Garment District

If you want to get a really good feel for the Garment District, a noisy, crowded, and practically unlivable neighborhood in midtown Manhttan, rent the HBO document Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags. It talks about the area’s history as a center for clothing manufacturing and shows in stark detail the hard urban personality of the area.

The Garment District is a commercial, not a residential neighborhood, and the businesses here are industrial. That means lots of deliveries and lots of fume-spewing trucks making runs at all hours of the day and night. It’s a smallish area, running from 34th Street to 42nd Street (south to north) and Fifth Avenue to Ninth Avenue (east to west)

The area has seen some development, with a few luxury high-rises dotting the skyline. But for the most part, apartments are rundown...and surprisingly not more affordable than far more upscale neighborhoods. Studios run about $2,400 and one-bedrooms about $3,500.

Purchasing an apartment can be a wise investment as values are going up in this area. And the average price of an apartment is under $500,000, as compared with the multi-million dollar average price tag in areas such as the Upper West Side and Gramercy.

Perhaps in an effort to shake its association with the sweatshop history associated with the area, politicos and business development groups have begun referring to the Garment District as the Fashion District. But don’t be fooled. Although the designer creations that will be seen in red carpet runway shows in Paris and Milan, the manufacturers that produce the mass-market version of those fashions are threadbare and gritty, just like Garment District.

The Fashion District has never been my favorite place to visit. It's just ho hum. Yes, you can find some very interesting shops there if you are into design. Materials, buttons, ribbons, rugs, furs, etc. abound here, but they are typically in shops targeting businesses not consumers. Wholesale is typically their game here so tourists might find it very off putting, boring and a waste of time. You can walk along the main avenues of Broadway and find interesting shops and places to eat, but overall the area is really geared toward business and nothing else. Those looking for housing would be better off looking in another area as this area is quite pricey. There are not a lot of grocery shops that are affordable here so you would probably be miserable.

Good thing is Manhattan is so walkable you can walk several blocks in any direction and typically find yourself in another neighborhood. Transportation abounds, the neighborhood is pretty safe, but there is little to do in form of entertainment. Street festivals can be found sprinkled about in the summer months along the avenues providing some relief from the otherwise boring nature of this neighborhood.

Anyone who wants to see a sign of life should walk along the main avenues instead of the side streets.

The Garment District, better known to New Yorkers as the Fashion District or simply the Herald Square area, is located right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Midtown.

The area is always packed because it is the central location for shopping and located near Times Square and the epicenter of the world's foot traffic. The stores in the area vary from largely affordable boutiques and chains to many much more upscale locations as well. The area is known as the capital of the fashion world and just about every major designer owns space in the neighborhood. There are also a lot of fashion wholesalers selling cheaper options as well as supplies.

This is largely a commercial area without much residential space. The space that is available is costly and may only be worth it to someone who works in the area. Though the area is very accessible by most trains, this is because everyone is coming here. The streets are almost always packed, maybe even worse on the weekends. The traffic is at a standstill, both car and foot traffic, and there is someone trying to sell you something everywhere as vendors and kiosks are lined up along the same streets as the stores and boutiques.

Ultimately, this is a place to come and spend some money and take part in the tourist trap aspect of it and then move on to the rest of your day.

If you're visiting the garment district, you're likely lost.

If you just need an office space, you could do worse. It's centrally located and easy to get to. It's also possible to get some good commercial spaces, because almost nobody wants them.

What's wrong with it? Even if the sweat shops are gone (no comment) the vibe of them is still there. It's industrial in the ugliest of ways and I just can't shake the icky feeling I have whenever I'm there. It feels cheap, dishonest, and dirty.

There is no romance. No charm. No innovation.

If you want style and fashion, visit the shops on Madison and Fifth. The garment district has no style, fashion, or class. It's like a Chinatown without food or culture or a warehouse without the space.

A perpetual bad mood floats over from Penn Station, with rats and unhappy European tourists judging how ugly New York is. It gives the rest of Manhattan a bad name.

Live here if you're on your own and the only thing you care about is a quick commute. If you don't care about your neighborhood, you might like it. If you want calm, charm, or community...look elsewhere.

There's nothing to do here but witness homelessness and misery.

Sounds like it would be an awesome place for fashionistas, doesn't it? But it's not. Unless you are a fashionista capable of creating your own designs with some fabric and stitching, which in no way applies to me. Not only that, but this neighborhood isn't exactly known for being a place that anyone would be dying to grab a bite or hang out after dark. Not. Recommended.

Known as the fashion and manufacturing center of the city (and of the United States, for that matter) the garment district features some behemoth institutions as well: The Javits Convention Center, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Port Authority, the New York Public Library, and the central NYC Post Office, which until only recently used to be open 24/7. If you're alive and living in the city, chances are you've had reason to come to one of these institutions or other, and have been to the Garment District. I can't say it's my favorite place to hang out. While sitting on the front steps of the beautiful Beaux-Arts buildings of the post office and of the public library can be pleasant, the experience is seriously marred by the noise and smells of traffic on the streets. Weird fact: the AMC Empire Theater, one of those huge 25-screen multiplex theaters, is the largest structure in NYC to have been physically moved (in 1998). It was rolled 170 feet in a single day, after months of preparation. I do love Bryant Park, especially the always fun and always rowdy experience of watching free movies in the park in summer times, but otherwise this area gets a big thumbs down from me for its impersonal scale, noise, and unsavory characters hanging out near the entrance to Penn Station.

