Le Bain, the steamy Meatpacking District nightclub with the sexy roof bar perched atop the lusty Standard Hotel, is getting some very bad press today after a Brooklyn man was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in one of the bathrooms. According to investigators, Philip Manning, 34, met the unidentified 23-year-old woman at Le Bain early Monday morning, when he offered to buy her a drink. She claims he escorted her to a different part of the club, forced her into a bathroom, and refused to let her leave until she performed oral sex on him. more ›

Call it a Crisis on Ninth Ave: concrete "boobs" litter the six dumb pedestrian plazas around the avenue. Who will speak for the trendy businesses of the Meatpacking District? The Lorax can't, because he didn't make the dress code. So leave it to America's Paper the NY Post and the Meatpacking District Improvement Association to shine some light on the atrocities. "They just sit out there and do nothing," the owner of the Gaslight Lounge tells the paper, presumably unaware of their awesomely essential evolutionary purpose. more ›

A natural gas company is seeking approval to build a "massive" pipeline from New Jersey under the Hudson and into Manhattan, where it would likely terminate near the Henry Hudson Greenway and West 14th Street. The company, Spectra, has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to run the pipeline, but concerned activists say Spectra has too much of a checkered past to be trusted. more ›

In a heartless campaign of terror, the Taxi and Limousine Commission initiated a livery cab crackdown in the humble Meatpacking District this weekend, handing out 96 summonses for drivers that illegally and "dangerously" scooped up people just trying to get off their six-inch stilettos for a few minutes. According to the Post, one livery driver was ticketed twice, and makes the good point that if you're not breaking the Ten Commandments, there's no crime: "I'm a Christian. I don't know why the TLC is persecuting me!" Exactly. What Would Jesus Do? He'd take you anywhere you need to go (except Brooklyn). more ›

As July's BSI (Back Sweat Index) continues to rise, it's only natural to yearn for a pool. One devoid of the crowds at the city's public pools, and festooned with eye candy and important people who somehow sit at the pool (importantly) all day. We're referring, of course, to the famed pool atop the Hotel Gansevoort, where only guests or those wealthy enough to afford the $300/day fee can dip. It's as if there's something in water there (besides music). Well according to the Post's cleanliness test of pools, there is: "coliform bacteria," indicative of "possible fecal contamination." Meanwhile the five public pools they tested had "pristine conditions." more ›

Since nightclub-related shootings are not exactly a rare occurrence here in New York, so maybe it isn't the best idea to name your new Meatpacking joint after a firearms? And yet here we are, but a few days away from the opening of Gunbar a "dive-bar-inspired-lounge" where "Lower East Side meets Eastern London." Who knows what that even means, but hey! They have an on-site tattoo parlor? Is that even legal? more ›

About this time last year, the Whitney Museum announced their plans to open a downtown space in the Meatpacking District, and earlier this week, they held a high-flying groundbreaking ceremony for the new building, located at the foot of the High Line. And if you missed it, that's okay, it's really just a pile of dirt right now and you can go to the real museum tomorrow for free. more ›

Lots of ridiculous things happen in the Meatpacking District. Girls defy gravity and cobblestone streets in their towering heels, Jesse Camp pees off of hotel rooftops, and just last week, Tommy Hilfiger built a twee, temporary cottage there. So it really comes as no surprise that fancy-pants nightclub Provocateur has started selling "skin-enhancing" cocktails to its beauty-obsessed, Botox-loving crowd. more ›

Mark Birnbaum's Meatpacking District nightclubs are hotspots (hey, the Situation celebrated his birthday at one last year), but now four female bartenders are saying they were also uncomfortable places to work at because of him. The women have sued Birnbaum, claiming he came onto them and said things like, "Do you think about me when you masturbate? I think about you." more ›

Nick Brooks has been indicted for second-degree murder of his girlfriend, swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay, by a Manhattan grand jury. The body of Cachay, 33, was found December 9th half-clothed and partially submerged in a bathtub at the posh SoHo House, where the couple was staying after a fire at Cachay's apartment—one that was allegedly started by Brooks because Cachay wanted to break up with him. more ›

The death of fashion designer Sylvie Cachay has officially been classified as a homicide by the medical examiner's office. Cachay's body was found in a bathtub in a hotel room at the Soho House earlier this month. The ME's office says that the 33-year-old was held underwater and strangled. more ›

If you're leaving your home unattended for the holidays, lock up your Lichtensteins! Over Thanksgiving a Manhattan apartment was broken in to—the thieves tunneled through a hallway wall!—and prints by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were stolen. According to the Daily News, police say the burglars took 5 works (including a set of 8 prints by Warhol), as well as Cartier and Rolex watches and other jewels. All in all they took $750,000 worth of goods from Robert Romanoff, president of Nebraska Meat Corp. (founded by his family in New York in 1905). Romanoff also owns the five-story Meatpacking District building on Gansevoort Street that the thieves stole his property from. more ›

