east village vs west village

Stay on the east side if you are addicted to the Green Market, Trader Joes or Whole Foods. Move to the the west village if you prefer charming streets, shops, restaurants and tourists.

IMO The west village is a just a bit too postcard perfect. The east village is more diverse, vibrant and neighborhoody (now that the hipsters have migrated to LES or W-Burg). Plus it's cheaper and has a better park (TSP).

I think if you're an East Village person, you should take the Gramercy studio, because it will be easier to get to your old haunts than if you go live on the West Side.

If the same basic apartment is the same price in Gramercy vs. West Village, it means that the place in Gramercy is overpriced. You should be getting much more bang for your buck in Gramercy. Considering you have established routines and familiarity with the east side, unless you have an incredible deal in the West Village, I would stay on the east side. I live in the West Village ane personally prefer the East Village due to the greater diversity. If it wasn't for NYU, I would move there in a second.

sounds more like gramercy vs west village, in which case west village wins.

what are thr asking prices and sizes of your apartment selections?

these nabes are too large to just choose one over the other. there are areas in each that i love and areas in each that i don't..be more specific on the locations u r choosing between

meaning the location in the w.vill

Glamma darling you know I love you but I think you may have had a side car too many last night. Gramercy is an absolutely wonderful neighborhood that is convenient to everything so all the "fun" you could wish for is close at hand but its relatively quiet when you want to sleep. It is wonderfully diverse by age and while it can't claim the racial/economic mix of the East Village, Gramercy is not exclusively an enclave of the privileged. (Baruch and, ironically, the Police Academy bring a steady stream of young people of color).

The West Village on the other hand is pretty to look at I will give you that (although I'll put some Stuyvesant square/gramercy blocks up against anything in the WV. But dealing with parked tour buses, the tourists they outpour to crowded streets, and retail that allows for $1400 purses and $300 sweaters for 3 year olds but not daily necessities, there isn't enough pretty to make up for that.

On the other hand, the OP should not be paying the same price in Gramercy to a comparable space in the WV. I bought, but the cost difference was ASTOUNDING.

Still love me, Glamma?

Try something new. But moxie is right -- know what you're getting into. The meatpacking district is for many people the eighth level of the inferno.

Interesting article on the gentrification issue, especially wrt to the WV:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/06/gentrification-and-its-discontents/8092

Does being closer to Hudson River Park matter to you?
Would close access to the piers around Christopher for example for sunbathing, strolling, jogging be a plus? Access to Chelsea Piers, etc. I for one would much prefer that to sitting in Madison Sq Park or Union Sq Park on a hot Saturday.
Do you hate the mess that is 6th Ave near w4th as much as most people do? Gramercy area is really quiet on weekend nites while many many parts of the WV are noisy and traffic-filled (and beware of PATH stations). But I agree w Moxie - the specific area makes a huge difference.

Glamma is right.

W Village is by some measures the most expensive neighborhood in Manhattan.

If you don't love everything about it, go elsewhere. A lot of the shine has worn off, but the prices not so much.

"Would close access to the piers around Christopher for example for sunbathing, strolling, jogging be a plus? Access to Chelsea Piers, etc. I for one would much prefer that to sitting in Madison Sq Park or Union Sq Park on a hot Saturday."

Most of grammercy is as close to the new east river park setup (they really did up the stuff next to peter cooper) as the wvillage is close to chelsea piers. Thats really a draw? Wow, I think that place is ass. Some of those piers are pretty cruddy.

Not to mention you might want to tell the sunbathers and strollers in Madison Square park that they don't exist.

I agree - if you are indifferent to the East Village vs. West Village, go East Village. You should be paying less for it though - the same space should cost less. Agree with other poster that the East Village has a vibrancy to it that the West Village lack these days with the tourist overun. That said, the West Village is a great place tooo

Thanks Malthus for the link. Nice to know I was born in a "Golden Moment" for my native 'hood. Coincidence? I think not.

