Over the summer I’d book myself a room at Public Hotels on Chrystie Street while transitioning between sublets. Public Hotels is Ian Schrager’s latest project and first in its class. The Herzog & de Neuron designed hotel offers guests an elevated experience with low-fare, boutique hotel pricing. The interiors and ambiance far exceeds the neighbors, but draws a crowd that maintains its downtown grit and cool. As you could expect from the founder of Studio 54, Public Hotels is the place to people-watch and be seen.

Coming from the West Coast, it took a few trials to find a restaurant in New York that served every day food with healthy offerings, that is until I discovered De Maria, an all day eatery located in the fringe of Nolita. The beauty of De Maria is that it’s community-driven design nurtures an environment and menu that feels just as nourishing. The lotus focused menu helmed by Camille Becerra is composed of colorful crisped quinoa to turmeric-poached eggs, ingredients that are sure to please any new age nutritionist.

The unspoken uniform of the cool girls of Downtown Manhattan, Maryam Nassir Zadeh brought out an aesthetic by creating collections reflective of the neighborhood’s creative tapestry. From her gauzy, sheer blouses to wide-legged pants and low-heeled mules, the MNZ girls is the hyper hipster that wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a mass-produced label let alone high street.

My favorite neighborhood haunt during my summer in the city was a cafe on the corner called L’estudio. The cafe, located on the gallery packed Hester street, was attached to a studio where the owners would host a different artist-in-residence every month. The artist was invited to use the space create for their personal projects or contribute pieces to be displayed in the restaurant. I would spend mornings and afternoons working away from the cafe, and even spent an evening learning how to make a clay bowl from the potter-in-residence. The restaurant serves sustainable, vegetable centric food with influences from the Mediterranean and Latin America.