The “How did you meet?” question is almost as loaded as the “How did he propose?” question. Proposals you can plan, meeting your future girlfriend/boyfriend is usually left up to chance. To me, the meeting cycle of most single New Yorkers starts out at a house party, graduates to a bar, ends up online and after a self imposed break from dating altogether, your great aunt Esther fixes you up with a “nice young man” she met at services…or maybe that’s just me.

I’ve done the whole bar thing. I also met someone at a concert once (good tactic to get the awkward dancing out of the way) but when he actually called me I realized I knew nothing about him; he was still in college and lived in New Jersey, both deal breakers in my book.

Someone once told me that the supermarket is a great place to meet people. Shopping at Whole Foods is pretty self selective, and you can tell a lot about a person by what’s in their grocery basket. All snack food=binge eater, a guy with lentils and fat free pizza sauce=health nut, only condiments and beer=investment banker. But my fantasy is to meet a boy between the stacks at the library on St. Marks. Nothing says romance like the Dewey Decimal system.

I’ve heard the saying “You meet someone when you stop looking,” but many people still go out every weekend actively searching – and there’s nothing wrong with that. But perhaps they are looking in the wrong place. Maybe Whiskey Town on East Third isn’t where your soulmate has been hiding all these years.

So I took it to the streets, asking strangers: “Where’s the best place to meet a potential date in the East Village?”

Allison Hertzberg is owner and head designer at Accessories By ASH.

Do you have ideas about any other great meeting places?