. The displays are gorgeous. I call Dean & DeLuca the most beautiful grocery store in the world and I mean it. (Are ya gettin’ my drift?) I could bring a sleeping bag and just move in under some of the baker’s racks. Maybe I could be a cashier for room and board. I don’t know. Anyway, let me take you on a tour of a couple departments. (Only three: because I had to turn my flash off and take photos in a very stealthy manner–I was told on the last visit I couldn’t take photos, but that never stops me: *insert cackle here*–many of my photos of other areas are blurry and I don’t want to post them.) First, the entrance. I took this photo of the exterior on my last trip to NYC; this time there was scaffolding all over the place.

Next? Cheese! How is it possible that something like cheese could look like artwork? (No, I’m NOT crazy.) (at least I keep telling myself that.)

Next, my absolute favorite. The artistry of the bakery department. I will not talk so you can enjoy this in silence. (Did you know I was talking before?) Click the photos to get a better look.

The candy department is scrumtrulescent. We each chose one piece as a “picker-upper”. The variety they have there is amazing. Click the photo so you can read the tags. Interesting, no?

After Jim dragged me out of we left Dean & DeLuca, we went around the corner to one of my NYC faves, Pylones (Pee-lone). Pylones is a very colorful place with super-unique and fun items. No photos allowed there either…but I didn’t see the sign until I had already done it. Seriously, it’s true! Check them out!

Another favorite of mine has actually moved to a different location around the corner since I visited last: Kate’s Paperie. I was freaking out a little bit because it used to be right across the street from Dean & DeLuca…but I finally found it. Man, I love that store. We have a great store that is similar here in Chicago called The Paper Source. I love The Paper Source, but I TOTALLY love Kate’s Paperie.

We browsed around in there for a while and I was trying to find something small to purchase for myself so I could have it wrapped. That’s right. I wanted to buy something so I could have it wrapped. They wrap packages with a really cool paper folding technique, and buying a gift for myself and having it wrapped was a unique indulgence I can’t get at The Paper Source. Of course the photo doesn’t do it justice; you’ll have to imagine how fabulous it is.

Wait, I know…let me throw in a photo of the thing I bought myself last time. The folds are a little more visible:

Cool, huh???

The last stop I have to share today is Evolution. None of us had been there: Julesie sent me info on it and told me we couldn’t miss it. I’m so glad she did.

Evolution is full of science-y stuff like skulls and rocks and dead animals. We had a blast browsing around in there.

My favorite items there were the framed butterflies, because they were gorgeous in a group…though my photo doesn’t quite do it justice.

The funniest (to me) display? A little raccoon (real, but dead), sitting on the counter, his little arms outstretched…and holding raccoon penis bones for sale.

So many questions come to mind on this, one of which would be “What would someone want with animal penis bones?” But I just thought the display was hysterical. By the way, if you want to check out the rest of their penis bone selection, click here.

And there you have it, a summary of the approximately two and a half hours we spent in SoHo (not including lunch, which I’ll describe in my post about Food in NYC). Good times! Fun shopping! Gorgeous groceries!

I’ve got to go and fantasize about going back. The end! (for now!)