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, 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.

See map.

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.