Purgatory is a 6-block neighborhood in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars located on the western waterfront of Algonquin, Liberty City.
History[]
At one point in time, Purgatory was the central place of operations for the McReary Crime Family, although their influence has waned considerably, possibly as the result of the gentrification of the neighborhood. It remains one of the less affluent neighborhoods in Algonquin, though less so than Westminster and The Meat Quarter.
Description[]
Purgatory is bordered to the north by Nickel Street (Middle Park West); to the east by Frankfort Avenue (Star Junction); to the south by Lorimar Street (Westminster); and to the west by the West River.
Purgatory is much like the Westminster and The Meat Quarter neighborhoods to the south in that it is much less "refined" than adjacent central Algonquin neighborhoods, but is in the process of gentrification. Unlike Westminster and The Meat Quarter, Purgatory appears to have always been intended to be used mainly for residential and commercial purposes, owing to the towering skyscrapers and luxury apartment complexes along its Frankfort Avenue corridor. Low-rise and high-rise tenements are the main fare in central Purgatory. Along its western edge, Purgatory is dominated by a parking garage which stretches north from Westminster, west of Union Drive West.
Influence[]
Purgatory appears to be based on the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, a place once populated primarily by working-class Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans as well as a center of the real-life Irish mob in New York City. Indeed, Hell's Kitchen influence on the neighborhood is evident in the name (the concepts of Hell and Purgatory being part of several religious beliefs), architecture (Hell's Kitchen features many of the same tenements present in Purgatory), and location (Hell's Kitchen is located directly west of Times Square, much as Purgatory is west of Star Junction).
The name of the neighborhood, as well as possibly stemming from the above mentioned similarity to the concept of Hell, may be a reference to the HBO television series The Sopranos. In the episode "From Where to Eternity", the character Christopher Moltisanti describes his vision of Hell/Purgatory as "an Irish bar where it's St Patrick's Day all the time". This relation to the quote is further backed up by GTA IV's Purgatory once being the base of operations for the Irish Mob during their glory days, and the presence of the stereotypically Irish bar in the neighborhood, complete with looping fiddle music and leprachauns adorning the interior.
Collectibles[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Items & Weapons[]
- Body Armor near the western extremity of the parking lot projecting onto the West River.
Transportation[]
Public transportation[]
Purgatory is served by the Algonquin Outer Line of the Liberty City Subway which passes by Manganese West Station.
Places of Interest[]
Businesses[]
- Auto Limbo Pay 'n' Spray
- Body Canvas Tattoos
- Callan's
- Car Wash
- DJ's Auto Radiator Co. Inc. Repair
- Fleeca Bank
- Grill-O-Rama
- G&Y Bagels Ltd
- Laundromat Dry Cleaners
- Liberty Sports Network
- Lucky Winkles
- Moonshine Deli Grocery
- Pasta Le Vista
- Pill-Pharm
- Pizza
- Purgatory Copy Shop
- Rainbow Video
- Squirrel Storage
- Superb Deli
- The Coffee Stain
- The Flaming Fez
- The Haitian Kitchen
- TJ's Disco Emporium
Trivia[]
- In Waste Not Want Knots, Patrick McReary claims that Purgatory was named thus because the residents stayed at home by fear of the McRearys. Gordon Sargent retorts: "It's called Purgatory because the McRearys' stories were so fuckin' boring. Listening to them was like being in Purgatory!"
- Purgatory is a state after death according to Roman Catholic belief in which the souls of people who die are made pure through suffering before going to heaven. It's also defined as a place or state of suffering.
Gallery[]
