West Village

The West Village is the New York people picture when they picture living here: three and four story houses, iron railings, ginkgo trees, and streets that wander instead of running straight. Commerce Street, Grove Court, Bedford at Morton. Get lost between Hudson Street and Seventh Avenue and you will not mind.

It also carries real weight. The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, and the park across from it, are a national monument, and the modern gay rights movement began there in June 1969. The Cherry Lane Theatre on Commerce has been running off-Broadway plays since 1924.

This is now the best eating neighborhood in the city, which is why the reservations are brutal. Don Angie and its pinwheel lasagna, 4 Charles Prime Rib in a basement with almost no seats, Semma doing Tamil cooking that refuses to turn the heat down. If you did not plan a month ahead, go for a bar seat, or drink instead: Katana Kitten on Hudson makes the best highball in the city, and Angel’s Share on Grove is the quiet Japanese standard-setter.

The waterfront is the part visitors miss. Hudson River Park runs the whole western edge, with piers to sit on, and the sun goes down over New Jersey. It is free, and on a summer evening it is the best seat in the neighborhood.