VOL · ISUMMER 2026
stay cool
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← FROM THE FIELD · VOL. I, N° 106PLATE B · ELEVATION · SUN ALT 61°MIDDAY · SOHO · CAST IRON DISTRICT
PLATE · ELEVATION · 3 PM SHADOWSALESFORCE TOWER · HALF-MILE SHADOW NORTHEAST
NEW YORK · FIELD NOTES · 5 MIN

SoHo, in the cast-iron shadow.

SoHo’s cast-iron buildings were built six stories tall on 50-foot lots. The shadow they throw across Greene and Wooster is some of the most reliable cover in lower Manhattan.

By

SoHo’s grid runs north-south, which means the buildings on Greene and Wooster (and the parallel Mercer) cast deep east-west shadows across the streets from 10 AM until 4 PM in summer. The cast-iron facades — six stories of decorative metalwork — throw a hard shadow edge unlike the brick of the West Village. Between 11 and 2, the shaded side of each block is unambiguous.

These three pick the cool side. We avoid Spring Street (wider, less shaded) for mid-afternoon and stick to the narrow north-south runs.

The picks · 3.Graded JUN 12, 2026
  1. 01
    Spring Street to Aimé Leon Dore

    South on Wooster. East sidewalk before noon, west after — the cast-iron shadow flips at solar noon.

    Shade
    84%
    Walk
    6 min
    Best at
    1 pm
  2. 02
    Greene Street drift

    Cobblestone block by cobblestone block. Six-story shadow covers the western sidewalk until 4 PM.

    Shade
    86%
    Walk
    8 min
    Best at
    2:30 pm
  3. 03
    Mercer Street to The Mercer Hotel

    South on the cool side. Cast-iron shadow + arcade overhangs at the hotel.

    Shade
    82%
    Walk
    5 min
    Best at
    1:30 pm

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About the author
Amar Braithwaite is the founder of Stay Cool. He builds shade-aware navigation tools and writes the Field Notes corpus on urban shade infrastructure. Read the why →

Walk in the shade.

Stay Cool computes a shadow-aware route for any city we map.

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