Washington Square New York
October 30, 2022 12:48 PM Subscribe
Is Washington Square a good neighborhood to stay in while visiting New York City?
My wife and I are going to be visiting New York City to attend a family event. I grew up on the east coast and went to school in New York. Greenwich Village and the Washington Square area was always my favorite part of the city. We found what looks like a really cute hotel with very reasonable prices by New York standards. A relative of mine who lives in the city says the Washington Square park area is no longer a good area. Just to put things into perspective the relative telling me this is very very well to do and lives on the upper east side. So maybe to them Washington Square isn't where they would want to be, but my wife and I are really low maintenance and don't have the same fancy standards as my relative. But that said, is there any major truth to what they're saying? They mentioned a lot of homeless and drug issues. Is Washington Square no longer considered a safe/decent area and should we look to stay elsewhere? Or do you think it should be ok? All input is appreciated!
My wife and I are going to be visiting New York City to attend a family event. I grew up on the east coast and went to school in New York. Greenwich Village and the Washington Square area was always my favorite part of the city. We found what looks like a really cute hotel with very reasonable prices by New York standards. A relative of mine who lives in the city says the Washington Square park area is no longer a good area. Just to put things into perspective the relative telling me this is very very well to do and lives on the upper east side. So maybe to them Washington Square isn't where they would want to be, but my wife and I are really low maintenance and don't have the same fancy standards as my relative. But that said, is there any major truth to what they're saying? They mentioned a lot of homeless and drug issues. Is Washington Square no longer considered a safe/decent area and should we look to stay elsewhere? Or do you think it should be ok? All input is appreciated!
I live right near there -- a few more empty storefronts, and the park is overrun by weed dealers, but the area is still a great place to spend some time. As with any big urban area, keep aware of what's going on around you and you should be fine, screaming NY Post headlines notwithstanding.
posted by AJaffe at 1:36 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by AJaffe at 1:36 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
If they’re worried about safety, they’re just being silly. If they’re being precious about how there are enough NYU undergraduates cluttering up the neighborhood that it feels a little annoyingly college-town-ish, they’re not totally wrong, but that’s not a reason not to stay there if the hotel is a good deal.
posted by LizardBreath at 1:50 PM on October 30, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by LizardBreath at 1:50 PM on October 30, 2022 [7 favorites]
Did a couple short walk around visits recently and it's fine, although I think I like the Alphabet city area a bit more these days.
posted by sammyo at 2:04 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 2:04 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think it’ll be a good place to stay there are lots of good places to eat and go in walking distance and the park is more low level drug dealing and college students than actually dangerous.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 2:56 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 2:56 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you went to college in NYC within the last 40 years you already know what "drug dealing" is like in WSP amid the students and tourists.
These days, there's probably also as many wealthy residents in the west village as on the UES.
posted by ojocaliente at 3:42 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
These days, there's probably also as many wealthy residents in the west village as on the UES.
posted by ojocaliente at 3:42 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's totally and completely fine! It's lovely. The relative sounds pearl-clutchy in some way that is completely outside the broad consensus about the safe-to-sketchy spectrum of NYC neighborhoods.
posted by virve at 4:29 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by virve at 4:29 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
You will be fine. Enjoy!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 5:30 PM on October 30, 2022
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 5:30 PM on October 30, 2022
Agree completely with all of the above, especially virve. Great neighborhood, and as I'm sure you'll recall, highly accessible by subway, so easy to get anywhere.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 6:51 PM on October 30, 2022
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 6:51 PM on October 30, 2022
In 6 months, there will probably be a glass and chrome Weed Mall on Waverly Place and in a year, the park will probably feature former Tisch students as historical re-enactors of weed dealers. Better go now.
posted by lesser whistling duck at 7:29 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by lesser whistling duck at 7:29 AM on October 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
Echoing everyone else who says you'll be fine.
the scare-mongering about "crime" is less about crime & more about how NYC feels a bit more...feral than it normally does. which makes sense: every city has an invisible web of social support that steps in to supplement our patchwork-at-best social safety net. Covid-19 absolutely shredded that, so now folks are being confronted with things and people that were more-or-less invisible to them thanks to Bloomberg's Disneyfication of New York City.
This is compounded by how the current mayor (Eric Adams) demagogued the hell out of "crime" in his campaign last year, and made worse by his complete incompetence and utter absence of any semblance of an idea of how to deal with the Pandora's Box he opened in order to win the votes of people like your relative. On top of that, the two tabloids - especially the NY Post - constantly scream about it, and I'm sure the local TV news are just as bad, which only makes people like your relative even more on edge.
WSQ, specifically, has been the object of a lot of this, thanks to many folks who moved to the neighborhood 20-40 years ago, are now completely gobsmacked that college and college-adjacent folks are gonna behave in completely predictable ways, and are now complaining about it for various petty reasons.
Anyway, it's New York City, I love it, and you'll be OK. Hope the background helps!
posted by arkhangel at 9:44 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
the scare-mongering about "crime" is less about crime & more about how NYC feels a bit more...feral than it normally does. which makes sense: every city has an invisible web of social support that steps in to supplement our patchwork-at-best social safety net. Covid-19 absolutely shredded that, so now folks are being confronted with things and people that were more-or-less invisible to them thanks to Bloomberg's Disneyfication of New York City.
This is compounded by how the current mayor (Eric Adams) demagogued the hell out of "crime" in his campaign last year, and made worse by his complete incompetence and utter absence of any semblance of an idea of how to deal with the Pandora's Box he opened in order to win the votes of people like your relative. On top of that, the two tabloids - especially the NY Post - constantly scream about it, and I'm sure the local TV news are just as bad, which only makes people like your relative even more on edge.
WSQ, specifically, has been the object of a lot of this, thanks to many folks who moved to the neighborhood 20-40 years ago, are now completely gobsmacked that college and college-adjacent folks are gonna behave in completely predictable ways, and are now complaining about it for various petty reasons.
Anyway, it's New York City, I love it, and you'll be OK. Hope the background helps!
posted by arkhangel at 9:44 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:57 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]