New York City: Chelsea at the Crossroads

  • Strolling on the High Line.

    Strolling on the High Line.

  • A mellow morning at 9th Avenue patisserie La Bergamote.

    A mellow morning at 9th Avenue patisserie La Bergamote.

  • The shops and restaurants of Chelsea Market occupy a historic biscuit factory.

    The shops and restaurants of Chelsea Market occupy a historic biscuit factory.

  • a West Chelsea street corner.

    a West Chelsea street corner.

  • Meadow grasses on the High Line.

    Meadow grasses on the High Line.

  • The Frank Gehry–designed IAC building, with Jean Nouvel’s equally arresting condo tower behind it.

    The Frank Gehry–designed IAC building, with Jean Nouvel’s equally arresting condo tower behind it.

  • Hôtel Americano’s café.

    Hôtel Americano’s café.

Click image to view full size

Mixing grit and glamour, a dynamic Manhattan neighborhood ups its cool quotient with the city’s boldest architecture, public spaces, and more.

By Jennifer Chen
Photographs by Jason Michael Lang

Most of us, at some point, fantasize about living somewhere other than the place we’re in—say, a somnolent village in Umbria where lunches span the course of the afternoon. Or the northern California coast, with its big skies and sunny attitudes. Me? I dream about the neighborhoods of New York.

Since I left New York for Asia more than a decade ago, I’ve pondered over which corner of the city I’ll live in when it comes time to move back. For years, my fealty was to the borough where I spent my early twenties: Brooklyn, land of leafy streets, cracked slate sidewalks, Federal-style brownstones, and hangout sessions on the stoop. Since marrying my husband, an Englishman with a taste for Scorsese’s Mean Streets and early Woody Allen, however, I’ve been obliged to seriously consider Manhattan.

Where would we settle? Lower Manhattan, for sure: as a downtown wannabe, I’m allergic to anything above 30th Street. But the area’s gritty allure has waned over the years. The East Village? Too many frat boys on the weekend. Tribeca? Overrun with bankers. Soho? It’s transformed into one big mall for bargain-hunting tourists. “There are no neighborhoods in Manhattan anymore,” Richard Price, Bronx native and chronicler of New York street life par excellence, lamented to the New York Post recently. “South of Harlem, it feels like a bunch of districts where rich people can crash.”

Decrying gentrification is an easy moral stance in New York. It’s also a lazy one. True, the days of post-punk, cheap lofts, and crack vials scattered on the sidewalk are well over in lower Manhattan. Yet there are pockets of resistance, places where edgy creativity and idiosyncrasy still flourish and good restaurants aren’t just the preserve of the gilded one percent.

Share this Article

Related Posts

What to See in Seongsu-dong, Seoul

A decade on from its emergence as a millennial magnet, this semi-industrial neighborhood remains one...

A Travel Site for Insider Tours of Cities’ Creative Scenes

A new travel site, SideStory, arranges exclusive tours in major cities with influential, creative lo...

Where to Eat, Drink, and Stay in Hollywood This Summer

A once rough-around-the-edges area between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards, the newly christened Vin...

Cordis Opens in Shanghai

Adding to the city that's often known as the "Oriental Paris", the Cordis Shanghai's impressive new ...

An Insider’s Guide to Mumbai

Divia Thani, the Mumbai-based editor-in-chief of Conde Nast Traveller India magazine, shares her hom...

China Calling: Big City Buzz

A roundup of what's new and trending in two of the country's megacities, Beijing and Shanghai.