What to do in Chelsea

Chelsea is an art lover’s paradise. You can fill up an entire day by simply wandering through the cluster of galleries located in the 20s between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. Make sure you put the Dia Art Foundation and the Larry Gagosian gallery on your list. Dia on 22nd Street consists of 20,000 s.f. of gallery space spread among 3 buildings, with a popular bookstore and free admission. Gagosian on West 24th regularly features such artists as Richard Serra, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel. Take a look at the GalleriesNow website for up-to-date information on current exhibits. If museums are your preference, the Rubin Museum of Art at 150 West 17th Street, which celebrates the diversity and uniqueness of Himalayan art, ideas and culture across history, is the place to go.  If physical activity is your thing, check out Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River at 23rd Street. This 28-acre waterfront sports village situated on Piers 59, 60 and 61 offers golf, bowling, ice skating, a 70-ship marina, a 50-foot-high climbing wall, several fitness facilities and 3 restaurants.

It’s hard to think about Chelsea without hearing Joni Mitchell’s “Chelsea Morning” in your head. This culturally rich and diverse neighborhood is bounded by 14th Street on the south, the Hudson River on the west, and Sixth Avenue on its east. Its northern border ranges from the upper 20s to 34th Street, depending on whom you ask. 

Named after the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London by an Englishman who purchased a “ten square block span” of land near the Hudson river, it is one of the oldest districts in NYC to retain its original name. This eclectic neighborhood is the location of Chelsea Piers, Chelsea Market, the High Line and Hotel Chelsea, built in 1885 and once home to Dylan Thomas, Arthur Miller, Mark Twain, Tennessee Williams, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan and Patti Smith. 

The neighborhood is mostly residential, with a mixture of townhouses and rowhouses on its tree-lined streets. You’ll also find tenements, apartment blocks - such as London Terrace which includes 14 buildings - and city housing projects. Some of its most impressive modern residential high-rises were designed by such superstars as Rafael Vinoly, Zaha Hadid and Peter Marino. Chelsea’s various architectural styles range from Art Deco, and Greek and Gothic Revival to Italianate.

With so much to do in Chelsea during the day, save Chelsea Market for the evening. The former home of the Nabisco factory, located at Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Street, features a food hall with 35 vendors, restaurants, a fish market, wine store and retail shopping. It’s open until 2 am every night but Sunday. 

If you enjoy dance performances, grab some tickets at the Joyce Theater, located in the former Elgin Theater at 175 Eighth Avenue. Originally a 1941 movie house which was reopened in 1982, it is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance, honoring emerging and established dance artists whose work represents a wide range of interests. 

Culture vultures should visit the Kitchen at 512 West 19th Street. It is one of New York City’s oldest nonprofit spaces, showing innovative work by emerging and established artists across disciplines, ranging from dance, music, performance, and theater, to video, film, and art, in addition to literary events, artists’ talks, and lecture series.