47th. Street, NYC

Sipping on burnt espresso and taking in the smell of toasting bagels – a gust of November cold air pushes me further into the kosher New York diner.  I'm at the place where nostalgia and glamour meet:  47th Street and 5th Avenue - Midtown Manhattan.  Home to major chain store flagship jewelry shops and designer jewelry – 5th Avenue is just around the corner from this wholesale district. 

But it’s here, on these back streets, that major diamond deals are closed with a hand shake or simply saying:  “Mazal uBracha” (Hebrew for “Luck and Blessing”).  This is the secret and modest world of 47th Street, the New York Diamond District.  

The Diamond Club’s one time rule of jacket and tie has long been abolished but its old world charm and formality still lingers.  There is a sense of security in the air, police cruisers and surveillance cameras scan and watch us:  Protecting the value hidden inside these buildings - diamonds and lots of them.