Meatpacking District

The Meatpacking district is on the far west side of Manhattan and runs from West 16th Street south to Gansevoort Street and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. I have lived in and around Manhattan my entire life and can count on one hand the number of times I have even ventured near this part of town. The area is dirty and has a desolate quality. The Meatpacking district got its name from the slaughterhouses that were once prominent in the area.

Perhaps the prettiest block is Little West 12th which still has a cobblestone street with some quaint restaurants. Little West 12th is somewhat of a misnomer since the street is anything but little and is ripe with people to see and places to be. One of the most popular venues is the Anja bar (formerly Buddha Bar) which is expensive but offers a wonderful mixture of eclectic Asian decor, hypnotizing music and wonderful food. the experience is sure to bring you back for more.

The area has a good number of other bars and clubs which mostly attract the Bridge and Tunnel crowd. This presents an interesting contrast to the butchers and meatpacking facilities which still exist. Some of the more popular venues include the Collective, a trendy restaurant and bar with great food and friendly staff. The newly opened The Standard has an outdoor beer garden and ping pong tables which make for an interesting combination. The Brass Monkey is a popular hangout with a roof top patio.

There are a few bright spots in an otherwise dismal area. There is an Apple store on West 14th at the junction of 9th Avenue and Hudson Street offers a fun house of computer gadgetry with workshops on how to use most Apple products. The Annual New York Food and Wine festival is held every fall season and is the only festival in new York City to bring together culinary experts form around the world with some of the most well-know television chefs. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the festival go to benefit the hunger relief agencies Food Bank for new York and Share Our Strength. l

Public transportation in and out of the neighborhood is poor. The close strains are the 1, 2 , and 3 on 7th Avenue and 14th Street. You can also catch the A,C,E, and L on 14th and 8th Avenue It is a quick trip out of the city by car since the neighborhood is between the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and a quick trip up the West Side Highway to the George Washington Bridge. Unfortunately, this very feature is what makes the area so attractive to drug dealers and their New Jersey patrons.

The Meatpacking District of Manhattan is so-called because it was the home of more than 200 slaughterhouses at the turn of the 20th century. Fast forward 30 years ago, and you would find a seedy neighborhood filled with prostitution and drugs. As has been the case with most Manhattan neighborhoods, though, it began to gentrify in the 90s and has become an upscale area with exclusive restaurants like Jean-Georges Vongerichten's fantastic restaurant, Spice Market. In other words, these days, it's a happening 'hood, especially for dining and nightlife.

Part of the new High Line green space is in the neighborhood, and there is also a downtown Whitney Museum in the area. Because of the Meatpacking District's proximity to Greenwich Village, apartments aren't nearly as inexpensive as they once were and are pretty much only available on the fringes of the neighborhood. Most of the area is zoned for commercial use. During the last decade, apartments have gone like hot cakes in this up and coming, trendy area. So, if you want to live there, good luck finding anything at all, let alone something you can afford.

If you're a tourist or a new resident of the city, though, definitely check out this neighborhood. If you can afford a meal, do it because the restaurants include some of the best in the city.

I'm not a fan of the Meatpacking District whatsoever. It is beyond trendy but not really in the hip NY trendy kind of way -- in the Jersey and foreigner visitor kind of way (no offense to them -- just too much concentrated in one area). The actual aesthetics of the neighborhood is really gritty and desolate. Little West 12th does have cobblestone and there are some quaint restaurants around the area; but they've become so crowded with visitors that they sort of aren't quaint any longer. I feel like only really tacky, flashy people tend to hang out in this neighborhood -- which is an interesting contrast to the fact that there is still a lot of actual meat packing going on in the neighborhood. It's like all these slaughter house kinds of places with super trendy nightclubs bumping house music and flashy European stores lining the sidewalks just across.
There are a couple of redeeming qualities about the neighborhood, though. The Standard just opened up this year, and their outdoor beer garden, although hardly a garden, does have ping pong tables which makes for a great boozy Sunday afternoon when the weather is nice.
The Collective just opened this month (where One used to be) and it is really trendy and really loud but the food is all actually really good and the staff is great. Spotted Pig is on the border of MP and the West Village so I'll count it in order to save the Meat packing some face.
I guess the area is good to go once just to see what it's like but it's not a place I like to frequent and I really really would not want to live here. It's ugly and loud and way too flashy in substance -- or lack thereof. Oh, Brass Monkey is a cool bar with a roof top patio, but that's it.

The former Meatpacking district, with its converted warehouses and waterfront location, is now a meat market in more ways than one. Scantily clad Sex-and-the-City wannabes seek hedge fund managers at the latest trendy clubs, wearing outfits often virtually indistinguishable from those of the transsexual prostitutes traditionally associated with the less-than-savory neighborhood back in the 80's. Which such an above view might seem excessively critical - after all, it is the most fashionable district in town, and the local Diane von Furstenberg and Christian Louboutin boutiques might well prove it. Yet the fashion mavens who flock to Tenjune at the early hours of the morning are a turnoff for as many as they are a turnon, and the very specific nature of the Meatpacking District Crowd means any potential visitor or resident should be aware of what they're getting.

Yet even for those night owls for whom Pastis, Buddha Bar, and the admittedly delicious Spice Market are necessary fixtures of the nightlife establishment, the Meatpacking District is a place to head down to, not to live. It's gritty and above all noisy, its warehouse buildings creating a dismal and gray atmosphere, and the waterfront is not exactly picturesque. Still, if you feel like being uber-trendy for a day, give it a gander! The only thing you have to lose is a couple hundred bills from your wallet!