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Essence, New York City
Author: Anothertravelguide.com
New York is an epicentre. The city that never sleeps. The crossroads of the world. Everybody who is anybody is here: all the loudest names in architecture, art, music, food, hotel or fashion business. Embassies of 118 countries and a population that speaks in practically every language of the world. New York is crazy contrasts and unequalled experience. It is like a inexhaustible dose of caffeine that keeps you going, until one day you realise the city has sucked you dry. But you still crave it like joie de vivre and the poison of inspiration you have already become addicted to.
When you name an address in New York, you will always be asked: between what streets? Because the New York map looks like a squared notebook. City districts are no less important. No travel guide can cover something as immense as that; that's why we have singled out only the districts where the addresses recommended by anothertravelguide.com are located.
MEATPACKING DISTRICT - this is currently the home of everything described with the word hip. In mid-1800s this was the largest beef processing centre in New York, in 1990s - one of the most dangerous parts of the city: when the meat wholesale outlets were closed, drug market and prostitution flourished. Thanks to then Mayor Giuliani and his strict anti-criminal policy, the district was literally swept clean and scoured, and, although a few meat manufacturers have kept their businesses there, most have been squeezed out by famous chefs, nightclub owners and fashion people. The fact that both Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen chose to open their first stores in Meatpacking District speaks for itself. On the other hand, some New Yorkers have ironically dubbed Meatpacking District "the new yuppie ghetto".
SOHO - although the 60s and 70s when artists and all sorts of creative people moved in, converting the old warehouses into galleries and lofts (few artists can afford to live here anymore), belong to the past, SoHo is definitely a place to come back to, although the galleries have been replaced by the Prada shop designed by Rem Kolhaas and some of the city's most stylish boutique hotels.
CHELSEA - the epicentre of art and nightlife, ideal for pleasure seekers of all persuasions. Chelsea is the SoHo of the 90s with its over 500 galleries, Comme des Garçons shop and Fashion Institute.
LOWER EAST SIDE - once the crossroads for immigrants, today Lower East Side is a district of small trendy shops, alternative little stores, bars and restaurants. It is a much freer place than the Meatpacking District, unrestricted by the demands of being the most fashionable part of the city.
UPPER EAST SIDE - it is Barneys, the Madison Avenue luxury shopping paradise, and the best museums in the world - Guggenheim's, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Neue Galerie, the Whitney Museum of American Art etc.
WEST VILLAGE - a district endowed with tons of the Old World charm (19th century brick buildings, small and cute restaurants and shops); among many other things, also the location of Bleecker Street, one of the most beautiful (and expensive) streets in the city.
MIDTOWN - it is Time Square, the practically impenetrable crowds of tourists on Broadway and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa).
Reviewed by Una Meistere
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Una Meistere and Andrejs Žagars