I actually agree with the author that Jane Jacobs et al are as responsible for gentrification, particularly in the WV as I am less qualified to speak to other areas, as Marc Jacobs. Gentrification of the neighborhood goes back to at least the 80s when the Biography Bookstore replaced our corner newsstand/bookie joint and Liberty Moving and Storage on Hudson Street became upscale apartments (but kept the sign) which may have even been in the late 70s. (You should have heard my parents and neighbors LOL at that one.) Many of our neighbors, friends and relatives moved into Mitchell Lama housing, specifically Penn South and Independence Plaza. Can you imagine the reaction of the preservationists if either if those developments were proposed today?

"Wow, I think that place is ass. Some of those piers are pretty cruddy. Not to mention you might want to tell the sunbathers and strollers in Madison Square park that they don't exist."

Yes, so true, all those newly renovated piers are really cruddy. And the gorgeously landscaped bike and jogging path is ass too. Better to live near a park that you're not privileged enough to have access to, another one filled with depressing snoring geriatrics, and a third teeming with NYU students playing bad folk music and grating skateboards all over the place. Enjoy the jogging there. LOL. And the last dude I saw sunbathing in Union Square had his last bath some time around 1986.

liz i will you always love you! you make excellent points. hope your back is feeling better!! don;t count out holistic approaches too : )

Thanks Glamma. Still in pain. Might need a return md visit next week. Suspect massage therapy may be helpful but right now I'm kind of constrained by considerations that never came into play before. So for the time being its medication. I've faced worst fates even though as a child of the 70s I know exactly how nasty the consequences of that can be over the long haul.

Btw, when I was returning from my pharmacy with my meds, I encountered a group of "Methadonians" (they seem to be very common in the Gramercy/Union Sq area...F'ed up white kids. Doesn't bother me, reminds me of kids I knew growing up. When the Village had its own home grown junkies) For a brief instant I wondered how much they would pay me for what was in my bag....Or worse, how quickly they would mug me for me.

It sounds as though Gramercy is the nice, middle ground you're looking for--btwn. the E. Village & the W. Village.

for you....east beats west.
You sound single and young.
Live where the action is.
when your older you will run from the action.
Live today as if it were your last.

eat desert first!

Pearls of wisdom from falcogold. (Mind if I ask your age, falcogold?)

i liked living on 2nd ave straight out of college. loved brunch on ave A, the charm and grit of thompskin square park (is it still there?). hated the emo culture and always expanding chubby nyu girls from short hills.

i feel with west village, it's more dependent on street. ie i really wouldn't wanna be in the triangle below Hudson/W. Houston/West 4th/ or what i like to call TriBeHudHouWest as it get's way too touristy in the weekends for my likings.

also if you like 'em smooth, w vill fits the bill, a lil scruffy and hair on his unshaven ass, 1st ave is your ticket.

Truth,
late 40's

Ah, falcogold: That's the age when we start to get too pooped to party all night.

A couple of my friends from Telluride are in town and they are in their early 30's. We walked over to The St.Regis, and had coctails in The King Cole Room. ( One of them thought that it was named after Nat. I explained the mural above the bar to him.)

Next,we went to dinner. After dinner, they went down to the Bowery Ballroom. I walked back home and watched Sat.Night.
That's a good example of running from the action.

Truth..I'm sure you remember, as do I and we are the same vintage, when if there was something unmissable on SNL in the prehistoric, pre-DVR days, you would go out AFTER SNL was finished,

I'm afraid I threw in the towel a little early...think it was mid-40s. I was living in Richmond during the week and staying with my mother on weekends so when I stayed out all night I had to TIPTOE in so as not wake her up. Not exactly a typical perimenapausal experience (and something I hadn't done since the Carter administration). This may may have contributed to me calling it a (Hall of Fame if I could say so myself) career sooner than expected.

I used to live in the East Village. That area and union square are as packed as the meatpacking district. I agree that west village is block by block. South of Horatio west of Hudson is still reasonably quiet.

Liz: Yep. We didn't hit Studio 54 until midnite. Then, maybe over to Xenon after. Last stop: out to breakfast at sunrise. Weeknights, too. That was when clubs were great, instead of the B.S. bottle-service $300 bottles of Vodka rip-off.

