There's a scene in Sex And The City when Carrie and her squad forge their way onto the rooftop pool at the private members' club, Soho House, to escape the New York heat, that's memorable for two reasons. Firstly: the ropey English accent Samantha Jones ( Kim Cattrall ) adopts when impersonating club member 'Annabelle Bronstein'. And secondly, because it put the Meatpacking District on the map as a pool-dipping, party-hopping place to be.
Twenty years later, one of Downtown Manhattan's most unique neighbourhoods, sandwiched between the West Village and Chelsea and overlooking the Hudson River, is still keeping people cool — although these days, it's attracting quite a different crowd. Because while the Meatpacking District — named for its slaughterhouse origins in the late 1880s — will always be an iconic nightlife destination (who can forget the infamous elevator altercation between Solange and Jay-Z after they left the Boom Boom Room at the top of The Standard in 2014?) it has evolved into something a whole lot more sophisticated. You could say it's adulting.
From the luxury retailers (Gucci, Hermès, Brunello Cuccinelli and Rolex) setting up shop to the tech giants (Apple, Google and Samsung 837) making themselves at home, the Meatpacking District is now quite the hive of fashion and technology, as well as culture and food. Somewhere you'll be as happy people watching from a sidewalk cafe on the European-style cobbled streets — check out Kobrick Coffee ( kobricks..