Greenwich Village, 14th Street at Eighth Avenue

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


I'm back from Michigan where I had a wonderful Christmas and saw a great deal of snow.  I was neither late getting there nor late getting home; what's more, American Airlines did not lose my bag at either end.  It was truly a blessed Christmas. 

Now, back at home with the blog, I'm chagrinned to realize I'm still on a walk from November.  November 6.  I don't think I've ever been so late before.  I know what one of my New Year's resolutions will be. 

We saw this building about six months ago, but if you don't recognize it, it's because it was summer, in the daytime, and you saw only a piece of it.

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Greenwich Village, 14th Street Between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

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Last Post until December 29.  I'm off to Michigan where they know how to do snow.




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

So you could make a case for this being a Christmas photo, right?  Especially if you're religious.  There's even a star up in the left which you can see if you enlarge the photo.

This church used to be St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church, but in 2003, it was merged with Our Lady of Guadalupe from the next block over, and is now called Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard's.  St. Bernard's had lost members and had lots of space and Our Lady had many members and not enough space.

I understand you should come here on Sundays if you're into tacos.  This from a guy who knows his tacos, so he claims.  Just because his name is Tizoc Schwartz doesn't mean he doesn't know his tacos.

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Chelsea, 14th Street Between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

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


We've edged into Chelsea now, since Meatpacking ends at Ninth Avenue, although depending on which neighborhood seems more desirable at the moment, you can bet these businesses will claim it.  This is the north side of 14th Street.  The south side would be part of Greenwich Village.   

First we have Diner. (It claims Meatpacking)  Or Diner Restaurant.  Remember when diners weren't ironic? Or iconic?  Next is a mysterious no-name, must be restaurant with those umbrellas out front.  Then comes Comix, which in my innocence, I thought was a comic book store, but is, in fact, a comedy club.  Lately I've been thinking I should go to a comedy club every now and then, but see, my idea of comedy clubs is that you go and just cringe because it's so embarrassing that the comedians are so pathetically unfunny.  But that can't be true or how could they stay open?

So I googled the address of no-name and found out it's Scarpetta.  Their dubious claim is to be in a Greek revival townhouse.  The chef is Scott Conant, formerly chef at the late L'impero, which has now become the wonderful Convivio.  So I'm just saying, do not be fooled by the modest appearance of this restaurant; come prepared to spend serious money here.  But it should be good.

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Meatpacking District, 14th Street at Ninth Avenue and Hudson Street

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

Here is the third and largest Apple store to open in New York City.  At least it was the largest in 2007 when it opened, but just last month a brand new store opened on Broadway near Lincoln Center and I haven't been able to learn its size.  The first one opened in 2001 on Fifth Avenue and everyone knows about that one.  But did you know about the one in SoHo?  You wouldn't believe the building its in.  Actually, I only learned about the Broadway Apple from an out of town visitor at dinner tonight. 

I use a PC but I'm getting a Mac next time, I think.  Maybe.  I want to be able to go to their stores!  Not the only reason.

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Meatpacking District, 14th Street at Ninth Avenue and Hudson Street

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


We're looking at this skinny building from the north side of 14th Street.  That's Hudson Street on the left and Ninth Avenue on the right.  Remember, Ninth Avenue begins below 14th Street at Gansevoort Street.

At street level is Vento Trattoria, favorably reviewed in New York Magazine.  The building itself was built in 1849 as a factory, according to New York Songlines, which also reveals some other fascinating facts, such as, this is where Glenn Close's apartment was in Fatal Attraction.

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Meatpacking District, 14th Street between Washington Street and Ninth Avenue

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

Notice the cobblestone streets here toward the end of 14th Street.  Having once lived near historic old Alexandria, Virginia, when people in New York said cobblestone, I looked around for the stones, actual rounded stones which were once used for paving.  Here, too; not just Alexandria.  But they were replaced by these more easily traversed flat stones called setts, which were, in turn, replaced by asphalt, except in a few parts of old New York, like here.

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On another subject altogether, everyone stop right now and back up your files.  Yes, I had a little scare tonight, which turned out to be not a problem after all, but as soon as my computer started up, I backed up everything.  How long had it been?  Since May of this year.  That's bad, all right, and I hereby resolve to back up at least every month.

Just so you know, I always back up my photographs as they're edited.

Meatpacking District, 14th Street at Washington Street

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

I wonder if the sky was really that blue.  Kinda doubt it.

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Meatpacking District, Washington Street Between 13th and 14th Streets

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

And she makes a nice dress, too.

Meatpacking District, Washington Street Between Little West 12th and 13th Street

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

Here's another shot of the Standard, from yet another angle.  Not its most flattering one, perhaps?

Meatpacking District, Washington Street Between Little West 12th and 13th Street

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

Now, back on Washington Street, here is the beer garden at the Standard Hotel.  Or biergarten, as they call it.  Charmingly proletarian.  Depending on the prices.  Could be nice in warm weather. 

