West 8 St, Greenwich Village

West 8th is pretty small. It only starts at 6th ave and turns into St Marks just as it's becoming East 8th. It's a sweet street to live on, if you can afford it. And, it's managing to maintain some of the old school villagey feel despite all of the chains moving in.
There's a Barnes and Noble right on the corner of 8th and 6th Ave that's really small so it feels a bit more intimate than the average Barnes. I still prefer The Strand in Union Square, but if you just want to spend some time lurking around books without being bothered, this is the spot. The independently owned stores in the neighborhood have salespeople that actually try to help -- which may not be ideal if you just want to peruse. And, this Barnes, typically, has few people in it. It's kinda nice. But, Strand is still cheaper. Gray's Papaya is directly across the street. I'm not a huge hotdog fan, but if you're a tourist and want to visit Gray's, I would say go to this one over the Chelsea one. It's not as busy and seems a little more quaint.
West 8th used to be all mom and pop restaurants and boutiques. Now, there are still some boutiques but almost no restaurants. There, apparently, used to be a ton of shoe stores but now there are only two that I've ever noticed. It's kind of sad that all of this places are getting driven out by things like Walgreens, Keith McNally, and Steve Madden. But, I guess the American public has spoken. And, now the neighborhood is incredibly expensive and it used to be kind of a slum. Although, it's so beautiful in the West Village, that's hard to imagine.
The block around 5th and 6th is interesting because while many of the older buildings still remain, a number of really cool historical places were demolished. And, the residents of West 8th in particular sparked the preservationist movement of the Village, so places the Marlton Hotel got to remain in tact -- albeit, now as insanely expensive apartments.
West 8th only stretches across a few blocks, and there are still a number of stores on the street that make for an interesting shopping afternoon (one store is entirely t-shirts / another is entirely cookies and it's open til 3am.) It's a very village street, in my opinion.

Eighth Street used to be the place you bought shoes. Although there are still a couple of shoe stores left, I would rather go elsewhere for decent shoes now. Some of the holdouts from back when this was a really wild West Village hangout are still present, including Andy's Chee Pees, a couple of tattoo parlors, and the Army and Navy surplus store, where you can still get rubber boots, khaki pants, and industrial thermoses, if that's your kind of thing. But now a whole new kind of retailers have moved in: the likes of the Broadway Panhandler, a kitchen furnishings store, plus Get Gadgets, where you do indeed get gadgets such as funky little robots and nicely shaped cameras. There's a new store devoted to lomography, in case you want in on this vintage German craze, which was only really “in” for about a minute in Germany, and which was never in at all anywhere else. The New York Studio School is sill around. It has an important history in the New York art scene because it used to offer incredibly cheap drawing sessions with live models, and many then-poor artists would frequent the place. You see a real contrast on this street between the high-class residential buildings and the NYU student life atmosphere. Most of this street's “attitude” is disappeared now to more commercial concerns.

Well, it used to be, anyways, back when W 8th Street in the Village was just shoe store after shoe store. Many of those places are gone now, giving rise in their stead to cheap neighborhood restaurants (many of which have cycled through tenants) and lunchtime eat in/take out spots. Not really a cozy vibe, but it is a little strip of convenience if you're happening through this part of Greenwich Village. Plenty to eat for sure: Gray's Papaya on 6th has cheap cheap hot dogs (that pink salty tang!), Elettaria serves trendy cuisine and deadly cocktails, and literally a dozen lunchtime joints lie near Broadway. Ones to try are Rickshaw Dumplings for fast meaty dumplings, Maoz for customized falafel in a colorful mod setting, 'wichcraft for gourmet-style sandwiches, Cafetasia for pan-Asian fare accompanied by hordes of NYU kids, and good ol' reliable Chipotle for giant burritos and tacos. Again, not a bad street to stop by but no need for a special visit.

There's no need to trek u to 72nd street if you want New York's famous Gray's Papaya hot dogs, you can easily find them right on 8th st and 7th ave! Of course, nothing beats the original, but this is a very easy close second. However, if you fancy a bit of Italian, you can mozy on over to Two Boots Pizza right across the street. From 8th ave to 2nd ave, 8th street provides a little bit of everything for anyone. The area of this street which borders NYU has some great discount clothing and shoe stores, and of course quite a few fun eateries, such as BBQ. There's Otto's on 8th and 5th ave, which is definitely worth a look when you feel like a bit of a nicer night out. Upon crossing its border into the East Village, you will also find a plethora of cute and entertaining sex shops and costume shops. 8th street is definitely worth a stroll if you're in the mood for some window shopping and quirky finds.