Meatpacking District

I like the Meatpacking District. I dont love it, but I like it. It gives off a good vibe and reminds me of my hometown of Lockport Illinois.Its crowded at night, definetly safe.

“To each his own,” said the lady when she kissed the cow, and that’s how I feel about the Meatpacking District. It is one of New York’s ‘scene’ neighborhoods, with hip restaurants, crowded bars, and upscale boutiques. Personally, I find it overly self-conscious and filled with people who are fashion followers rather than fashion trend-setters. But if you love being where the glitteratti meet to eat, drink, and party, you’ll be right in your element here.

Warm spring and summer weekends are when the neighborhood is in its glory. Restaurants and bars have seating that spills onto the sidewalks, lending to a party atmosphere. The energy can be frenetic, but noise can be a problem.

Meatpacking District kids have it made. In addition to A-rated schools in the area, they are near the Hudson River, can play hide-and-seek in the area’s twisty, turn-y stone-covered streets, and can easily grab buses and subways to visit their friends or take advantage of everything New York has to offer.

The latest and greatest addition to the Meatpacking District is the Highline. An extensive length of elevated train track, it has been reclaimed and provides residents and visitors to the Meatpacking District with access to nature year-round. It is extremely beautiful and a wonderful community meeting place where you’ll see hipsters walking along bohemians, slow-moving seniors sharing the path with racing toddlers.

The price to live in this tony neighborhood ranges from $450,000 for a studio to $20 million for a penthouse. For people interested in purchasing one of the Meatpacking Districts historic townhouses, expect to pay up to $2,000 per square foot if you want a ‘desirable’ location near the High Line...$1,200 per square foot elsewhere in the area.

I have mixed feelings about the Meatpacking but they err on the not so great side. It's a cool looking neighborhood and a few of my friends live there in the most stunning loft apartments I have seen in Manhattan. But, there's a lot of riffraff in the area pretending to be cool. The majority of the city's big nightclubs and trendy but terrible restaurants reside in the Meatpacking. And, there is a lot of high end boutique shopping. Put that all together and you get a lot of Eurotrash, bridge and tunnel crowd and tourists. I don't really hang out there unless it's someone's birthday and they make me go. It looks horribly bleak in the winter because of the factory buildings and the absence of green. But, the aesthetic is really interesting and pretty cool on a nice day to walk through.
Little West 12th Street is where most of the action is and on the weekends, it is packed. It is impossible to get in and out of there on a weekend night because the cabs are so backed up. And, there are drunk people everywhere. There is a place called Bagatelle that does weekend brunch nightclub so people are already tossed by 3 pm. There are famous restaurants like Pastis and Buddakkan and they're both pretty trendy (still) and pretentious. But, Pastis is actually awful -- I hate to admit it, but Buddakkan is actually really good. I also love Fatty Crab on Gansevoort but that isn't really a "meatpacking" restaurant. That place is the only reason I go into the neighborhood. Oh, and the Apple store on 14th. It's massive but always packed. I want this neighborhood to be great because it is so cool looking. It actually used to be a real meatpacking area but there are only two butcher stores left in the area. There are about ten nightclubs in the place where the rest of them used to be.
The nice thing about the Meatpacking is that there is a lot of space in the restaurants and apartments. Being that the buildings are all former factories, they offer a lot more room than most of Manhattan. The bad thing is that that space is filled with a bunch of dingleberries coming into the city to be part of the scene. It's pretty chaotic there. And, it always looks dirty. If I were to live there, I'd live close to Washington or 9th and south of Little West 12th to try to avoid the noise. And, I would only do so if I found an incredible apartment. It's just not worth the pain.

The Meatpacking District to me was always some place I passed in the car on my way to other parts of town. One can tell you are in the Meatpacking District because it still looks very much like a place where this type of activity would take place. The buildings are all very factory-like looking, some with bays for trucks to pull in, where they used to load and unload their goods. Nowadays though the area is becoming a whole new scene with upscale type bars and restaurants. The prices at some of these places are off the charts and its the "in" thing to be seen there paying over $15 for a cocktail or exorbitant prices for a meal. But just like other parts of NY is the experience that most want, and if you want an eclectic one, then this is the place to be.

Some wonderful restaurants to check out are the Fatty Crab on Hudson Street, the Fig & Olive on 14th Street, and the Old Homestead Steakhouse on 9th Avenue. This area is not really for the stroller, but since you are close to the water you can always walk over and catch some equisite views of the river if you so choose.

From a historic standpoint, the Meatpacking District was an area that contained hundreds of slaughterhouses and meat distributors that serviced all of New York and much of the northeast. Today, it is a small area where hipsters from nearby Chelsea, Village, or other areas can congregate to buy the top of the line fashion and then celebrate with some $15 Cosmos at one of the many trendy bars in the area.

Residence here may not be the most expensive in the area but may only be worth it to someone who works in the area or really needs a place to live. The rents are far too high for the level of area this is, the people are rude and at night they form massive lines everywhere. You are right by Chelsea and West Village but that is the only benefit of living here.

