Each weekend, I work part-time at a toystore in TriBeCa. This neighborhood is beyond my means to afford, being ranked the 13th most expensive zip code to live in. Constantly I see the black American Express cards, hear people talking about buying new places for several millions, I’ve even seen an actual diamond encrusted sidekick! However, I love it. Why? It’s a true neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood of families, to quote Cheers, where everybody knows your name. I can walk down to Morgan’s Market and get stopped by five different people just to chat, and I’m only there on weekends.

Today was the TriBeCa Film Festival Family Day. Greenwich was transformed into a myriad of face painted kids with color streaked hair and tents selling cookies, waffles (I shall forever curse Petite Abeille for bartering waffles for toys with me, making me ill on sugar) and multicolored popcorn. It wasn’t just neighborhood people, it was families down from the UWS. I met people from Florida, California, and even Hawaii. I even had lengthy conversations in French with two families from Paris. TriBeCa transformed into the nation’s neighborhood street fair.

Yet, it didn’t feel different. It didn’t feel pretentious. It felt like being back home, hanging out with friends, being introduced to new ones. TriBeCa may be a trendy neighborhood, one where people go out to eat and live the high life, but it is also one of the City’s best places to raise a family. People often times gloss over it, stereotyping it as the playground of the rich and famous, but I encourage everyone to take this time where “the neighborhood” is in the national spotlight and go explore what I think is one of the most “down home” places the city has to offer.