SoHo, New York City.

New York is nothing short of spectacular this time of year. Grinches might bemoan the crowds, but for anybody who loves the holiday season, the city’s transformation into a shimmering wonderland is sheer magic.  But after you’ve done the traditional tours including Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue, consider taking another bite out of the Big Apple and discover a neighborhood through a local’s eye. 

Like so many people, I love New York. The problem is, when I visit Manhattan I tend to be with friends who, in typical New York fashion, are neighborhood-centric. Leave the West Village? Perish the thought. Travel beyond the Upper West Side? Whatever for? Recently, I decided to take a closer look at SoHo, an area of the city with which I was vaguely familiar, but longed to get to know better.

SoHo—which stands for south of Houston (pronounced how-ston, not like the city in Texas)  is loosely bordered by Broadway and West Broadway, east to west, and Houston and Canal, north to south. Anyone with an architectural bent, like Scott Murphy, the computer programmer/amateur photographer who accompanied us on a walking tour of SoHo, knows that the neighborhood is famous for its cast iron facades.

Murphy is a volunteer guide with Big Apple Greeter, a terrific free service that matches New York residents with out-of-towners interested in a local’s perspective. Murphy, whose New York skyscraper photos can be viewed on his web site (members.aol.com/smurphy109/sm.htm), proved how serious he was about looking at buildings when he showed up with a magnet—all the better to differentiate a cast iron facade from one of brick or stone.

We started our tour with a peek at the austerely elegant SoHo Grand, the first hotel to be built in the neighborhood in more than 30 years.  The Grand is frequented by celebs as well as people dressed in black who look like they might be famous.

Our tour concentrated on a few of SoHo’s primary landmarks, the first of which is the concentration of cast iron buildings on and adjacent to Greene Street. There are some 50 buildings in all, erected between 1869 and 1895. The intricately designed facades were mass-produced in a foundry (you can see the foundry’s seal at the cornerstone of many of the buildings) but today are considered rare works of industrial art.

A few of the best are at 28-30 and 72-76 Greene St., splendid, columned beauties built by Isaac Duckworth, one of the masters of cast-iron design. Another architectural masterpiece is the Singer Building at 83 Prince Street. An ornate terracotta building adorned with wrought iron balconies and graceful arches, it was built by Earnest Flagg in 1904 to house the Singer Sewing Machine company offices and warehouse. The 12-story facade is considered an important forerunner to Manhattan’s skyscraper horizon.

While you’ll find plenty of SoHo’s charm by looking up at buildings, the real scene is at street level. It’s here that the artists do their work.

SoHo is one of New York’s chicest neighborhoods, but that wasn’t always the case. Landlords couldn’t give space away in the former industrial neighborhood in the 1960s, which is why so many artists-turned-squatters got their brushes and easels through the door, cultivating the area’s culture.

Shopping is a serious SoHo obsession, with cunning little boutiques, art galleries and sidewalk vendors a neighborhood hallmark. If it’s a mixture of oddball and trendy you seek, check out the giant flea market every weekend year-round on the corner of Broadway and Grand.

SoHo is culturally rich and diverse, home to the NYC Fire Museum, the solo gallery of the Guggenheim Museum SoHo and the avant-garde sensibilities of the New Museum. There are restaurants and cafes everywhere, along with the source of some of city’s best chefs, The French Culinary Institute. Not all the dining opportunities are the “Next Big Thing.” Stop in for a beer and a burger at Fanelli’s, a neighborhood institution and former speakeasy located at Prince and Mercer. The boxing memorabilia on the walls and the friendliness of the crowd will knock you out. 

See the Big Apple with a Local

Big Apple Greeter arranges free tours of New York neighborhoods and attractions led by local New Yorkers. Tours are customized, depending on your interests—a jog in Central Park, a trip uptown on the subway, a photo tour of Chinatown—a phone call in advance of your visit can make it happen. Most tours last between three and four hours, depending on you and your greeter. These services, and the accompanying urban savvy, come free of charge, and there is no tipping. A Big Apple Greeter Portfolio, complete with subway and bus maps, sights and attraction information, and a calendar of events is presented to every visitor.

Big Apple Greeter: 212-669-8159, www.bigapplegreeter.org