Welcome to the neighborhood!

The Gansevoort Market Historic District, or the Meatpacking District, is located on the western side of Manhattan, encompassed by West 14^th Street, Gansevoort Street, Ninth Avenue and West Street. What was once called the “underbelly of Greenwich Village” is now being heralded as “New York’s hottest neighborhood,” with world-class restaurants, shopping, hotels, and lounges that have made the area a focal point for art, fashion, food, and design.

The neighborhood had far from a fashionable start. In 1884, New York named two acres of farmland after the Revolutionary War hero General Peter Gansevoort. By the 1930s, the area had become a wholesale meat market supplied by more than 200 slaughterhouses. By the early 1970s, the number of slaughterhouses dwindled, replaced by clubs known for an X-rated gay sex scene. By day, trucks and butchers with bloody white coats dominated the streets, and by night transsexual prostitutes sold their own brand of meat.

But in New York, nothing stays the same, and in 1985 a French diner named Florent opened the doors of change on Gansevoort Street. In 1999, restaurateur Keith McNally opened the Parisian bistro Pastis on the corner of Little West 12^th Street and Ninth Avenue. Soon, the district’s warehouses were converted into clubs with $1,000 table minimums and boutiques with shoes that fashionistas would kill for.

Open any gossip rag and you will no doubt find Lindsay or Britney up to their usual panty-less antics at any one of these MePa nightlife notables: Cielo, Hotel Gansevoort, APT, Lotus, Tenjune, and Kiss & Fly. From brunch through dessert, the place to be seen (not) eating is Nero, Ono, Pastis, STK, Spice Market, Buddha Bar, and the private club Soho House. If your wallet feels too heavy, take a load off at local boutiques like Alexander McQueen, Carlos Miele, Jeffrey, Christian Louboutin, Stella McCartney, and Diane von Furstenberg.

Being such an attractive neighborhood, people want to know when and where they can move in, but MePa is zoned primarily as an industrial and commercial area. Residency is generally restricted to the fringes of the area, like Hudson and Horatio Streets. Apartments for rent and sale range among the highest figures in New York. Expect a studio apartment to average $2,500 a month, but also be prepared for all your friends asking when they can move in.