Meatpacking District

Not so long ago, the trendiest thing worn in the Meatpacking District was a blood-stained apron. Now, Gansevoort Market (as the district is officially known) is New York’s most fashionable neighborhood, chock full of hip restaurants, exclusive clubs, and paycheck-draining boutiques. Despite the haute onslaught, the neighborhood has managed to retain its blue-collar edge, thanks to the many wholesale meat companies which still operate out of the warehouses between Gansevoort and West 15 Streets. By night, however, the district is transformed, as butchers and meat-cutters disappear, and magazine editors, models, and a stream of Sarah Jessica Parker look-alikes take their pace.

What do you get when you mix famous chefs, a sizzling neighborhood, and a restaurant that can seat hundreds at a time? The answer: a madhouse, or more specifically, Spice Market (pictured). Since it opened in early 2004, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Gray Kunz’s Asian street-food emporium has been constantly packed, despite competition from nearby restaurants like Vento Trattoria and Pastis. Spice Market’s secret (if you can call anything this popular a secret) is its fabulously exotic design, its elaborate pan-Asian menu, and its ability to attract celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and Nicole Kidman while leaving room for us non-VIPs as well. Reserve well in advance.
Wooster Projects, an unassuming gallery with a Museum Mile-quality collection, intermittently displays works by such famed artists as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and David Hockney, among others. Starting in the fall of 2004, the gallery will start showcasing the works of new artists as well, rotating in different exhibitions every few weeks. Later in the year, Wooster will return to its Pop Art roots, displaying unique pieces like Warhol’s portraits of Dolly Parton and mobster John Gotti.
The Studio 54 days are back in a big way at Meatpacking clubs like PM and Cielo (pictured), where beefcake bouncers separate the partiers from the pretenders. If you can get into either of these clubs (a much easier proposition on weeknights), expect fantastic sound systems, $14 drinks, and trendsetters three-deep at the bar. PM has an exotic voodoo feel, while Cielo goes for something a little more space-aged, but both are strictly FPPO: For Pretty People Only.

The Swiss furniture company Vitra treats its 12,000 square foot showroom on Ninth Avenue like a museum, sparsely displaying high-concept furniture in an ultra-modern space by architect Linda Roy. Furniture-philes can easily lose hours drooling over cutting edge pieces from the likes of legendary designers Ray and Charles Eames, Frank Gehry, Philippe Starck, and Isamu Noguchi.
West 14th Street, the Meatpacking District’s main artery, has turned into a Rodeo Drive of sorts, albeit one surrounded by animal carcasses. A stroll down W. 14th St., between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, takes one past the New York outposts of such familiar fashion labels as Stella McCartney, Jeffrey, Alexander McQueen (pictured), Yigal Azrouel, and Carlos Miele. Bring your plastic

The Highline, a rusty, 75-year-old elevated railway that hovers over the Meatpacking District, was a candidate for demolition as recently as 2000. But a group of preservationists called Friends of the Highline have ensured that the 35-foot-high structure will soon see new life as a 1.5-mile long public park. The city is currently considering design proposals, and hopes to finish New York’s newest stretch of open-space in 2006.

Originally the headquarters of the Nabisco corporation (and the birthplace of the Oreo cookie), the block-width Chelsea Market (pictured) now houses the city’s biggest collection of gourmet food retailers. An 800-foot-long concourse burrows through the heart of an old baking factory filled with fountains, sculptures, and a dizzying array of shops. If you’re looking for something sweet, try a brownie at Fat Witch Bakery or a “chocolate chubbie” (something between a cookie and a brownie) at Sarabeth’s Bakery . For more substantial meals, the Cleaver Company serves some delicious mezze platters in a tiny, dressed-up dining room.

look at my shop….