Coolest street in America revealed: Once crime-ridden thoroughfare now a hub of hip bars and shops

This US street is the coolest in America, according to a new ranking by TimeOut. - (Getty Images)

A once crime-ridden street in New York City is now so hip that it’s been declared not just the coolest in the U.S., but one of 10 coolest in the world.

That buzzy artery is Orchard Street in the Lower East Side, an area that through much of the 20th century was one of the most impoverished in NYC, rife with pick-pocketing and gang activity.