New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [36]
Primarily residential, Greenwich Village and the West Village have many specialty restaurants, cafés, and boutiques with a warm and charming neighborhood vibe. Tiny as they might be, hot spots such as Little Owl and ‘ino invite you to linger, as do larger restaurants with outside dining areas.
Of course, the Village has a long history of people lingering on sidewalks and in cafés. In the late 1940s and early 1950s abstract expressionist painters Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning congregated here, as did Beat writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The ‘60s brought folk musicians and poets, notably Bob Dylan. New York University students keep the idealistic spirit of the neighborhood alive, but polished professionals have also moved into the high-rent town houses.
The Meatpacking District, in the far northwest part of the Village, has cobblestone streets whose original meatpacking tenants are being replaced by a different kind of meat-market life: velvet-rope clubs, trendy restaurants, and trendy-chic shops. Now, with the opening of the High Line in the Meatpacking District and its continued plans for expansion northward, there’s a new artery of life happening in this part of the city, bringing new foot traffic and gentrification.
Overlapping the Meatpacking District to the north, the Chelsea has usurped SoHo as the world’s contemporary-art-gallery headquarters. Chelsea’s galleries along the west edge of the neighborhood are housed in cavernous converted warehouses that are easily identified by their ultracool, glass-and-stainless-steel doors. Other former warehouses, unremarkable by day, pulsate through the night as the city’s hottest nightclubs. Chelsea has also replaced the West Village as the heart of the city’s gay community. One-of-a-kind boutiques and gay-friendly shops are scattered among unassuming grocery stores and other remnants of Chelsea’s immigrant past.
PLANNING
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
Weekday afternoons the streets of the West Village are nearly empty. Because of the many artists, students, and writers who live here, you’ll have just enough company at the cafés and shops to make you feel like an insider instead of a tourist. To truly appreciate the Meatpacking District, make a 9 pm or later dinner reservation at a hot restaurant, then hit the bars to see where the glitterati are this week. If shopping is your pleasure, weekdays are great; come after noon, though, or you’ll find most spots shuttered.
Chelsea has a dual life: typical gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday 10–6, but at night the neighborhood changes into a party town, with gay bars and difficult-to-enter clubs that don’t rev up until after 11.
GETTING HERE AND AROUND
The West 4th Street subway stop—serviced by the A, B, C, D, E, F, and M—puts you in the center of Greenwich Village. Farther west, the 1 train has stops on West Houston Street and Christopher Street/Sheridan Square. The A, C, E, 1, 2, 3, and L trains stop at 14th Street for both the Meatpacking District and Chelsea. The latter is further served by the C, E, 1, F, and M lines at the 23rd Street stop and the 1 stop at 28th Street. The L train connects Union Square on 14th Street to the Meatpacking District at 8th Avenue and 14th Street. 14th Street and 23rd Street are both also served by the PATH trains.
FODOR’S CHOICE
Chelsea Market
The High Line
Washington Square Park
TOP EXPERIENCES
Gallery hopping in Chelsea
Walking on the High Line
Checking out nightlife in the Meatpacking District
Catching live music at teh Village Vanguard or a movie at the Film Forum
People-watching in Washington Square Park
Eating your way through Chelsea Market
GREENWICH VILLAGE AND THE WEST VILLAGE: TOP TOURING EXPERIENCES
GORGEOUS PARKS AND ARCHITECTURE