“I don’t date below 14th Street” (dating adage)

Below 14th Street in Manhattan (New York City) is Greenwich Village. “I don’t date below 14th Street” is a New York City saying of uncertain origin. The song “Light My Candle” from the musical Rent (1996) contains the somewhat related lyric, “They say I have the best ass below 14th Street.”
     
“My extreme reservations about dating ppl not in JP remind me of when nyc ppl/fictional characters are like ‘i don’t date below 14th street’” was posted on Twitter by caroline on November 8, 2013. “I don’t date below 14th St” was posted on Twitter by Jorja Hudson on November 17, 2013. “‘There is the old joke that, you know, people wouldn’t date below 14th Street’ in Manhattan” was printed in the Washington (DC) Post online on February 21, 2019.
   
     
Wikipedia: 14th Street (Manhattan)
14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Presently primarily a shopping street, in the earlier history of New York City 14th Street was an upscale location, but it lost its glamor and status as the city grew northward.
 
At Broadway, 14th Street forms the southern boundary of Union Square. It is also considered the northern boundary of Greenwich Village, Alphabet City, and the East Village, and the southern boundary of Chelsea, Flatiron/Lower Midtown, and Gramercy.
     
Twitter
Jonny Haus
@jonny_haus
Replying to @RealZachSchau
@RealZachSchau What’s wrong? Howd the date go? Why so bitter? I see you need “help.” Try and go below 14th street for a change.
11:04 AM - 26 Mar 2010
 
Twitter   
Shopping Gurus
@Shopping_Gurus
gay dating new york sharing The fun (below 14th sTreet) 41yr: masculine guy, horned and ready for action. lookin…  http://bit.ly/j31l0w
11:47 AM - 25 May 2011
 
Twitter   
caroline
@historicalpink
my extreme reservations about dating ppl not in JP remind me of when nyc ppl/fictional characters are like “i don’t date below 14th street”
1:24 AM - 8 Nov 2013
     
Twitter
Jorja Hudson
@jorjasmic
“I don’t date below 14th St”
5:09 PM - 17 Nov 2013
 
Washington (DC) Post
All of your Uber-related dating questions answered
By Keith Plocek
February 21, 2019
The Oakland Press (Troy, MI)
All of your Uber-related dating questions answered
By Keith Plocek Special To The Washington Post Jun 3, 2019
(...)
How else has Uber changed dating?
“The radius of dating has opened up a bit,” says (dating and relationship expert Hunt—ed.) Ethridge, who lives in New Jersey. “There is the old joke that, you know, people wouldn’t date below 14th Street” in Manhattan.
   
Twitter
Zhana Vrangalova PhD
@DrZhana
Next week, @NYUPsych is visiting our northern neighbor to let them know how sex and dating works below 14th street. Jk. @lawrenceianreed
and I will discuss it all. Open to everyone, not just Columbia folks.
9:05 AM - 1 Mar 2019