West Village

Some places have an air about them that makes you want to stay. This is one of those places. The West Village extends from 14th Street down to Houston along the West Side and is comprised of a bunch of small angular streets that are lovely to stroll along. Great in the summer time, the West Village just oozes small town, edgy, artsyness. Two of my favorite streets to walk down are Bleecker and Commerce and when you go you will see why. They are just pretty, cozy streets that offer distractions for the eye. This is a lovely place to go with a special someone if you want to just walk and talk, and share a brilliant experience with. The Cornelia Street Cafe is here at West 4th and Bleecker. You will simply adore its food, as well as the musical and poetry shows they hold in their very packed, shoulder to shoulder seated space downstairs. You want to see how close New Yorkers are willing to sit, go visit and view one of their shows. I loved it! Saw a jazz show and sat up front -- so close to the stage I am sure the saxophonist was blowing my bangs as he played but I never had a better time!

West Village is easy to get to, clean and so full of personality. Don't pass it up especially if you love food and drinks. They have the best of both worlds!

The West Village is what people think of when they think of Greenwich Village. All the little bookstores, the tiny cafes with seating for six, the cobbled streets and the alleys that lead to nowhere…these are all found in the West Village.

Unlike Greenwich Village, the West Village hasn’t been completely overrun with NYU students looking for cupcakes and copy shops. The farther you travel into the WV, the shadier the streets gets. I don’t mean shady like you have a higher chance of getting mugged. I mean shady from tree cover and narrow streets. The buildings are old and traffic is very quiet. There are no high rises and few buildings of steel. There are many wonderful bakeries. Though Magnolia gets all the press for their sweets, there are amazing bakeries for bread lovers.

The WV is really like another world. If travel far enough in, it’s like you aren’t in New York anymore. While that means you have to go farther to get to a subway stop or catch an available cab, it’s worth it because of the quiet and the peace and the charm. If I could afford to live here, I would pick this neighborhood over any other, including Gramercy or the Village or anywhere else.

Two great restaurants for fish in the West Village are Mary's Fish Camp on Charles Street and Pearl Oyster Bar at Cornelia Street. The West Village also has some amazing, and authentic pastry shops. Some of my favorites include Taylor's Bake Shop, Magnolia Bakery, and Patisserie Claude. Grange Hall is a perfect brunch place on a Sunday afternoon, and afterward you can stroll down the many small and winding West Village streets, and look in on the small specialty shops which are typical of the area. If you're in the mood for some culture, the Cornelia Street Cafe is very recommendable, not only because it has a typical West Village vibe, but also because it still hosts poetry readings and small concerts. Another small but historically important cultural institution is the Cherry Lane Theater, where Eugene O'Neill first got his plays performed in New York City. And while you're being literary, you should drink at Chumley's, a bar with a pedigree of literary former patrons and a layer of sawdust on the floor to hide the secret passageways that used to be in use during its Prohibition speakeasy heyday. The West Village once used to be the hottest place to go for jazz after Harlem, with gems like the Village Vanguard and Small's leading the way, but I think the scene isn't quite what it was in former years. Some of the authentic feel of the classic West Village hangouts has been diminished by the NYU student crowd.

What makes the Village perpetually excellent is it small old houses on narrow-cobblestoned streets. Yes, it's true that Greenwich Village is no longer the bohemian capital it was in the time of Edna St. Vincent Millay, nor is it as hip as it was during the Beat movement, but it always was and is beautiful. Which is why it can't possibly go out of style, no matter what else gentrification does to it. And while gentrification has done its deeds here, there are still plenty of fastidious, persnickety keepers of shops that seem to so what they do right, in perpetuity. Some of my favorite food highlights, which all deserve their fame: Claude's Patisserie, Zito's, Murray's Cheese Shop, Faicco's Pork Shop, and the excellent high end Il Buco. The Village also used to be home to some amazing jazz and cabaret places, but what remains of the old hot spots seem to have diminished in liveliness and authenticity. If you can't afford to live around these parts, it can nevertheless be a gorgeous pleasure to fritter away the afternoons here in any number of great cafes. For obvious reasons I would steer clear of the NYU-student infested area around Washington Square Park, and head further up and West int to deep Village. The neighborhood used to be the site of a rowdy and colorful nightlife scene, but less recommendable for this in recent years.

If I am yearning to be in the midst of boutique stores, cafes and restaurants (or just really in the mood for Five Guys), this is the first NYC neighborhood I think to visit. The West Village can be a bit tricky to navigate if you aren't familiar with the area (the grid is pretty much nonexistent here), but the streets are lovely and likely just what you picture when you think of the downtown neighborhoods of New York.

Out of physical range (and likely the budgets) of NYU students, the residents here tend to be middle aged professionals who dress the part. An affordable apartment here would be a spectacular find - but good luck. Tourists should be happiest here, though it tends to be pretty crowded, especially during the weekend evenings.

I always get lost wandering around this side of the Village, because it’s not on the same grid as the East Village – once you hit Sixth Ave, the streets have names that aren’t numbers and I lose all sense of where I am. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing – getting lost in the West Village can only be entertaining (unless you have somewhere else you desperately need to be). There are endless shops and bars and restaurants here, and the neighborhood is nothing but charismatic. This is where the outside of the Friends building was shot – which I have seen even if the connection didn’t mean much to me.