THE INTIMATE WEST VILLAGE WITH ITS SPECTACULAR HUDSON RIVER PARK

MEET: Leroy St. & 7th Ave. South, southwest corner.

Subway: #1 to Houston St., walk 2 blocks north on 7th Ave. South.

The West Village is a 19th century preserve with its concealed-yet-open garden, complex web of streets, and a house 9½ feet wide. Classic 19th century 3-story townhouses set the stage. This is a community neighborhood of quirky angled streets with literary hang-outs, European-style coffeehouses, and Off-Broadway theatres – the quintessential American Bohemia. Its sites inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”, and O. Henry’s “The Last Leaf.”

But one block west of its border, the neighborhood changes abruptly. Gone are the run-down remains of waterfront commerce — transient hotels, cheap bars, and old factories. Now new tall glass-covered buildings rise up with celebrity-filled condominiums and look out over a spectacular, transformed waterfront. Today the shoreline is alive again, this time with grassy playing fields, quiet lawns, children’s playgrounds, and 800′ long restored piers.