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While the subject of the Meatpacking District being over-gentrified is nothing new, Gothamist must say Jesse McKinley's NY Times Styles Section dissection of the horror that is the Meatpacking District really struck a chord. Mainly these sentences: "The intersection of Greenwich and Gansevoort Streets has become a kind of night life Five Points, with rival gangs of Frat Boys, Stiletto Girls and Expense Account Creatives battling the Euros and Those From the Boroughs. One half-expects Daniel Day-Lewis, whose Bill the Butcher would have felt at home in the old meatpacking district, to emerge in a Thomas Pink shirt and a pair of Gucci loafers." Gothamist started to dream that the cobblestone streets would be covered in the blood of the comers mentioned or that everyone detailed in the article, including Johnny Knoxville, would be shipped to the Cinecitta Studios in Rome where Gangs of New York filmed. Sure, Gothamist likes new development when it seems right, but we went to the Meatpacking District over the weekend and made our companions promise us that we'd never ever come again.
Curbed on Chelsea and the Meatpacking District and more on the gentrification of West Chelsea, just north of the Meatpacking District, or how an airlines' "cool" lower-cost business wanted to sponsor the Meatpacking District.
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I don't think that the Meatpacking District's main problem is overdevelopment. As a matter of fact, I think it could be a nice little section of the city, considering that there is a wide selection of restaurants and clubs in the area.
No, the people are the problem.
The whole area has turned obscene with money, beauty, and status. Mere mortals can't get into the clubs, and have a harder time getting a reservation or table at a restaurant. Toward the early hours of the morning, you have a bunch of completely obnoxious people stumbling about the streets of the district. Half of them are drunk, and all are trying to get into one of the clubs (and are mostly failing). None of these clubs are that special anyway, and all of the prices are a complete ripoff.
It seems like everyone is there just to be trendy, and that's why everyone puts on the expensive clothes and pays the high prices for cocktails. The entire scene is miserable as a result. No one seems to be there to have any real fun, and I don't think most of the businesses in the area are thinking along those lines.
It's lamentable that it had to be that way. Show me a fun place to hang out and I'll be there, even if it is a bit pricey. However, if you've got some crappy club with no dancing allowed, obscenely priced cocktails, and the only things I'm paying for are the decorations and the "scene"... well, screw that. I'd prefer to head back to Bleecker St. or Avenue A...
and why do they call it hipster heaven?
Hipster heaven? I dunno. If you wanted to split hairs, the hipsters are young and relatively poor - they don't have the big money and big names to get into the Meatpacking District in the first place. They're supposed to be currently hanging out in Williamsburg and the LES, right?
However, if you're an alcoholic rich/famous male over 30 looking for alcoholic status-climbing whorish females under 30 (or vice versa), I suppose the Meatpacking District is made for you. But those groups don't qualify as hipsters.
The problems with the meatpacking district are not new, but they are concentrated in a small area and have new variables attached to them. This Rudolph Giuliani inspired idiotic trend of pointless hotels sprouting up in this stinkhole is absurd and the new chemically induced sensations of the day cause the day trippers and admin assistants with weaker constitutions to puke dinner and drinks all over the pavement, but there is a new element that is decidedly an affect of this age and the onus for being a generation without a definable adult personality is upon them.
What I see as a loud, stupid, defiant annoyance is/are the imbeciles who insist on drawing attention to themselves even though they represent nothing more than conventionally humorless self centered conformist drips devoid of real personality, opinions and measurable accomplishments. There's a sea change in American culture where people have taken it upon themselves to celebrate their less than mediocre status among the living by waking the dead and behaving as if being unhinged is the rule of the day. Mental, emotional and physical instability are now looked on as character traits and not signs of serious problems, so why should anyone be surprised at all this nonsense? Just look at reality tv. Put a camera on somebody who gets a new haircut and some clothes and they break down in tears sobbing uncontrollably. Paint a room, give them a new couch and a few knick-knacks and its an emotional upheaval. Resign from professional sports and start bawling on live television. Sheesh. No wonder morons scream and shout until all hours in public.
Get ahold of yourselves, you brainless know nothing pompous little trend chasers.
How come, like, in the summer time, my feet slip all over the sidewalk.