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.
The Financial District
At New York City's southern tip is the Financial District: home to City Hall, the New York Stock Exchange, and Wall Street. Here day traders, financiers, and the city government and legal system hum throughout the day. The blocks emptied of the World Trade Center are no longer silent: Daniel Libeskind’s Freedom Tower is going up. If business doesn’t bring you to Wall Street, bring yourself for pleasure. Wonderful old mercantile offices look south onto Battery Park and Governer’s Island beyond it. Battery Park City offers a newly refurbished greenway--lovely in itself--with spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty. Heading east and north bypass South Street Seaport (pure tourist trap), and linger on neighboring Water Street for a reminder of the great fishing port that New York City once was.