It’s a bit of a cliché, here in 2025, to point out how very different various downtown neighborhoods used to be. The East Village used to be squalid, scary, dangerous and a hotbed of punky, bohemian expression. SoHo used to be gritty and filled with artists. TriBeCa used to be desolate and deserted. The so-called West Village used to be quaint, quiet and manageable. Obviously, none of these things are still true today.
Then, of course, there’s the Meat Packing District which, as I said here way back in 2013, underwent a radical facelift that was easily the most severe in of the city’s transformation over the last few decades.
Formerly a grimly picturesque realm of urban desolation when still populated by genuine meat-packing businesses, underground leather clubs and a robust ring of transexual prostitution, the Meat Packing District could seem like a forbidding part of town throughout the `80s and `90s. But the area was also home to a host of beloved-if-eccentric spots like Florent, The Hog Pit, The Cooler, The Village Idiot, The Vault and, well,…er.. The Toilet (as fleetingly recounted by my friend and former Meat-Packing resident Pat Blashill here). It may not have been “something for everybody,” but folks who enjoyed the Meat Packing District enjoyed it for that very same grit, funk and character, of which there was an ample abundance.
I’ve mentioned it before, but as recently as 2000, I remember my songwriter friend Dusty Wright organizing an outdoor music fest for Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation called Beefstock to help raise support to designate the "Gansevoort Market" area (which loosely stretched from just below Gansevoort to just above West 14th) as a historic district, thus protecting its architectural integrity and sense of community. While that event was great fun, the events of September 11th the following year laid waste to any landmark protections for the Meat Packing District. There were bigger fish to be fried.
In any case, suffice to say that the Meat Packing District of today is just yet another dreadful outdoor mall of luxury retail and pricey bistros, completely bereft of the neighborhood’s formerly storied distinction.
It might be hard to picture the Meat Packing District of 2025 as anything other than what it has become. But through the magic of video – in this case, provided by long-time friend of the blog Gregoire Alesandrini of New York City in the `90s fame – you can re-visit the neighborhood in all its gritty desolation, circa 1993. Enjoy.
Recent Comments