The Meatpacking District occupies a small wedge of far west Chelsea, between 14th Street and Gansevoort Street, named for the wholesale meat markets that operated here from the late 19th century into the 1990s. A handful of working meat distributors remain, but the cobblestoned streets are now lined with designer boutiques, upscale restaurants, and some of the city's most exclusive nightclubs — a transformation that happened almost entirely within two decades.
The High Line's southern entrance, at Gansevoort Street, marks the start of the elevated park that runs north through Chelsea. The Whitney Museum of American Art relocated to a new building at the High Line's southern tip in 2015, cementing the neighbourhood's shift from industrial to cultural. The cobblestones and old loading docks are still visible underfoot, a reminder of what the district was for most of the 20th century.