8 Ave, West Village

8th Ave of the West Village starts, in my opinion, at Village Pizza. I don't know why I have made this arbitrary distinction but I think it's due to the fact that I consider 14th to be Chelsea and south of that is just a gas station until it hits Village Pizza. It's not my favorite pizza in the world, but it's open late and I have patronized it more times than I care to admit. It's decent, fast and the guys that work there are really nice.
Once you get down to 8th and Jane (the next block south) you run into two of my favorite places in the West Village. Tavern on Jane is this great, crusty old bar that serves food. There are a lot of old regulars and the place is rarely crowded. It's dark and there's a fireplace. What more do you want in the seven month winter that New York has? Directly across the street is my favorite restaurant in the city: Dell 'Anima. It's tiny, always crowded and the food is impeccable. I can't say better things about this place except for that going there is a must. I make every single member of my friends and family eat there when they come into town. It's just a flawless New York restaurant.
There are a couple of little boutiques right next to Tavern on Jane that are pretty fun but the shopping on 8th isn't ideal as far as the Village goes unless you love Steve Allan. There is a park, Art Bar which is dark and disgusting but I love it, and a few grocery stores within the vicinity. That doesn't sound like anything to write home about but having to walk fifteen blocks in the snow with ten bags of food makes you really appreciate a close market. I wouldn't want to live on 8th Ave because it's busy and the traffic is pretty loud. But, it's close to transportation, easy to navigate and not crazy busy as far as the big Avenues go. And, I guess because I live right off of 8th, I'm a little partial to it . . . well, because of that and Dell 'Anima.