For tourists, you will soon realize that the Meatpacking District does not hold on to its historic past and there is little outside of overpriced fashion boutiques and overpriced bars and clubs to check out.

Really, the highlight of the area, and the only reason someone living in Lower Manhattan might actually go here, is the Apple Store. If you want history or better living options, go elsewhere. If you need a new iPod and you're in the area, this is the place.

Once upon a time, the Meatpacking District was a district of Manhattan that actually revolved around the meat industry. While there wasn't much reason to go there unless you were part of that industry, it was an interesting place - bustling with business, cobblestoned streets, an old-world warehouse environment. Because of the cool mix of quaint cobblestones and industrial background, however, when the meat industry began its move to cheaper locations, trendy clubs and designer stores began setting up camp. For a while, the area reigned coolest in Manhattan: the seedier subcultures that were used to populating the neighborhood clung on while beautiful people started moving in, shopping high end fashions and drinking high end drinks.

When the subcultures left, though, so did any coolness. While there are still stores belonging to some of fashion's greatest - ie, Alexander McQueen - there's little other reason to visit the Meatpacking District unless you want to drink with Bridge and Tunnelers or coked-out wannabe models. Everything is oh so very fabulous here, including long lines behind velvet ropes, $18 cocktails, mini dresses that barely exist and clubs that you'd only bother going to to say you went to. The nightlife isn't actually fun, because if you got caught having fun in one of these lounges, you wouldn't be cool anymore. There might be a cool fashion crowd in these parts, but they're probably hanging out where you can't get in, so you're stuck with the over-gelled Jersey population. Saving graces? The cobblestones are still cute, though you can find them in the West Village and Soho, the Highline is an awesome elevated park worth the visit, Pasti's, while now known by every tourist nationwhide, still serves up pretty delicious food in a Parisian setting and Chelsea Market is a high end take on a food court that is basically amazing, from Jaques Torres chocolates to fresh seafood.

The Meatpacking District happens to be a part of the neighborhood that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. However, because of construction and remodeling, the area has broadened out to include West 16th Street and beyond Hudson Street.

The only thing this area has going for it are the meatpacking facilities where they take care of the meat that is sold in stores. Otherwise, the place does not have the slightest bit of charm or sophistication.

I have serious reservations here. On the one hand, who doesn't like to see the girls in their glitter tops and lip gloss, attended to by their boyfriend of the moment (and they all look alike anyway) strutting up for a night out on the town in the Meatpacking District. On the other hand, the sight gets old pretty quickly. The area has been called “New York's Most Fashionable District,” probably because all the mega-designers like Diane von Furstenberg and Stella McCartney all have stores here, and it's literally impossible to see a woman walking around in heels that are any less than 12 inches. They, like, throw you out of the neighborhood if you don't have the heel height here (No, not really, but it feels that way). I don't know about all that flashy fashionista stuff, and I really don't go for the nightlife scene, which caters to a yuppie crowd that wants to think of itself as edgy and hip (even though it is merely young and rich, not the same thing at all). So the Meatpacking District doesn't impress me much. But I do like the feel of the cobblestoned streets and the former industrial buildings, most of which really used to be slaughterhouses. And I love love love the High Line Park, which begins in the Meatpacking District and carves through Chelsea. I also really love jogging up the footpath that follows the banks of the river and the West Side Highway, but none of those things have much to do with what the Meatpacking District is famous for, which is flashy night-lifers and over-priced drinking. I do take some pleasure in the aesthetics of the ultra-luxury buildings that have sprung up in recent years in this area, all designed by brand name architects. Such places are literally dripping with flashy new-money money, but at least they are aesthetic and a pleasure to gawk at on an afternoon.

The Meatpacking district covers a twenty block area on the extreme Westside of Manhattan. The boundaries of this achingly hip and trendy district extend roughly from the Chelsea Market which is located between W 15th and W 16th streets down to Gansevoort Street.
This gritty and grimy area which has a distinct industrial feel to it was the domain of slaughterhouses and meatpacking outfits ever since 1949 when the Gansevoort Meat Market was established here. Since the late 1990s, however the area has cleaned up somewhat so that it now functions as New York’s premier party district which has within its environs countless designer boutiques and stores as well as many hip and happening restaurants and clubs which are exceedingly popular with tourists and locals alike.

Located in the heart of the Meatpacking district is the stylish, boutique Gansevoort Hotel which is favored by celebrities and the beautiful of New York City, whose rooftop bar is an especially popular hangout spot during the balmy New York summer evenings. Some of the most popular restaurants of the Meatpacking district include joints like Pastis, Bagatelle, Budakkan, Fatty Crabs and Spice Market which are known as much for the food that they serve and the good looking and stylish patrons that they attract. However the newest attraction of Meatpacking district is the newly opened Highline Park which has been created along an old elevated freight rail line that used run from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street.