Home > Your Personal Side > City Guides > New York > Neighborhoods

Chelsea

Photo Credit: ForgottenNY.com

Positioned between Midtown and the West Village, Chelsea not only is centrally located, it has just about everything you could want right in the neighborhood. If easy access to indoor ice skating and golf, tennis, rock climbing, art galleries, historic housing, great shopping, and sweeping views of the Hudson River appeal to you, you might enjoy living in Chelsea.

Formerly a seaport, the piers in Chelsea once defined the area. These impressive waterfront assets began as upscale passenger-ship terminals, and later became deportation sites for World War II soldiers. They then became lowly cargo terminals before falling into decay in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, the piers leapt to prominence again when a privately financed company invested $100 million in their restoration. The result was the Chelsea Piers year-round sports village, which has revitalized this area and catapulted it into its current upswing. Not only does it offer facilities for just about every kind of sport (including bowling, baseball, BMX biking, and gymnastics), inside you’ll find a rock-climbing wall, the New York Presbyterian Health Center, and the Silver Screen Studios film production facility.

Not yet as cool or as expensive as SoHo (although well on its way), the Chelsea area offers new apartment buildings alongside lofts, 19th-century brownstones, and townhouses converted into multi-apartment units. A lot of hip chain stores dot the streets, along with the upscale Barneys New York department store. Socially diverse, Chelsea is known as less family-oriented than other Manhattan neighborhoods. You’re more likely to find artists, designers, and photographers living here, although lately more lawyers, doctors, and business owners are discovering the area. Some of its more famous residents have been Bob Dylan, Mark Twain, and Tennessee Williams.

Healthcare facilities in Chelsea:
Beth Israel Medical Center–Petrie Division
New York Presbyterian Health Center at Chelsea Piers
St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan