New York City Greenwich Village

Washington Square Park, Between MacDougall St., Washingston Sq. N., Washington Sq. E., and Washington Sq. S. The heart of Greenwich Village is always packed—with tourists snapping photos of the Washington Square Arch built in 1889 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Washington's first inauguration, locals sitting by the fountain to catch some spray, NYU students hanging out, working, or filming, a range of performers banging on buckets or playing a sophisticated jazz piece, and on, and on. One of the best places to simply people-watch in the city, Washington Square still attracts a constant onslaught of the offbeat and the interesting (and, as always, the homeless). The bustle can mask the long history of the place; Native Americans knew the area as a marsh, but it soon became a public burial ground for the downtown poor in the late 1700s. True to form, then, public hangings were staged here during the Revolutionary War. Soon the area was attracting a more genteel crowd who flocked to “the Row” just above the park (poorer residents lived south of it). Drug traffic and crime b Wheelchair access.
New York University (NYU), Information: 50 West 4th St. (www.nyu.edu), Almost 50,000 students attend NYU's 14 schools, but it's hard to keep track of them in the general, all-encompassing bustle of the Washington Square Park area. Still, the influence of the university is always palpable, from the blocks of student hangouts and cafes south of the park to the purple NYU flags hanging from every other building. There is no enclosed campus: the school is open to the city and holds its commencement ceremonies in the park itself. Some architectural highlights include the Georgian-style Law School building just south of the park, whose courtyard provides a little oasis from the noise outside, and the massive Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, one of the largest in the country. NYU is famous worldwide for its communication and film departments. The latter fostered Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee among many other modern luminaries. The department is now housed in the Tisch School of the Arts, a few blocks no Wheelchair access.
Forbes Magazine Galleries, 62 5th Ave. (at W. 12th St.) (www.forbesgalleries.com), Yes, this tall, stately building is the headquarters of the powerful Forbes magazine. And yes, those are toys you are looking at on the first floor. These galleries are packed with old Monopoly games (and their forgotten cousins), figurines of historical personages like George Washington, countless toy soldiers, and even antique toy boats (say that ten times fast). Check online for their temporary exhibits, which have included JFK's documents and Lincoln's last pair of glasses. Free. Open Tu-Sa 10am-4pm. Reservations required for Th. Takes credit cards. Wheelchair access. Has air conditioning.
New School for Liberal Arts (Eugene Lang College), 65 W. 11th St. (www.newschool.edu), The New School was founded as a progressive educational institution in 1917; its founders hoped that a commitment to social change would inspire students to avoid calamities like World War I. Its reputation was bolstered during World War II, when it offered a safe haven and positions to exiled or displaced European academics. Since then, the school has become known for its liberal politics and radical approach to education, its reputation divided between its public policy and arts schools such as the Actors Studio and the Parsons School of Design. Eugene Lang College, Building B, is the steely undergraduate building. You can consult maps here for the school's other buildings. Building open M-Th 8am-11pm, F 8am-6pm, Sa 9am-6pm. Wheelchair access. Has air conditioning.
Jefferson Market Library, 425 6th Ave. (at W 10th St.) (www.nypl.org/locations/jefferson-market), This behemoth on Sixth Ave. has become a Village landmark, not least because of its strange and multi-faceted history. It was built in 1877 as a courthouse, became a women's prison, and was only saved from demolition in the 1960s by its restoration and conversion to a public library in 1967. Its design suggests a Victorian-medieval style on acid: red brick, dotted with stained-glass windows, and topped by a turreted clock tower. Free. Open M noon-8pm, Tu noon-6pm, W noon-8pm, Th noon-6pm, F 1-6pm, Sa 10am-5pm. Wheelchair access. Has air conditioning.
Christopher Park, At Christopher St., 7th Ave., and W. 4th St. This small, shady, triangular green space near the eastern edge of the West Village is a quiet-ish resting spot for locals. Two sculptures adorn the park: one of the Civil War general Sheridan, the other, George Segal's Gay Liberation, depicting two same-sex couples embracing. Both can be linked to some tumultuous events in the park's history. In 1863, the area was one of the centers of the bloody draft riots that rocked the city during the Civil War, and in June 1969, the modern gay rights movement was born at the Stonewall Inn across the street when the bar's homosexual patrons refused to be arrested during a police raid. The standoff and riots that followed spurred an entire movement: one year later, the first Gay Pride Parade left from the park and progressed up Fifth Ave. This section of Christopher St. is also known as Stonewall Place in honor of these events. Wheelchair access. Has outdoor seating.
75½ Bedford St., 75½ Bedford St. This diminutive but very cute West Village building is on record as New York's thinnest, measuring only 9 ft. across. Its red-brick facade is also a stand-out, as are its former residents. The poet Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote her Pultizer Prize-winning “Ballad of Harp Weaver” here while founding the Cherry Lane Theatre around the corner. Famous anthropologist Margaret Mead followed close after her, as did two icons of Hollywood's classic era: Lionel Barrymore and Cary Grant.
Meatpacking District, Bordered by W. 15th St., Hudson St., Little W. 12th St., and the Hudson River One of New York's most glamorous nightspot centers was once a center for the processing and packaging of meat. In the 19th century, the area saw the rise of many markets and warehouses (their legacy lives on in the low-lying buildings fronted by steel canopies that once protected the loading docks). The outrage over unsanitary practices in the meatpacking industry, sparked by Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle, couldn't stop the area from remaining a center of the industry until well into the 20th century. The neighborhood saw dark days in the 1970s and 1980s after the industry's decline and the citywide spike in crime. With cleanup, though, came some of New York's most intense gentrification. The area has long since transformed into a region of upscale restaurants, expensive boutique shops, high-priced hotels, and, most famously, glitzy nightlife taking up space in former packing plants and warehouses. On weekend nights, the streets teem with beautiful people in b