The New York hotel specialists

Meatpacking District

At the turn of the last century, the Meatpacking District on Manhattan's west side consisted mainly of slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities. Less than a hundred years later, the neighborhood became infamous for its shady characters and their equally seedy occupations.

Just before the dawn of the new millennium, however, the Meatpacking District took on a decidedly more glamorous sheen. Boasting upscale clothing stores selling fashions from the likes of Stella McCartney and Moschino, the neighborhood began drawing in a young, trendy crowd.

The emergence of high-end eateries like Buddha Bar, as well as hip clubs like the now-defunct Level V, led "New York" magazine to deem the Meatpacking District "New York's most fashionable neighborhood". Sightings of celebrities like Scarlett Johanssen, Natalie Portman, and Ethan Hawke are as ubiquitous as the high-end food and cocktails.

However, despite the allure of glamorous boutiques, bars, and restaurants, the Meatpacking District still hosts a few dozen of the types of businesses for which it was named. These stalwarts comprise a small part of the twenty-square-block area bordered by Chelsea Market and Gansevoort Street on the north and south. The spirit of meatpacking commerce lives on during the late-summer Blues Festival, when local restaurants sell their barbecue while revelers listen to hot blues sounds.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation's efforts led to the re-naming of parts of the district in 2003. While the waterfront retained its old name, the rest of the Meatpacking District would now be called the Gansevoort Market Historic District, an homage to the area's original name of Gansevoort Market, dating back to 1884. Its namesake, Peter Gansevoort, was a legendary general during the Revolutionary War, and the grandfather of Herman Melville, author of "Moby Dick."

Excluding some of the neighborhood allowed for some buildings to escape historic zoning laws, such as the modern new hotels that inevitably began popping up. Among these is the Hotel Gansevoort, a glimmering fourteen-story building lined with balconies and floor-to- ceiling windows. Luxury seekers flock to the hotel for its four-star accommodations and pack into Plunge, the hotel's hip rooftop bar.

However, in 2007, historic preservation measures went a step further. The state's Parks Commissioner, Carol Ash, added the Meatpacking District to the National Registers of Historic Places. This time, the designation included the whole neighborhood, not just the parts included in the city's renaming process a few years back.

Trendy areas come and go in Manhattan in the blink of an eye. Today's hot spots may be seen as tired and passe by New York hipsters tomorrow. However, the Meatpacking District / Gansevoort Market's historic appeal, with its cobblestone streets and brick buildings that are guaranteed to be preserved, will outlast the whims of the party crowd.