Growing up Alongside the West Village Waterfront of the 1990s

I moved to the West Village, all the way west, tucked between the Meatpacking District and the Hudson River, in 1991 at the age of four. My family first lived on Barrow Street and then Bank Street, both between Washington and West Streets, and both within the West Village Houses complex.

When you hear the phrase “West Village,” are these the sorts of views that initially come to mind? In my experience, mentioning that I grew up in the West Village causes people to make certain assumptions. They conjure images of picturesque red brick row houses, brownstone stoops, cute cafes with apartments above them — all part of the West Village experience, certainly, especially once one crosses Washington Street into the Greenwich Village Historic District — but the neighborhood is so much more layered than that.

And so I was especially excited when Village Preservation received this stunning collection of images from John T. Krawchuk, who photodocumented the Meatpacking District, Far West Village, and Hudson River waterfront in the early 1990s as part of his Columbia University graduate thesis in historic preservation, completed in 1995. The full thesis, entitled “On Edge: The West Village Waterfront”, can be viewed here.

Krawchuk’s photo archive depicts a gritty neighborhood in transition. In the early ‘90s, the Meatpacking District still smelled distinctly of, well, meat. I have visceral memories of taking yellow cabs home from Penn Station, and as the driver would make a right turn from 9th Avenue, heading west on 14th Street, I’d see (and smell) carcasses hanging from the metal canopies over warehouses abutting the then-abandoned High Line, while being jostled in the back seat by the taxi rumbling along cobblestones.

During those years, my mother only had two hard-and-fast rules for her daughters, young New Yorkers-in-training. The first was, “never step on a plastic bag on the sidewalk” (because you don’t know what could be hiding underneath), and the second, “never cross West Street.” To the west of West Street lay the West Side Highway and the biking/walking path beyond. Today, it is part of the lovely Hudson River Park, and the water’s edge is replete with fresh benches and bespoke lighting. In the ‘90s, things were a bit more rundown.

But the neighborhood’s beauty was also found in its transitional grittiness. Westbeth stood tall as an example of the successes that adaptive reuse can provide, and remains a haven for artists who likely would have otherwise been pushed out of an area where creatives once thrived. I had no idea at the time that Roy Lichtenstein was living across the street from my family’s apartment, or that Jane Jacobs had championed the very housing that made it possible for me and so many others to grow up in this special place.

Some of the photographs in this collection seem to almost illustrate change as it is happening. In the below image, squint and you can just about envision today’s replenished High Line; many buildings in the background remain, while the two buildings in the foreground have since been demolished.

So much of the neighborhood has changed drastically in the intervening years, yet this unique part of the Village, outside the bounds of the Greenwich Village Historic District, has managed to hold on to some of its tangible history nonetheless. In 2003, Village Preservation secured landmark status for the Gansevoort Market Historic District, which ensured protections for that portion of the neighborhood just as it was rapidly gentrifying and changing, and over the next several years did the same for more blocks and buildings in the Far West Village, including Westbeth. Krawchuk’s images provide a record of the neighborhood at a pivotal time in its history.

All images in this post are from “The John T. Krawchuk Collection: The West Village Waterfront in the Early 1990s.” Click here to view the entirety of the captivating collection.