Meatpacking District

The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan which runs roughly from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street, although recently it is sometimes considered to have extended north to West 16th Street and east beyond Hudson Street. 

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Meatpacking District went through a transformation. High-end boutiques catering to young professionals and hipsters opened, including Diane von Furstenberg, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, and the Apple Store, as well as restaurants and nightclubs. In 2004, New York magazine called the Meatpacking District "New York’s most fashionable neighborhood.

Some art galleries have opened here, but the area is dominated by late-night establishments, high-end furniture stores, and fabulously expensive hairdressers. If you seek thrilling nightlife and pulsating action on the streets with traffic jams over century-old cobblestone streets, head here.  If you're looking for a quieter, more low-key way to spend time in the district, keep in mind that one of the most pleasant times of day to visit this neighborhood is between 10 and 11 in the morning.

In June 2009, the first segment of the High Line, a former elevated freight railroad built under the aegis of Robert Moses modeled after Paris' Promenade Plantée.  In October 2010,the C6-1 Rezoning was passed in the area bound by Greenwich, Washington, West 10th, and West 12th Streets, imposing an 80-foot height limit and ended commercial bonuses for hotels, both of which will help the continued preservation of the area.