New York Magazine

Why go?

One of the city’s most famous neighborhoods is an excellent place to stroll and get a little lost. Coveted townhouses, hot restaurants, and designer boutiques dot the winding cobblestone streets. NYU makes its home here. So did Carrie on Sex and the City and the gang from Friends. And, if you want to barhop, there are few better places than the West Village to do it. Just find your way to Bleecker and Christopher streets to start your gay or straight bar crawl. For many visitors, however, the neighborhood’s past as a literary, artistic, bohemian, and activist hub is the draw. Edith Wharton, Jackson Pollock, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac set up house here. It's also where the gay-rights movement began (Stonewall), where Charlie Parker reinvented jazz (Arthur’s Tavern), and where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death (White Horse Tavern).

Tips

Bring a map. Unlike other parts of the city, most of the streets here are not numbered and don't adhere to the north-south, east-west rule. Even locals get confused in this part of town.

Take a walking tour. Greenwich Village (the epicenter of the West Village) is full of landmarks that could easily be missed. See them and learn their stories with the help of a professional (Big Onion Walking Tours, Michele Nevius Tours, Joyce Gold History Tours).

Greenwich Village refers to the very center of the Village, around NYU, between the East Village and the West Village. For most locals, however, a distinction between Greenwich Village and the West Village isn't made.

How to Get There:

A, B, C, D, E to W. 4th St. - Washington Sq.

A, C, E to 14th St. - Eighth Ave.

1 to Houston, Christopher, and 14th Sts.

2, 3 to 14th St. - Seventh Ave.

Boundaries

From Houston St. north to 14th St.

From Broadway west to the Hudson River

Nearby Neighborhoods

Meatpacking District

East Village

Useful Links

• Greenwich Village, NYC
• The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
• NYCVisit.com
• Village Alliance
• Wikipedia