Meatpacking is the Western-most stop on the L train. It runs crosstown, from Meatpacking through Brooklyn. The 8th Ave Subway station is one of the nicer ones in Manhattan. It was renovated in 1999 after a flood two years earlier left the station in dire need of some improvements. One such improvement was the installation of Tom Otterness’ Life Underground, a series of sculptures that depicts the humorous myth of what life is like underground. The installation, whose
home was previously in the Doris C. Freedman Plaza on 60th and 5th Ave, depicts an alligator rising from the sewers and a turnstile hopping subway rider among other things. The L train really fits with the personality of the neighborhood in general; in 2001, The New York Times names the L Train “the hippest train in the subway.”
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/03/nyregion/tunnel-vision-underground-and-now-cool-the-l-train.html)
On a typical nightclub night, meatpacking is rife with cabs ready to drop off and pick up patrons.
Because of its proximity to the West Side Highway, the neighborhood is easily accesible from remote suburbs in New Jersey and Westchester.
Many people come to Meatpacking from the highline, a massive above ground park that stretches from 30th street and runs down to Gansevoort street.
