We all have paths that take us through our commutes and daily lives, and I’m particularly fond of the path that took me home from my retail store in Chelsea Market every evening for a year. Leaving the store, I would walk down Ninth Avenue which becomes Hudson and turn left on Bleecker Street, following it until I turned right on Mercer. It cuts through the south of Chelsea, through the Meatpacking District and down to the West Village into Soho. I became enamored with the variety these neighborhoods offer.
As I leave the Eleni’s store and Chelsea Market, the first visible business is a lumberyard, which begins the walk that is charmingly full of so many different sides of New York. Looking west, you can see the High Line running for several blocks, the defunct and beautifully rusted elevated train tracks. There is evidence of the recent transition of the Meatpacking ... [more]
Eleni Gianopulos, Eleni's.
Crossing Town
New Yorkers divide religiously along East Side/West Side lines. But occasionally they are known to travel to the Other Side. If you find yourself in such an unlikely position, you might take a cross-town bus: they run along 66th/67th Streets, 72nd, 86th, 96th, and 110th. These are, however, some of the slowest buses in the MTA's roster, famously clocked at an average of about four miles per hour. So you might also consider walking, enjoying the park along the way, and grinning as you pass the bus unloading its charges.