But this neighborhood nexus of dog activity, according to Lynn Pacifico, head of the Dog Owners Action Committee, is in an unsuitable condition. Overcrowding and unfinished surfaces, according to Pacifico, pose a danger to the health of the many dogs who use the space as a place to burn off their massive amounts of energy.

“The run is crowded when there are 10 dogs and their owners in there,” Pacifico said, “but there are often between 30 and 40 dogs in there at one time! It’s insane!”

Pacifico also mentioned that the park’s surface is too slippery, causing dogs to crash into the walls and fences if they’re carrying too much momentum.

The space, while big enough to accommodate a good number of dogs, does look a little too small for its purpose. The gray-and-blue pavement appears cracked and unfinished, standing out noticeably from the well-kept landscape of the rest of Hudson River Park. But this didn’t keep a fairly large, diverse crowd of dog owners from using the run, even at a mellow, quiet hour for the park. And people interviewed seemed mostly content with the dog run’s condition.

“The people here are very kind,” Ralph Perillo commented.

Another of Pacifico’s concerns about the run was the danger posed to smaller dogs by larger dogs. Yet again, dog owners interviewed, one of whom owned a small dog, actually said this was not a problem. Dog owners who know their dogs have aggressive tendencies will keep a watchful eye on them, they said. However, Pacifico does not attribute potentially violent behavior to any particular dog’s personality, but to what she called “instinctive drift,” an uncontrollable phenomenon that many dogs experience.

“People see the cuddly baby side of their dogs,” she said. “But every dog is only alive because their ancestors were good at killing small animals. The quick movements of a small animal trigger a prey drive, buried in the animal’s DNA, and the little dog becomes a target.”

With such unpredictable danger, space does become an issue — but not one, it seems, that grabs the attention of the people who use the run. In other words, other dog owners aren’t “getting her drift.”

During a recent visit, there were minor complaints from some dog owners, concerning the run. Renee Yakemchuk, who takes her dog to the park for exercise, said she would like to see some upgrades to the static, featureless run.

“I wish it had some obstacles like the ones they have in the run up on 34th St.,” she said. “I’d like to see the water running more.”

However flawed it may be, the Leroy St. Dog Run provides an essential service in preserving the neighborhood’s well-being, giving Lower West Side dog owners a place to let their dogs be what they are. And some Villagers are happy to see the pooches off the pavement and in the run.

“People start hassling you when you’re walking your dog,” Perillo said. “They want you to walk your dog in the street. People need this kind of place to go to.”

But the Leroy St. Dog Run could certainly use some improvement, maybe even a little expansion.

Photos by Tequila Minsky From left, Jefferson Market Garden volunteers Ro McIntyre, Judy Cohen, Alexis and Jane Osmers were on hand last Sunday to greet visitors.

BY TEQUILA MINSKY  |  Sunday was the season opening of the Jefferson Market Garden, on Greenwich Ave. between Sixth Ave. and 10th St. This year, the magnolia trees and daffodils are foreshadowing the arrival (hopefully!) of spring weather.

“Last year, it was warmer and we opened in late March,” noted Jane Osmers, a garden volunteer.

Still to look forward to, tulips, forsythia and a plethora of other spring flowers have yet to bloom.

The garden also boasts three birdhouses — with more to come. A ribbon-cutting with dignitaries, later in the season, will inaugurate the garden’s new bird condos.

Completely volunteer-run, the green oasis is open to the public on afternoons except Mondays, weather permitting, through October.

“We’re trying to expand our outreach,” said Kacie Carl, volunteer coordinator. The hope is that more volunteers will join the outreach committee to expand programming, including music, poetry and other compatible activities, to bring more community residents into the garden.

“A lot of neighbors don’t even know we’re here,” Carl added.

Although the air was still a bit cool last Sunday, plenty of passersby strolled through the garden. A lot of texting, reading, chatting and just communing with a bit of the Village’s greenery occurred on a cool and sunny day.

But this neighborhood nexus of dog activity, according to Lynn Pacifico, head of the Dog Owners Action Committee, is in an unsuitable condition. Overcrowding and unfinished surfaces, according to Pacifico, pose a danger to the health of the many dogs who use the space as a place to burn off their massive amounts of energy.

“The run is crowded when there are 10 dogs and their owners in there,” Pacifico said, “but there are often between 30 and 40 dogs in there at one time! It’s insane!”

Pacifico also mentioned that the park’s surface is too slippery, causing dogs to crash into the walls and fences if they’re carrying too much momentum.