Earlier this year the board of directors at the Whitney Museum approved plans to begin construction on a new building near the High Line, to be completed by 2015, saying that "Downtown is a new city, a new nation. Why shouldn’t the Whitney be the museum of record there?” Well, it's on its way, and now Curbed has grabbed some shots from an unveiling of the plans... and there's a video fly-through of the whole thing! Think of it as the closest renderings will ever get to IMAX or 3-D. more ›

A woman's body was discovered in a bathtub at the Soho House, the chic Meatpacking boutique hotel and club. According to WABC 7, a guest complained about water leaking from the ceiling: "Responding police discovered the unresponsive woman in the bathtub, with the water still running" at 3 a.m. this morning. The 33-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene and the ME's office will be determining the cause of death. Update: Now the Post reports the police are questioning the 26-year-old "son of Oscar-winning perv composer Joseph Brooks." more ›

Google, which is looking to buy one of Manhattan's biggest buildings on 8th Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets, has donated $1 million to the High Line Park. The Friends of the High Line say, "This generous gift will support the High Line's construction and its endowment for future park maintenance and operations—a sign of Google's continued commitment to its New York City neighborhood." more ›

Like many people confronted with the cruel reality of homelessness on a night out in the Meatpacking District, Oprah Winfrey reportedly thought she could fake that her purse was empty (really, Oprah?) and have panhandler Julio Bazan be on his way. But that was before she heard his killer material! He joked, "Hey, Oprah, why is it good to date a homeless man? [Because] when you're finished, you can drop him off anywhere!" The joke was so good that Oprah reportedly handed him five $20s through the window of her limo. Bazan says he spent it on booze, underwear and a steak dinner. What, you can think of something better on which to spend it? more ›

Over the weekend, the Post reported that a few trendy bars in the Meatpacking District were including automatic gratuities of up to 20% on all bar tabs. There was a lot of bitching, and now the Gansevoort Hotel Group says they're ending the policy. They sent us this statement: more ›

Mandatory tips on meals when there is a large party has been standard procedure in restaurants for a while, but some trendy bars in the Meatpacking District are starting to add mandatory tips all drinks ordered at the bar. When asked why they began adding 20% gratuity instead of leaving it to the customer's discretion, a bartender at the Gansevoort Hotel said, "It's a hotel policy, because we have a lot of European tourists who don't tip." But what if the service was terrible? more ›

The man who allegedly went on a stabbing spree last Thursday in the Meatpacking District "was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon," according to NY1. Four civilians were stabbed and/or slashed and were three police officers suffering minor (non-stabbing) injuries; all are expected to survive their injuries. more ›

Just before 6 p.m. last night, an emotionally disturbed person stabbed four people during a frenzy of violence in the Meatpacking District. The man started at a sunglasses boutique, where he stabbed a manager, and then stabbed three people at an outdoor salsa event in the plaza, before being subdued by many cops and taken into custody. One witness told the Post, "The guy was crazy, he looked like he had rabies or something. He had a real wild look in his eye when he pulled out the knife." Another described to the Daily News, "This guy was throwing the cops off of him like The Hulk." more ›

Whoa, check out The Collective, a zany new restaurant in the Meatpacking District that looks like it was designed by Punky Brewster and a family of freegan dumpster divers. It's actually the work of design firm ICRAVE, which salvaged all the furnishings from from thrift shops, flea markets, Craigslist, and, yes, curbside trash. Once inside the main space, which seats 150, you'll find a ceiling composed of Styrofoam and turned into a light fixture, a couch reupholstered in designer denim, a wall made of used Legos and casino slot machines, a bar decorated with flying seagulls made from license plates, and a host stand made from the hub of a plane. Eat your heart out, T.G.I. Friday's. more ›

Okay corporate squares, you are no longer allowed inside the membership-only SoHo House. According to the NY Post, the exclusive establishment is cutting the suit-wearing set from their database. more ›

This week Sam Sifton at the Times swoons over the 47-year-old French restaurant La Grenouille, which was last reviewed by the paper in 1993, and received three stars. Sifton upholds the rating status quo, while declaring it "the last great French restaurant in New York... The revelations start early. A waiter brings an amuse-bouche, perhaps more perfunctorily than is currently normal in most New York restaurants... 'This is a split pea soup,' he says. The offering is roughly four spoonfuls’ worth. Each is a cloud of magnificent flavor — salt that raises the vegetal from its depths, cream that makes it buoyant. It lingers on the tongue. The tiny dish expands the mind." more ›