Huge and impersonal in its buildings, the Garment District can really defeat your best intentions. There isn't a reason you'd want to be here if you don't live here, except to make use of the obvious, centrally located big attractions. For example, Penn Station is in this area, which means all the shady characters who hand around Penn Station are also in the area. Their presence has gotten a lot better since Bloomberg and Giuliani, but still. Another obvious attraction in the area is the New York Public Library, the main one which features an enormous study room. It's a great place to get work done, since there are so few other distractions. Bryant Park is also nearby, and it's one of my favorite destinations during the summers. You can not only watch free films in the evenings, but just hang out and lounge on lazy summer afternoons, and read a book. Other large and imposing structures in the area include the James Farley post office, Madison Square Garden, and the Javitz Convention Center. The area is dominated by loud, glittering, and ultra-commercial Broadway, which then spills over into the side streets. Aside from these two destinations, Penn Station and the Public Library, I have found very little reason to head to the Garment District, as it feels imposing and impersonal to walk down the street here.

I'm here several times a week and I have yet to find one thing about this part of town that I enjoy aside from the Artichoke cafe on 37th. It's crowded, it's filthy, and the majority of aholes who won't lay off their horn in traffic seem to congregate in the garment district.
Down toward 9th and 10th Ave is an utter wasteland and the more inland you head, the more tourists and congestion you get. This area is just a lose - lose.
All of the restaurants are either scary or catered towards tourists (i.e. a massive TGI Fridays.) and there isn't any nightlife to speak of. I'll mention the Artichoke one more time because it's darling and the owners are really nice. But, that's it!
The shops are weird to boot. Just giant bead shops, knock sunglasses shops, cheap shoe shops. It just kinda makes me feel dirty whenever I'm in this neighborhood.

Also known as the Fashion District or the Garment Center, this midtown neighborhood - spanning from 5th to 9th Avenues and from 34th to 42nd St, is historically known for its link with the fashion industry. That said, the name sounds more elegant than it is. While Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, and Nicole Miller may have workshops and business centres here, it doesn't really mean much to the average passerby, who is far more likely to be entranced by those same designers' shop windows on the elegant Madison Avenue. Less charming, the Garment District is merely another midtown collection of office blocks from the street level. That said, there are some benefits to the district. Many New Yorkers head there when looking for beads, curtains, or other fabric (Halloween costumes for the creatively minded, for example) - some mom-and-pop-type textiles stores still exist in the district, including wholesalers sometimes willing to sell to individuals.

Where to eat in the neighborhood? Sad to say it's slim pickings, but Smith and Wollensky has a decent reputation as one of the city's Great Steakhouses, with a strong showing in lobster for the less carnivorously minded.

In spite of loud protests from the anti fur lobby and the growing popularity of faux fur many New Yorkers still prefer to use coats fashioned out of animal fur to ward off the biting chill of the bitter New York City winters. The best place to buy these warmth inducing minks, shearlings, silver foxes and more is along a nondescript stretch of W29th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues round the corner from the transport hub of Penn Station.
This section of W29th is known as the fur district of New York City as it continues to host outlets and factory stores of several well known furriers like Konstanine Leathers, the Fur depot, Rafael Shearlings, Peter Duffy Furs and Ritz Furs who offer a wide variety of furs for sale at prices which are generally much lower than those charged by department stores and designer fur salons. Moreover these stores also custom create fur coats and also provide other invaluable services like cleaning, repairing and storing of fur coats as furs are generally quite expensive and do require a certain amount of care if they are to last you a lifetime. The Fur district is essentially a commercial district which is populated with warehouses and factory stores and doesnt have much appeal as a residential neighborhood.

This small district is barely one square mile, but has big attractions for all to enjoy. Anchored in by the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Penn Station, and the General Post Office, you feel very secure and surrounded.

The community remains to be the fashion capital of the world for many designers, couture houses and showrooms. The area is not what it used to be since the flood of the sweatshops spewing out clothes has now infiltrated many areas of Chinatown, rather than being primarily based in the Garment District.

Nearby restaurants and bars to check out, in Garment District and neighboring districts, are the Falai Restaurant and Radegast (ultra chic American Bohemian beer hall). The lobby of the Empire State Building is also worth a peek. The gorgeous art deco and marble bring “old-school” back to life. Ride up the elevator to the 86th floor observatory and gaze at the lights of the Chrysler Building. This experience can be very romantic at night, as the last elevator leaves at 11:15 PM. You can also step inside the NY Skyride, a huge flight simulator that takes you and about 50 guests on a trip around NYC.

When I was a young newly inducted New Yorker, one of my roommates was a budding young assistant designer who worked in this neighborhood, and she said she often saw needles littering the sidewalks here. Not that the street isn’t safe – it isn’t the South Bronx or anything, but it’s not exactly the Upper East Side either.
This city is the one and only fashion capitol of the United States, and this neighborhood is where the art form is churned out. Of the clothing manufactured in the U.S., a huge percentage of it comes out of this neighborhood. However, it’s not so popular as it once was to manufacture clothes in the U.S. (as labor is cheaper elsewhere), and many of these factories are being converted into apartments. (And if I had my pick of New York apartments, I’d most likely go for the converted factory space – the size of these apartments usually exceed the New York standard shoebox apartments.)