I'm going to be walking up Washington Street to 14th, then across to the 7th Avenue subway.

Meatpacking District, Little West 12th Street between West and Washington Streets

Remember I mentioned the Brass Monkey a few nights ago?  Well, there it was across the street from Nick and me and as our conversation drew to an end, I noticed I was feeling a little chilled and I remembered the very fine Irish coffee I had at The Half King last week and so I took myself across the street and settled in at the bar.




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

Sad to say, this Irish coffee was not all it should have been.  The bartender poured the coffee and whiskey and then made the whipped cream by shaking it in a cocktail shaker.  This takes a long time, and I give her credit for working hard, but by the time it thickened, the coffee was lukewarm at best.  Still, after all that hard work, I could hardly complain.

It was a nice bar, only a few people in it when I came in, but by the time I left, it had started to fill up.  A couple came in with their child; it seemed to be a neighborhood kind of place. 



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

It was about 5 o'clock when I emerged and starting to get dark.

Meatpacking District, Little West 12th Street between West and Washington Streets

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

As I was saying, Nick talked about working here in the meatpacking business.  This is where he works, at London Meats, just down the street from the corner where we were standing.  What he likes about his job is, he gets out, he visits the restaurants; sometimes he saves the day for some fancy place like Le Bernadin, gets them something they need, and they're grateful.  I agreed, that sounded better than hacking up carcasses.  Although I understand that dedicated foodies are all learning how to cut up dead animals.  I'm not talking chickens here; they're cutting up cows and pigs.  This is supposed to somehow assuage their guilt for eating them.  I don't really get how that works.

But I digress.  Nick, of course, had plenty to say about how the neighborhood has changed.  He worked here before it was discovered, when it was a gay and tranny hangout and hookers walked the streets.  Now he says, it's models and people getting $200 haircuts, and if he were 20 years younger, he'd probably be divorced by now.  He talked about all the old businesses being pushed out.  He's safe, he says, because the owner of London Meats has a long, long lease.  He talked about how the workers see plenty of pornography these days at the windows of the Standard.  Apparently, it's the perfect setting for exhibitionists.

While I was looking for some nightlife stories of the old Meatpacking District, I found this article about Florent Morellet, the former owner of Restaurant Florent, recently closed, a sad event.

Or go to New York Magazine's article about the closing.  The restaurant was on Gansevoort Street, so it's not properly on this walk, but there's lots of information about the area and some good history and, of course, it makes you want to cry because it's gone even though Morellet "loathes nostalgia."

Meatpacking District, Little West 12th Street at West Street

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

Now I'm heading back the way I came.  This is Nick.  Nick works in the meatpacking business and we had an intereesting conversation which I will report tomorrow.

Tonight I'm tired.  I know, it's only 12:30 and I'm usually up way later than this, but I have to get up at the ungodly hour of 8 a.m. to visit with my podiatrist.  The Manhattan Project requires one to take care of one's feet.

Meatpacking District, West Street at Little West 12th Street

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

And what is that building so beautifully backed by that dramatic sky?  Why, it's the New York City Sanitation Department building.  Just what you want on prime riverside property.

Google maps had me confused tonight because where this one street is they have three streets parallel to each other:  Tenth Avenue, New York 9A and West Street.  And what about the West Side Highway?  I thought maybe Wikipedia could solve this problem for me and it pretty much did, assuming it's correct.

First, Tenth Avenue begins at 13th Street, just as my home map shows, and my in-person witnessing confirmed.  Google is just wrong.

Second, the two remaining streets are not two separate streets, they are the north and southbound lanes of the Westside Highway, aka NY9A, which runs on West Street at this point.  There are just 3 different names for the same street.  Whew.   

You might want to check out Wikipedia's article; there's a lot of history connected to this street, including that its official name is the Joe DiMaggio Highway.


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Meatpacking District, Little West 12th Street between Washington and West Streets

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

And on the other side of the street. . . here's our old friend, the Standard Hotel.  Its official address is 848 Washington Street at 13th Street, and their beer garden is under the Highline and extends to Little West 12th.  I assume this small brick building is part of the garden.




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

And next to that is . . . uh, this old stuff.





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

And next to the old stuff is an old building with a new bar on the corner, the Brass Monkey, about which, more later.

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Meatpacking District, Little West 12th Street between Washington and West Streets

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

Lest we forget why it's called the Meatpacking District. 

Although where the packing part comes in, I don't know.

Meatpacking District, Washington Street at Little West 12th

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

Here's a view down Little West 12th Street, featuring Hector's Cafe and Diner.  That's the Highline above.  I was thinking about lunch and briefly considered Hector's, but only briefly.  TodayI wanted something more, well, more comfortable, or indulgent.  Someplace I could get an Irish Coffee.  Although I had dressed for the weather today, still, after a while, one gets to feeling chilled.

See map.