Meatpacking District, Gansevoort Street Between 13th and Hudson Streets

Mary Sargent © 2009 ……….. click to enlarge

This is the entrance to Buckler, a store carrying a "cult menswear line" according to Time Out. I was quite taken with the look of this – it made me think of some initiation hut on a South Seas Island where young boys go to be terrified into becoming men. And this is the totemic presiding spirit. Then I looked up Buckler online and the first thing I saw was this figure dressed in a suit. No board. What a letdown. Just an ordinary store.

I'm undecided about the eastern boundary of the meatpacking district. It depends on if you are literal (like me) and think of it as the area where there used to be lots of and still are a few meatpacking plants. Or if you think of it as the trendy place it is with cult menswear stores and prizewinning architecture and fabulous restaurants. Historically, Hudson street was the boundary, but obviously this block is part of the scene.

One article I read referred to this area as MePa which makes me want to throw up. I hope people aren't really saying that. If they must shorten it, couldn't they just say MP?

See map.