Christmas Trees in the West Village

Crossing town for the West Village, every December

The West Village is our favorite delivery run. We get to bike past the old Magnolia Bakery line, past the tourists posing on the Friends apartment stoop, past the dog walkers who somehow have six golden retrievers on six leashes, and arrive at a brownstone door painted the same shade of green it was in 1920.

We’ve been delivering here since 2011. Christopher Street to Hudson, West 4th down to West Houston, north as far as 14th. We know which buildings have buzzers that work and which ones you have to call up from the sidewalk. We know the dogs by name in some cases. We know that the cobblestones on Bank Street are not friendly to a bike pulling a tree, so we walk that block.

Our favorite West Village tradition

Every December, we install and light the Christmas tree at Jefferson Market Garden. If you have walked past Sixth Avenue and 10th and seen a fir glowing against the courthouse spire, that was ours. We bring it down from our farms, we set it up by hand, we step back and look at it, and then we go get a slice at Joe’s. It is the kind of small thing that makes us feel like we belong here, not like delivery people passing through.

West Village buildings are old. Stairs are narrow. Doorways were built when people were shorter. Some of the brownstones on Perry have staircases that turn 180 degrees halfway up, which is a real puzzle when you are carrying a 9-foot tree. We’ve figured it out. Tell us your floor and your building’s quirks. We’ll bring the tree up.

What we bring across town

• Hand-picked Fraser firs, 2 to 20 feet, fresh from NC and PA
• Cross-town bike delivery from our East Village stand
• Setup in your stand, watered, leveled, ready for ornaments
• Wreaths and garlands for stoops, mantels, and iron railings
• Brownstone-tested staircase moves, no scraped walls
• January removal, no curb pile