The space, while big enough to accommodate a good number of dogs, does look a little too small for its purpose. The gray-and-blue pavement appears cracked and unfinished, standing out noticeably from the well-kept landscape of the rest of Hudson River Park. But this didn’t keep a fairly large, diverse crowd of dog owners from using the run, even at a mellow, quiet hour for the park. And people interviewed seemed mostly content with the dog run’s condition.

“The people here are very kind,” Ralph Perillo commented.

Another of Pacifico’s concerns about the run was the danger posed to smaller dogs by larger dogs. Yet again, dog owners interviewed, one of whom owned a small dog, actually said this was not a problem. Dog owners who know their dogs have aggressive tendencies will keep a watchful eye on them, they said. However, Pacifico does not attribute potentially violent behavior to any particular dog’s personality, but to what she called “instinctive drift,” an uncontrollable phenomenon that many dogs experience.

“People see the cuddly baby side of their dogs,” she said. “But every dog is only alive because their ancestors were good at killing small animals. The quick movements of a small animal trigger a prey drive, buried in the animal’s DNA, and the little dog becomes a target.”

With such unpredictable danger, space does become an issue — but not one, it seems, that grabs the attention of the people who use the run. In other words, other dog owners aren’t “getting her drift.”

During a recent visit, there were minor complaints from some dog owners, concerning the run. Renee Yakemchuk, who takes her dog to the park for exercise, said she would like to see some upgrades to the static, featureless run.

“I wish it had some obstacles like the ones they have in the run up on 34th St.,” she said. “I’d like to see the water running more.”

However flawed it may be, the Leroy St. Dog Run provides an essential service in preserving the neighborhood’s well-being, giving Lower West Side dog owners a place to let their dogs be what they are. And some Villagers are happy to see the pooches off the pavement and in the run.

“People start hassling you when you’re walking your dog,” Perillo said. “They want you to walk your dog in the street. People need this kind of place to go to.”

But the Leroy St. Dog Run could certainly use some improvement, maybe even a little expansion.

Photo by Jefferson Siegel Roy Preston, co-owner of the Little Lebowski Shop, at 215 Thompson St., wears his usual work garb — a bathrobe, just like The Dude — as he stands next to a cutout of Jeff Bridges, who plays the iconic character in the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Lebowski.”

BY KAMAKSHI AYYAR  |  Tucked away in a small storefront not far from Washington Square Park is a store whose owner greets customers while dressed in a bathrobe, slippers and a wolf’s hat. He isn’t hung over, just mirroring the cult film character his shop is dedicated to — Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski.

The Little Lebowski Store, at 215 Thompson St., is just one of many shrines, physical and spiritual, raised in the name of the 1998 Coen Brothers movie, “The Big Lebowski.” The film stars Jeff Bridges as The Dude; John Goodman as his gun-toting friend Walter, who “doesn’t roll on Shabbos”; and Steve Buscemi completing the trio as the meek Donny, constantly being told to “Shut the f— up.”

There are hundreds of “The Big Lebowski” fan conventions held in bars and bowling alleys (The Dude’s preferred hangout) globally, including one of the largest, the annual Lebowski Fest, first held in Louisville in 2002. What started out as a bowling party of 150 fans quickly grew into an annual pilgrimage for cinephiles from across the world, with fests being held in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and even Edinburgh and London.

For the more spiritual devotees there is the Church of the Latter Day Dude, which advocates the religion of Dudeism. The church’s Web site describes the religion as follows: “Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others — that is to say, abide.” If you’re so inclined, you can even get ordained as a Dudeist minister and join the already initiated 150,000 brothers.

“I’ve learned to let my inner Dude hang out,” said Roy Preston, 40, describing his life’s mantra after his experience over the last five years. With his Buddha-like smile and come-what-may aura, he seems to be the embodiment of everything Lebowski. But this wasn’t always the case.

Five years ago, Preston and his business partner opened a children’s bookstore at the current site.

“I wanted to be a tight-ass in a suit selling kids’ books to yuppie parents,” he said. But fate had other ideas.

The recession hit soon after the store opened, and Washington Square Park, a block north, was closed for renovation, reducing area foot traffic to practically nothing. After sinking into debt, the partners decided to try running a souvenir store and a comic book store, both of which failed miserably.

Preston lost his house in Red Bank, N.J., and was living in the back of the store, with a few comic books bought from the Forbidden Planet shop to fill up his shelves for company. After receiving an eviction notice from the store landlord, he said, “If we’re going to get evicted we might as well go out having fun.” And so he filled his store with pop culture memorabilia, including “The Big Lebowski” T-shirts, which turned out to be the best sellers.

