If you want to see New York gentrification on fast forward, this is the place to come. A new place will open and be very welcoming because it wants customers, then in a year there’s a velvet rope and bouncer out front. Then a year after that it gets written up somewhere lame, and the the people that come kill the scene. Then the marquis changes, and the cycle continues. There are some great holdouts down here of course, like Max Fish. The food can also be spectacular, though expensive. Schiller’s, Inoteca, Cafe Azul, and Freedman’s are not to be missed. Living in the neighborhood is quite different than visiting for entertainment. When the party dies down, you really are back in one of the grittier neighborhoods of New York, even with the luxury buildings that have gone in. This is a great nabe with tons to offer, but I think it takes awhile to really understand.
See review on the nabe page »More than any other neighborhood, the West Village lives up to the image of Manhattan in contemporary romantic comedy movies. It really is beautiful, and the shops and restaurants, though skewing towards upscale, are unique in character. It’s not a cheap place to live, but its residents are still difficult to pin down, as opposed to some other Manhattan neighborhoods. The downside of all this, in my not so humble opinion, is that you see a fair amount of young money acting out a thinly veiled version of Sex in City or Entourage, generally oblivious to where they are at. However, a touch of the character of old downtown still remains on Christopher St, which, although no longer quite a national destination for gay life, still provides an oasis of tolerance for the younger LGBT crowd from the tri-state area.
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