Horatio St, West Village

Horatio isn't the most quaint or beautiful street in the West Village but all of the West Village is pretty quaint and beautiful, so I'd still live here if without my are being twisted to any extent. Plus, it's a really residential street so it's very quiet and leafy. 82 Horatio is where Clifford Odets lived when he was writing Waiting for Lefty. Directly across the street is where James Baldwin lived while writing Another Country. Next door to that is the gigantic townhouse that William Gaddis lived in during the 30's - 40's. It just sold for over 7 million, apparently.
The corner of Greenwich and Horatio is a Spanish Restaurant called El Faro that has been around forever. It's really good and a big writer's hangout. Right on the same block at the corner is Hudson Bar and Books. It's a cigar bar and one of the few remaining bars in New York that you can actually smoke. There's a little green area called Jackson Square just down the street that's great for eating a sandwich al fresco on a nice day. It's pretty small but beggars can't choosers as far as green areas in the city. There are a number apartment buildings on this street ranging from old, dark and crusty to newly remodeled and state of the art. But, no matter what, all of the apartments are ridiculously expensive and really cool in their own way. Horatio is a lovely street that anyone is lucky to live on.

Horatio Street is home to a number of great upscale retailers and more unique boutiques as well as a few good restaurants and caterers. It is one of those areas that is a little bit of everything it pulls in the hip feel of lower Manhattan but melds it with class and sophistication but remains casual. Fatty crab offers up some very interesting cuisine and although the wait time can be rather long it is worth it.

I loved living in the west village except transport can be a pain with the closest subway lines (blue A/C/E) being more than a block away. You may have to resort to MTA's buses which seem to run quite frequently... except no one (I know really) understand how those work. It is a chic-er version of lower manhattan with less grunge and more poise than the east village. Loubotin is on the street and so is a mass of high-end retailers around the corner. Reception in this area is horrible. Expect close to no phone reception from T-mobile especially and possible phone reception from AT&T.. but this is the case through the west village...