BBR_NewYork-19

Start: The Washington Square Arch, also known as the Triumphal Arch

Length: 10.0-mile loop (5.9-mile loop without Chelsea option)

Approximate riding time: 2 hours (1 hour, abbreviated option)

Best bike: Hybrid, road, or mountain bike

Terrain and trail surface: The trail is mostly paved. A few blocks in the Meatpacking District are rough cobblestones, where a bike with wide tires will serve you best. The terrain is flat.

Traffic and hazards: This route runs along on-road bike lanes and quaint, historical lanes in Greenwich Village. Where there are bike lanes, traffic is moderate. Where there are none, traffic is very light. All of the avenue intersections have heavy traffic, so stay alert. The ride requires some city cycling comfort.

Things to see: Washington Square, Washington Mews, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, High Line, Meatpacking District, Stonewall Inn

Map: New York City Bike Map

Getting there: By public transportation: Take the A, B, C, D, E, F, or M subway to the West 4th Street subway stop. Bike north on 6th Avenue a couple of blocks until you hit West 8th Street. Turn right onto West 8th Street, heading east, and then right onto 5th Avenue. Fifth Avenue leads to the Washington Square Arch. GPS coordinates: N40 43.876’ / W73 59.822’

THE RIDE

Washington Square’s landmark arch was built in 1889 for the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as first president. Originally made of wood, the arch was replaced by this marble structure just a few years later. From the arch, your journey leads east along the Greek-Revival–style buildings that line the north edge of the park, and which housed the first of this route’s noteworthy denizens. Check out numbers 7 and 3, where the writers Edith Wharton and John Dos Passos once lived, respectively.

Then head north on University Place, with New York University buildings and college hangouts lining the road on either side. On 5th Avenue, going south, you’ll next have frontal views of the Washington Square Arch as you approach the square from the north. On your right, notice the Breevort Apartments at West 8th Street (11–15 5th Avenue). It’s the site of the former Breevort Hotel, which housed many infamous artist-activists in its prime—from the playwright Eugene O’Neill to the reporter Lincoln Steffens to the modern dance icon Isadora Duncan. Just south of here on your left, the cobbled Washington Mews are lined by Victorian-style former stables that were converted to houses in the early twentieth century. Here, too, resided John Dos Passos, as well as the artist Edward Hopper.

After leaving Washington Square Park, you’ll head north on 6th Avenue toward the Jefferson Market branch of the public library. The building it resides in, with its angular clock tower, served as courthouse in the 1870s. Then, heading west from 6th Avenue, you’ll enter a maze of quiet residential streets that make up the most charming section of the Village. An intricate network of one-way streets here defies the laws of the rest of New York City’s city block system, making it easy to get lost. Christopher Street soon leads you through the birthplace of the gay rights movement, most notably the Stonewall Inn. During the legendary Stonewall Inn riots of 1969, the inn’s patrons protested against continued city-sanctioned police harassment, thus launching a nationwide movement for LGBT equality.

Up ahead, Bleecker Street, a main Village drag, leads past an eclectic mix of boutiques and cafes. Turning right onto Barrow Street, you’ll travel along quaint alleyways that appear frozen in time. Many of the buildings that remain standing today played an important role throughout Village history. Chumley’s, a Prohibition-era speakeasy whose literary patrons ranged from William Faulkner to John Steinbeck, Allen Ginsberg, J.D. Salinger, and Simone de Beauvoir, sat at 86 Bedford Street. It closed in 2007, but a reopening may be in the making. Just around the corner from here, at 59 Grove Street, Thomas Paine lived and died. Continuing onward, check out the city’s narrowest building, at 57½ Bedford Street. It was the home of playwright and poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who played a pivotal role in the creation of a Village theater on Commerce Street, which is now the Cherry Lane Theatre.

At the west edge of the Village, you’ll note a change of scenery as tiny town houses give way to towering lofts after crossing Hudson Street. You’ll then return to the heart of the Village and Bleecker Street along quainter roads. Use caution as you approach 7th Avenue from the south. You’ll diagonally cross the avenue to then go south along its west edge a short spurt and make a quick right turn onto Leroy Street (Saint Luke’s Place) for a final stretch of Village biking before reaching Chelsea. (Heading north on Hudson Street here, you have the option of bypassing Chelsea and returning to Washington Square Park via West 10th Street. If doing so, skip ahead in the route description.)