That’s when his partner and he decided to dedicate the shop solely to the movie. He put a cutout of The Dude outside the store, created a bowling lane in the changing room and started wearing his robes and slippers to work every day.

After he ensured that the store had its fair share of rugs (the root cause of all The Dude’s troubles in the movie), all that was missing was White Russians, The Dude’s poison of choice, which Preston, after much experimentation, learned reduced his alertness. Instead he tried to complete the Lebowski experience by covering the walls with quotes from the movie (“That rug really tied the room together”), and even framing a letter left on his front door by a drunk patron who thought this was “seriously the greatest idea for a store I have ever come upon.”

And it works. At first, customers walk into the store with puzzled looks, curious about the owner’s attire. But a few minutes later they start to nod knowingly and smile. Preston loves it because everyone who visits the store is in a good mood.

“It’s just like hosting a party,” he said. “All I have to do is smile and be nice.”

Even the way the store gained its fame is a coincidence. One night two men who had just finished interviewing John Goodman for a PBS special on Jeff Bridges happened to walk by the place and decided to come in. Two months later, Preston got a call from PBS asking him to be part of the special. On the day of the filming, Bridges showed up with the recording team, and once the special aired on Jan. 8, 2011, fans flocked to the shop.

In his Lebowski shrine, surrounded by still-frame photos and T-shirts from the movie, Preston seems content in his bathrobe and slippers.

“It was a series of random circumstances where terrible things led to good things — kind of like the movie,” he said. “The Dude was happy and content even when s— kept being thrown at him. That’s a good way to live.”

Just then, a customer walked in with the customary “Hey Dude!” greeting. “Do you have any Donny T-shirts? My brother-in-law’s name is Donny and he just never shuts the f— up!”

BY KAMAKSHI AYYAR  |  Tucked away in a small storefront not far from Washington Square Park is a store whose owner greets customers while dressed in a bathrobe, slippers and a wolf’s hat. He isn’t hung over, just mirroring the cult film character his shop is dedicated to — Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski.

The Little Lebowski Store, at 215 Thompson St., is just one of many shrines, physical and spiritual, raised in the name of the 1998 Coen Brothers movie, “The Big Lebowski.” The film stars Jeff Bridges as The Dude; John Goodman as his gun-toting friend Walter, who “doesn’t roll on Shabbos”; and Steve Buscemi completing the trio as the meek Donny, constantly being told to “Shut the f— up.”

There are hundreds of “The Big Lebowski” fan conventions held in bars and bowling alleys (The Dude’s preferred hangout) globally, including one of the largest, the annual Lebowski Fest, first held in Louisville in 2002. What started out as a bowling party of 150 fans quickly grew into an annual pilgrimage for cinephiles from across the world, with fests being held in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and even Edinburgh and London.

For the more spiritual devotees there is the Church of the Latter Day Dude, which advocates the religion of Dudeism. The church’s Web site describes the religion as follows: “Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others — that is to say, abide.” If you’re so inclined, you can even get ordained as a Dudeist minister and join the already initiated 150,000 brothers.

“I’ve learned to let my inner Dude hang out,” said Roy Preston, 40, describing his life’s mantra after his experience over the last five years. With his Buddha-like smile and come-what-may aura, he seems to be the embodiment of everything Lebowski. But this wasn’t always the case.

Five years ago, Preston and his business partner opened a children’s bookstore at the current site.

“I wanted to be a tight-ass in a suit selling kids’ books to yuppie parents,” he said. But fate had other ideas.

The recession hit soon after the store opened, and Washington Square Park, a block north, was closed for renovation, reducing area foot traffic to practically nothing. After sinking into debt, the partners decided to try running a souvenir store and a comic book store, both of which failed miserably.

Preston lost his house in Red Bank, N.J., and was living in the back of the store, with a few comic books bought from the Forbidden Planet shop to fill up his shelves for company. After receiving an eviction notice from the store landlord, he said, “If we’re going to get evicted we might as well go out having fun.” And so he filled his store with pop culture memorabilia, including “The Big Lebowski” T-shirts, which turned out to be the best sellers.

That’s when his partner and he decided to dedicate the shop solely to the movie. He put a cutout of The Dude outside the store, created a bowling lane in the changing room and started wearing his robes and slippers to work every day.

