
There’s no kitchen, but customers are welcome to bring in food. This award-winning brewery and taproom boasts a large outdoor patio, live music performances, and trippy wall murals. “There’s a lot of really positive momentum in the Neighborhood of the Arts.” Three Heads Brewing Three Heads Brewing / Photo: Courtesy of Three Heads Brewing

“That was a big draw for me,” says owner Christina Julian. While candles take 90 minutes to finish, there are lots of places to kill time in the area. Here, a scent stylist will help you choose from more than 100 fragrances to create pour-your-own candles and custom aromatic sprays, diffusers, and more. As Tony explains, the idea is to “come for coffee, stay for community.” Scents by Design Scents by Design / Photo: Courtesy of Scents by Design The space features works from local artists, while the menu includes drinks such as the Uncle Marble, an iced latte with agave and cinnamon. The husband-and-wife team of Tony and Renee Colon has run this coffee shop, named for Tony’s mom, Melody, in NOTA’s historic Flatiron Building since 2021. Melo Coffee & Kitchen Melo Coffee & Kitchen / Photo: Courtesy of Melo Coffee & Kitchen The wine bar is stocked with bottles from around the globe, including from the nearby Finger Lakes region. “There’s a good mix of residential and commercial businesses that have done well down here, and we wanted to be part of it,” Clarcq says. Carnegie Cellars Wine Bar & Kitchen Carnegie Cellars Wine Bar & Kitchen / Photo: Courtesy of Carnegie Cellars Wine Bar & KitchenĬo-owners Mike Clarcq and John Albert opened this bar-restaurant in the Carnegie Building in December 2021.

Over the last two decades, though, it has revived, becoming an energetic hub of eateries, shops, and more. The Neighborhood of the Arts (NOTA) in Rochester, New York, has long had creative bona fides-the Memorial Art Gallery opened in 1913 and the George Eastman Museum has drawn photography enthusiasts since 1949-but that didn’t stop the area from descending into urban blight.