Hudson Street leads northward past a flurry of cafes and restaurants before crossing West 14th Street into Chelsea. Up ahead you’ll reach the High Line, a former elevated railroad that’s been transformed into a park. Bike north along 10th Avenue, with the High Line overhead. This soon brings you to the neighborhood’s most picturesque block along West 20th Street. The entire block is occupied by the stately redbrick buildings of the General Theological Seminary, where church leaders have been formed since 1817. Opposite the seminary, from 406 to 418 West 20th Street, sit some of Chelsea’s oldest brownstones, built in the 1840s and known as Cushman Row.

Continuing onward, you’ll enter Chelsea’s gallery district along West 29th Street, where you’ll pass countless galleries on a short jaunt through the district. (Stop off at any if you wish.) Continuing onward, the Chelsea Market on 9th Avenue is a great place to grab a snack-to-go to carry to the High Line a few blocks south of here at Gansevoort Street, a cobblestone road that leads into the Meatpacking District. To check out the High Line, dismount and lock your bike. Then climb the stairs to the High Line, which stretches north to West 30th Street. Pick a spot on a bench along the way for a short break before returning to Washington Square Park via the West Village once more.

MILES AND DIRECTIONS

0.0Bike east along Washington Square North.

0.1 Turn left onto University Place.

0.5Turn left onto West 13th Street.

0.6Turn left onto 5th Avenue.

0.9Turn right onto Washington Square North to head west. The bike lane runs along the south side of the street.

1.1Cross 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and grab the bike lane along the west side of the avenue, heading north.

1.2 Turn left onto Christopher Street.

1.4Turn left onto Bleecker Street.

1.5Turn right onto Barrow Street, followed by a right onto Bedford Street.

1.6Turn right onto Grove Street.

1.8Make a sharp right onto 7th Avenue.

2.0Turn sharply right onto Bedford Street, followed by the second left onto Commerce Street, and a left onto Barrow Street.

2.2Turn right onto Greenwich Street.

2.4Turn right onto Perry Street.

2.6Turn left onto West 4th Street, followed by a left onto West 11th Street, and a left onto Bleecker Street.

2.9Turn right onto Christopher Street.

3.1Turn left onto Washington Street.

3.3 Turn left onto Morton Street.

3.6Turn right onto Bleecker Street.

3.7Turn right onto Carmine Street, followed by a right onto Bedford Street.

3.8Cross 7th Avenue, using the pedestrian signal, and head south. Make a quick right onto Leroy Street (Saint Luke’s Place).

4.0 Turn right onto Hudson Street.

4.2To bypass Chelsea, turn right onto West 10th Street and skip to mile 8.7. Otherwise, continue straight on Hudson Street, veering right onto 8th Avenue up ahead.

4.7Turn left onto West 15th Street.

5.1Turn right onto 10th Avenue.

5.3Turn right onto West 20th Street.

5.7Turn left onto 8th Avenue, catching the greenway on the west side of the avenue.

6.1Turn left onto West 29th Street.

6.6Turn left onto 11th Avenue.

6.9Turn left onto West 26th Street.

7.3Cross 9th Avenue to catch the greenway southward along the east side of the avenue.

7.8Veer left to continue along the bikeway as it veers onto Hudson Street.

7.9Turn right onto Gansevoort Street.

8.0To access the High Line, lock up your bike at Washington Street and climb the stairs to the High Line. To continue, remount your bike and go south on Washington Street.

8.4Turn left onto West 10th Street.

8.5Cross Hudson Street and continue eastward. (This is your pick-up point if you bypassed Chelsea.)

8.7Turn left onto West 4th Street.

8.9 Turn right onto Bank Street.

9.0Turn right onto Waverly Place.

9.2Turn right onto Stonewall Place, and then veer quickly left to catch Grove Street. Follow this with a left onto Sheridan Square / West 4th Street. Veer right on West 4th Street so that Sheridan Square is on your left. West 4th Street becomes Washington Square South.

9.8Turn left at the east edge of Washington Square Park, followed by a left onto Washington Square North.

10.0 Arrive at your starting point.

RIDE INFORMATION

Restrooms

Mile 5.1/7.8: There are restrooms in Chelsea Market on 9th Avenue at West 15th Street.