After he ensured that the store had its fair share of rugs (the root cause of all The Dude’s troubles in the movie), all that was missing was White Russians, The Dude’s poison of choice, which Preston, after much experimentation, learned reduced his alertness. Instead he tried to complete the Lebowski experience by covering the walls with quotes from the movie (“That rug really tied the room together”), and even framing a letter left on his front door by a drunk patron who thought this was “seriously the greatest idea for a store I have ever come upon.”

And it works. At first, customers walk into the store with puzzled looks, curious about the owner’s attire. But a few minutes later they start to nod knowingly and smile. Preston loves it because everyone who visits the store is in a good mood.

“It’s just like hosting a party,” he said. “All I have to do is smile and be nice.”

Even the way the store gained its fame is a coincidence. One night two men who had just finished interviewing John Goodman for a PBS special on Jeff Bridges happened to walk by the place and decided to come in. Two months later, Preston got a call from PBS asking him to be part of the special. On the day of the filming, Bridges showed up with the recording team, and once the special aired on Jan. 8, 2011, fans flocked to the shop.

In his Lebowski shrine, surrounded by still-frame photos and T-shirts from the movie, Preston seems content in his bathrobe and slippers.

“It was a series of random circumstances where terrible things led to good things — kind of like the movie,” he said. “The Dude was happy and content even when s— kept being thrown at him. That’s a good way to live.”

Just then, a customer walked in with the customary “Hey Dude!” greeting. “Do you have any Donny T-shirts? My brother-in-law’s name is Donny and he just never shuts the f— up!”

Photo by Tequila Minsky Longtime volunteer Sami Shub displayed a hat/paper sculpture entitled, “Disguise by Margo Mead.”

BY TEQUILA MINSKY | Greenwich House Senior Center has been transformed since volunteer Phil Katz undertook the project to improve it almost two years ago. Tired wall décor has come down. The smaller dining room shines with a fresh coat of radiant yellow paint and members’ paintings — mostly created in the Friday afternoon art classes — hang on the walls.

In early February, the center, on the fourth floor of 27 Barrow St., celebrated the spiffed-up senior digs by hosting an expo with a reception of the seniors’ art.

The former, overstuffed storage room is now a comfy reading room and a micro-museum. Historical photographs — many of them public-domain images from the Greenwich Village Historical Society — hang alongside several paintings. The space doubles, as needed, as a multipurpose room for other activities.

Almost rhetorically, Katz asked, gesturing to the photo exhibit, “Did you know that Greenwich House is one of the oldest settlement houses in New York?” Pointing out specific photos, he noted, “Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart and Betty Davis were volunteers here.”

Sami Shub, a longtime volunteer at the center, gestured to paintings hanging beside the photos.

“These are some of the best artworks on exhibit,” she offered, referring to two Greenwich Village streetscapes painted by local artist Stu Gottfried, who is also a board member.

Katz reflected, “My involvement here has given me a focus — almost a calling.” A former advertising copywriter, he happily discovered volunteerism following a bit of floundering after retirement. He’s been coming to Greenwich House for eight years.

Offering an impromptu tour, he asked a visitor, “Have you seen the theater posters in the large dining room?” Katz personally sourced these from archives and members’ collections, creating a theater theme in the largest of the center’s spaces.” It’s a theme that certainly resonates, since, as he noted, “So many of our members are artists, actors, dancers and painters, living here in the Village.”

“We’re known as ‘the theater senior center,’” Katz boasted. “For two or three dollars, members get tickets to Broadway, Off Broadway shows — also, concerts, dance performances and even sports events.”

Giving Katz kudos, Shub said, “Phil has managed to achieve a totally different feeling in the center.” She should know after volunteering at Greenwich House for 10 years — and being known for organizing far-flung “trips for active seniors.”

“The rejuvenation uplifts our spirits when we’re in these rooms,” Shub added.

At the Greenwich House center’s reception, unique hat/paper sculptures were also on exhibit, created under the direction of Whitney Museum docent Melanie Adsit. The snake-themed creations burst with color, form and creative energy.

“We worked out a theme in conjunction with this Chinese New Year’s Year of the Snake,” said Shub, who also organizes a banquet dinner for the center in Chinatown every new year.

The whimsical headdress/artworks were shown at the Whitney last November in a one-day exhibit. Following the exhibition, more seniors made even more snake-themed paper headdresses to bring them to the 10-course Lunar New Year banquet.

Without a little less hoopla, a new senior art expo went up at Greenwich House on Tues., March 19.

