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Matchmaking Website Names East Village Top Spot for First Dates

By Patrick Hedlund | June 22, 2011 3:26pm | Updated on June 22, 2011 3:23pm
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The matchmaking site HowAboutWe.com has released a list of the top neighborhoods for dates in the city.
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HowAboutWe.com

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — The East Village is the most popular destination citywide for lovebirds, according to statistics from a new social networking site that matches members based on their preferred first dates.

The site HowAboutWe.com, which allows users to propose activities or locales to test their chemistry, ranked the 10003 zip code as the city's top spot for flirty first encounters.

The neighborhood's abundance of bars and restaurants, as well as its easy accessibility, made it the top spot for singles to meet potential partners, said HowAboutWe media strategist Erin Scottberg.

"People are always talking about these great new spots opening up in the East Village," she said, noting that 88 percent of the dates posted on the site are location specific. "It's common ground for a lot of people."

The dessert destination Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man, near Union Square, is the number one date spot in the 10003 area, followed by concert venue Webster Hall for music fans.

Popular pizza bar Crocodile Lounge on East 14th Street clocked in as the third most popular meet-up spot, with Strand Bookstore and Japanese ramen noodle import Ipuddo rounding out the top five.

Chelsea ranked as the city's second biggest destination for first dates, with the High Line, Chelsea Market, Chelsea Piers and the Rubin Museum of Art proving the hottest draws.

Midtown West — with the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Carnegie Hall and concert venue Terminal 5 — came in as the city's third most popular neighborhood, given its popularity as a convenient location for the post-work crowd.

The West Village and its range of attractions — from the jazz and ping-pong club Fat Cat to the IFC Center — was the fourth most popular neighborhood citywide for How About We users.

Unsurprisingly, Central Park ranks as the city's No. 1 overall date destination for members to make "the ideal digital first impression," Scottberg said.

Users provide basic profile information, including photos and details about their exercise, drinking and smoking habits, and then post date proposals to the site.

How About We, which launched last year, currently counts more 100,000 members, with more than 175,000 dates posted nationwide.