Ever wonder how the Gansevoort Market Historic District (better known as the Meat Market) came to be created? The Villager newspaper has the story:
How the district’s landmarking came about was an improbable tale, about as hard to predict as the incredible transformation the neighborhood has undergone. Defying the odds, the Gansevoort Market Historic District was designated in 2003…
Though it may be hard to believe now, in the summer of 2000 the Meatpacking District was still very much a backwater. The neighborhood was pretty empty during most daylight hours. But when the sun went down, the clubs opened (of both the sex and dance variety), transgendered prostitutes worked the streets, and the meatpacking businesses opened their doors around 4 a.m. and started loading and unloading their products until around noon, when the cycle started all over again. The cobblestoned streets dripped with animal blood (and some other unsavory liquids), but the neighborhood had achieved a kind of equilibrium in which not much changed, and all parts seemed to coexist in relative harmony.