Photos by Sam Spokony

BY SAM SPOKONY  |  P.S. 3 parents, alumni and current and former teachers gathered in the Hudson St. school’s auditorium on Sat., Feb. 2, for discussions about the origin and development of the West Village’s longtime alternative choice in elementary education.

Founded in 1971, the school has throughout its history shown the benefits of progressive, experimental methods of teaching and learning. However, many within the P.S. 3 community are still reeling from the recent decision by the Department of Education and Community Education Council to split the school’s shared zone with P.S. 41 starting in 2014, thus removing its role as a choice school.

At top, New Yorker magazine contributor and author Calvin Trillin (left) — who lives across the street from P.S. 3 and sent his children there decades ago — moderated a panel discussion with former student Nat Oppenheimer, a structural engineer who is now overseeing development of the new Whitney Museum near the High Line, and several other former students and P.S. 3 educators.

Above, an intergenerational discussion featured architect Norman Rosenfeld (left), who, along with his wife, Lee, played a major role in the founding of P.S. 3; his daughter Marion Rosenfeld (center), a writer and media professional who was one of the school’s first students; and her daughter Thea Rosenfeld (right), a current student at the school.

Below, P.S. 3 students led the crowd in a group rendition of the school song.

Photo by Liz Ligon, courtesy of Friends of the High Line

Friends of the High Line offers a full slate of free, fun summer events for children, teens and adults. These range from studying the elevated park’s horticulture and wildlife to art projects, musical and dance performances — like the one above, underneath The Standard’s span — and movies. F.O.H.L. staff and volunteers survey park users to get their feedback. “We saw that kids wanted a little more free play and an opportunity to imagine and create,” said Danya Sherman, F.O.H.L. director of public programs, education and community engagement.

“Many people expressed a lot of interest in films for families.” Free walking tours of the park are available every night at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesdays around dusk, there’s free stargazing with telescopes. “We really gear our programs to our neighbors and New Yorkers,” Sherman said.

There are activities year-round. For the event calendar, visit the High Line’s Web site, www.thehighline.org.

Photos by Lincoln Anderson

After a long, drawn-out construction process, 450 W. 14th St., a.k.a. The High Line Building, above, is reportedly enjoying 100 percent occupancy. The 11-story office building — rising above Diane von Furstenberg’s “jewel”-topped skylight — was developed by Charles Blaichman.

Meanwhile, Novac Noury, the disco era’s Arrow Keyboard Man turned hopeful developer, is still searching for a partner to develop his now grass-covered lot on Little West 12th St., right, near The Standard Hotel’s Biergarten. The city tore down his building two years ago, deeming it structurally “compromised.” Noury — inventor of a wireless keyboard he wore on a shoulder strap like a guitar while boogieing on the dance floor — had an after-hours club there called RSVP during the Studio 54 days. The mini-inn he envisions on the lot would also have RSVP, as in Rechargeable Solar-Powered Venetian blind energy, another Noury first. At this rate, though, his mini-inn might take even longer to build than the High Line Building. An arrow of glass blocks on the sidewalk marks “Arrow Way,” up which Noury would drive his white stretch limo directly into the RSVP club’s garage.

Back in May, after marrying at City Hall, David Rose and Ariane Hendrich (at left) were strolling on Gansevoort St. when they found themselves being serenaded by musicians playing French standards, including Benjamin Ickies on accordian, Rebecca Schlappich on violin, and vocalist Myriam Phiro. They played “La Vie En Rose” with Phiro (at right) channeling Edith Piaf. Photo by Jefferson Siegel

BY EILLEN STUKANE | The Meatpacking District is growing up. Right now, walking the cobblestone streets you can feel that the neighborhood is experiencing a moment in time. It’s still the chic, not-to-be-missed destination with visionary trendsetters like Jeffrey, the earliest pioneer on W. 14th St. in 1999, and Diane von Furstenberg, who established herself across the street from Jeffrey in 2001, firmly in place. Alexander McQueen also remains a presence.

A sense of change is in the air, however, as certain name designers with their own stores, like Stella McCartney, who recently left the district for Soho, are starting to give way to more familiar national brands like Levi’s, Sephora and Intermix.

With its maturity, the Meatpacking District is starting to shed some of the youthful upstarts who pioneered the area and gave it that fashionable “edge” when rents — which today average $400 to $600 a square foot — might have been as low as $25 a square foot. Just last month Yigal Azrouel, the fashion designer who opened his store on W. 14th St. in 2003, announced that he is heading uptown for Madison Ave. This Lower West Side hot spot is doing a bit of shape-shifting.

