Why the last butchers left in New York’s Meatpacking District are ready to pack up shop

Better known for high-end stores and pricy restaurants than for meat, New York’s Meatpacking District is sending its last butchers packing

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A butcher at work in New York’s Meatpacking District in 1937. Now better known for high-end boutiques and expensive restaurants, the district in Manhattan is sending its last butchers packing. Photo: New York City Municipal Archives via AP

Published: 4:15am, 28 Nov 2024Updated: 8:06pm, 28 Nov 2024

When John Jobbagy’s grandfather immigrated from Budapest in Hungary to the United States in 1900, he joined a throng of European butchers chopping up and shipping off meat in a loud, smelly corner of Manhattan that New Yorkers called the Meatpacking District.

Today only a handful of meatpackers remain, and they are preparing to say goodbye to a very different neighbourhood, known now more for its high-end boutiques and expensive restaurants than the industry that gave it its name.

Jobbagy and the other tenants in the district’s last meat market have accepted a deal from the city to move out so the building can be redeveloped, the culmination of a decades-long transformation.

“The neighbourhood I grew up in is just all memories,” said Jobbagy, 68. “It’s been gone for over 20 years.”

Part of New York’s Meatpacking District in the 1930s with the High Line Railway (right) still under construction. Photo: Collections of the New York Public Library via AP

An elevated view of the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. Today only a handful of meatpackers remain. Photo: AP

People walk past a Hermès store in the Meatpacking District. The neighbourhood is known more for its high-end boutiques and expensive restaurants than the industry that gave it its name. Photo: AP