Actually, I walked from the action. I'm not interested in going out to a show, unless I know who's playing. and I need a seat, no standing up all night. If I'm out at a concert that I'm enjoying, I'll go to the after-party. If I get home really late (2-4a.m)I have to sleep it off the entire next day.

So, I don't run from the action that's interesting to me. It's just different action now.

I would rather pay 21 bucks a drink for the Cole Room and sit and relax, before going out anywhere. My 30-something friends enjoyed the experience.

Dance all night
sleep all day
don't let nothing get in the way...
Shake it up, you young whippersnappers!

Never thought I'd be representing' east side...another reason to never say never.

I know Hudson River Park gets all the pub but there is a a really nice park that goes from below Houston Street to around 34th on the East Side. Nicely landscaped bike and jogging areas, comfortable benches, wonderful open water views (and Brooklyn views) it attracts runners, bikers, walkers, dog walkers, young lovers and some older Latino men fishing off the rails in the East River (I hope they catch and release, especially near the Con Ed plant). Below 14th is East River park which has always been there but has been refurbished. It has extensive athletic facilities: tracks, baseball and soccer fields as well as picnic areas with outdoor grills. Some people might not feel as comfortable there because its a very diverse crowd as the park is just across the FDR from large NYCHA presence. Then again if you find family picnics, teaching kids baseball and teenage hanging out discomforting, please go back to whatever lily white pad you were born on.

shh.. don't tell W34.

I agree with you lizyank - I was scared of the EV a few years ago. But my eyes have been opened and the neighborhood has changed and will only continue to go up. For better or for worse, the EV is becoming more and more the gentrified neighborhood mirror of West Village. The reality is that you are paying so much more to live in the West Village for an overly-touristy, overly-crowded picture perfect 4-5 block radius. Other than those handful of Perry/Jane/Charles brownstone blocks, the East Village is fast on the heels of the rest of the West Village. The food is outrageously good and it still has a bit of the old NY funk left that has all but disappeared from all the other downtown NY neighborhoods. It seems like more trees are being planted, more expensive condos are going up, and the old tenement-style buildings with the long-term residents are really beginning to restoring their exteriors' charm.

The subway access on the east side is generally inferior to the west side. At the same time, there are less housing units on the west side, which partially explains why the west side is more expensive everywhere than the east side.

For example, if you live on Avenue A and 8th st, it sounds like a pain to commute to work.

The West Village has the 1,2,3 and A,C,E,B,D,F,V trains all available for your convenience.

I lived on Horatio Street (WestVill) from 1989 to 2009 and loved it until it became EuroTrashVill, now I'm looking to buy a place in the East Village. I'll go back to the Meatpacking District from time to time to enjoy the sunsets from the High Line, the pretty tree-lined and cobblestone streets, and pay homage to my old neighborhood bar, but I'm not going to miss all of the pretentious boutiques, hipsters and chaos over there.

vkuch1, have you been living in the EV since 09? The meathead guys and SATC girls can be just as bad in certain parts of it, but of course it's wonderful in other ways.

keiko, what did you decide upon? Gramercy or West Village?

Don't give me this BS NY grit. If you want that, you can have it but it should be cheaper. Don't listen to these people who grew up on a farm in Vermont and now live in the village and think its cool; having people blasting garbage music day and night; beggars; several large housing projects everywhere; inconvenient transportation etc. East vil depite all its gentrification is still a ghetto. It should be cheaper. West vil is wins out. Wasn't that crazy about it for the same money I'd take it.

Grammercy has the culture of a Long Island town complete with a strip mall on 2nd ave and big box stores and all.

wow seems like it sucks everwhere now. time to buy a house on long island and get back my american freedoms that bloomberger took away lol. I didn't like the NYU set in west vil. but it was still nicer than the other hoods i mentioned

move back to wherever u came from. how can u not decide bet. east village west village??? i mean do u need help deciding whether or not to put on underwear in the morn. its a personal choice. unless u just always need validation for every little decsion u make.

interesting looking mut vs. pedigree show dog

and very 'timely' advice helphome

if you like good affordable Japanese food, i would not even consider west.

EV is nice if you like homeless people, dog piss/poop on the sidewalks, lots of noise and overpriced small apts.

You must be a fan of Peoria.

ev