“There definitely is a change, but what that change is, is that the Meatpacking District is coming into a new phase,” said Lauren Danziger, executive director of the Meatpacking District Improvement Association. “It has new elements, top-of-the-line hotels, the Whitney Museum coming. Larger businesses are locating here, I believe, because they want to be where the culture, and some of the hottest fashion, hottest nightlife and hottest food are located.

“Most of the people who own the properties are families whose fathers and grandfathers were meat-cutters and they want to be true to the district,” Danziger said. “At the same time, they have to pay for their needs as a landlord and charge market rate, but these are people who really care. They’ve put roots down here, so to speak, and they invest money not only in the property, but in their tenants and in the public space, the cleaning, the beautification.”

Danziger also points out that what the name brands like the cosmetics chain Sephora and Levi’s bring to the district are special concept stores, unlike any of their other stores.

“We will never be an outdoor mall,” Danziger emphasized. Sephora, for example, has a rotating art exhibit that aims to reflect the district’s culture and a remnant of edginess. Levi’s has only one other store like the one in the Meatpacking District, on the West Coast, which also carries the brand’s premium collections.

A high-end denim store that left the area was Ruben & Chapelle’s custom jeans, with pants selling for four figures.

When asked about the commercial spaces vacant on W. 14th St., Kelly Gedinsky, associate director of the Winick Realty Group, said, “I’d rather not be specific about who’s coming in, but I can tell you that I’ve heard of over four different retail leases being signed. So that vacancy is going to be filled by credit-signature national brands.”

Ugg, the ubiquitous sheepskin boots (which even has a bridal collection) will be opening a store on W. 14th St. at the end of October. Rumors abound that brands such as Patagonia, Coach and J. Crew have shown interest in the area. Gedinsky is representing space at 420 W. 14th St., current home to the Heller Gallery, which will be leaving.

Since 1999 when Jeffrey Kalinsky took a chance and moved his Jeffrey store of high-end designer clothes and accessories to W. 14th St., the Meatpacking District, which then was known by everyone in the neighborhood as the Meat Market, has evolved with great speed. In those early days, the art scene in Chelsea had already emerged and galleries were bringing in upscale-clientele collectors. It did not take much to get in a Town Car and have the chauffeur stop at Jeffrey, which was close by.

The area’s grittiness gave visitors a sense of risk and adventure. After all, there really was blood on those cobblestones, along with visible carnage from an active meat wholesale and retail industry. Those loading docks sent out a deathly aroma along with an air of mystery that wafted through the streets both night and day. By night, transgender hookers prowled the streets, as a smattering of remaining clubs — both gay and straight — with names like Mineshaft, Hell and Hellfire, raged. There was no place like it.

After stopping at Jeffrey, getting something to eat usually meant stepping into the French bistro Florent on Gansevoort St., where colorful denizens of the night often remained in the early morning, and Florent Morellet himself infused the place with an anything-goes optimism and energy.

Soon Pastis, another French venue, by restaurateur Keith McNally, established itself in the area and more people began to hear the buzz.

The Meatpacking District was a happening place in 1999 when the Friends of the High Line was founded by local residents.

The combination of young designers who moved into the Meatpacking District to launch themselves into the fashion world, and the
campaign to create a special open space, a park on the High Line’s elevated railway that runs from Gansevoort St. to W. 30th St., had the area’s metabolism churning.

What was not high then were the rents. Brokers confirm that 10 years ago, space could still be leased for anywhere from $50 to $80 a square foot. Today those same spaces are going for an average of $400 to $600 a square foot. Gedinsky confirmed that a number of leases back in the day when square footage was in the two-digit range have expired or are due to expire. An evolution is inevitable since a single designer may not want to, or be able to, afford these latest rates. So it is understandable for fashion designers such as Yigal Azrouel, Stella McCartney, Jusarra Lee and Shelly Steffee, to name a few, to move on, and for high-end brands to replace them.

It may be a final season for a lot of the Meatpacking District’s early retailers, but with the High Line in full operation today as an elevated park coursing through the district’s western edge, and the nightlife still ruled by the exclusivity of the clubs, the area will continue to be a magnet.

“While the tenure of the retail may be changing and will continue to do so when leases come up, the tenure of the district remains cutting-edge, dynamic and in itself constantly changing,” Danziger said. “The Milk Studios, the High Line Stages, have amazing creativity. There will always be a dynamic here that flourishes and fosters what’s hip and happening.”