With Graduation behind me and in between Summer classes, I am finally exploring the streets below 23rd Street. I never thought I would get here. It had been two long semesters and the Christmas from hell. I don’t think my feet ever hit the floor. I just kept going.
I finally got back to the Flatiron District. This is where the lines get a blurry with the neighborhoods. The Flatiron District overlaps with Union Square which overlaps with Gramercy Park. NoMAD mixes with the Flatiron District and Rose Hill and then Kips Bay and Gramercy Park again. It gets very confusing so I just repeat the roads in other neighborhoods. Since the official southern border of the Flatiron District is West 20th Street, I looked to the neighborhood to walk.
The Lower Flatiron District by McCreery’s Department store on 15th Street.
I decided to defy what the relators say and I cut the neighborhoods by Avenues. I decided that Lower Flatiron District would be from West 20th to West 14th Streets between Sixth and Fifth Avenues. Union Square would be from West 20th to West 14th Streets between Fifth and Irving Place. From there I would finish Gramercy Park past Irving Place and then Lower Chelsea from West 23rd to West 14th Street from Sixth Avenue to Twelve Avenue. Have I confused you yet? It is for me and I am not sure if the residents of these communities know what neighborhood association to join.
I started my walk along the northern section of the neighborhood which I had walked before the semester had started at NYU. I started on West 20th Street and it was like visiting an old friend. It was then I realized that I had not walked this neighborhood in two years and that a lot had changed in that time. I had finished walking it in 2022 before Grad school had even started.
Walking through Chelsea to West 20th Street. I love how the purple in this restaurant stands out every summer. I walked through the outside seating to Shukette, a restaurant at 230 Ninth Avenue.
At the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street, another building got my attention at 650 Sixth Avenue. This impressive building, which is known as the Cammeyer and is located at 650 Avenue of the Americas on the southeast corner at 20th Street, was converted to a residential condominium in 2007 (Carter Horsley. CityRealty.com).
650 Sixth Avenue at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street-Now the Cammeyer
The building was designed by Hubert, Piersson & Hoddick in 1892 for the estate of William C. Rhinelander. The red-brick, Neo-Renaissance-style building has white stone and terra cotta trim, a large copper cornice and a handsome band course beneath its top floor. It was the home of the Cammeyer Shoe Store, the one of the largest shoe stores in country (Daytonian).
The conversion was designed by Perkins Eastman for by Penterium, the residential development arm of Korean firm Kumang Housing Corp (Carter Horsley. CityRealty.com).
I was admiring 27 West 20th Street on my walk down West 20th Street to Park Avenue South. This detailed twelve story office building was built in 1908 and now offers loft style offices. the details of the building include elaborate stonework both around the doorways and lower windows and the top floors.
What I liked about the side streets as well as the avenues as I walked the neighborhood was that it kept its character and that these buildings had not been knocked down for the modern skyscraper. They were finding new use like the buildings in Midtown South and in NoMAD and become very desirable.
There was true beauty in the details of 20 West 20th Street that was built in 1906. The Beaux Art style details around the windows and doors accent the elegant building.
This is also the details you see in the office building of 10 West 20th Street built in 1903 with Beaux Art style details along the lower windows and doors and the upper floors of the building.
I passed 156 Fifth Avenue as I crossed the border from west to east in this part of the neighborhood and admired it for its detailed stonework carving and unusual styled roof. The Presbyterian Building was built in 1893 and was designed by architect James B. Baker and was designed in the French Gothic style. It was to be used by the Presbyterian Church as their base for domestic and foreign missions and used as office space. The Panic of 1893 changed that, and they had to lease the space out (Daytonian in Manhattan).
I then took the long walk down Fifth Avenue and all the architectural treasures it contains. This was once the core of the old ‘Midtown Manhattan’ after the Civil War and the City started its march uptown.
119 Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 19th Street in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1905-06 and was designed by John H. Duncan in the neo-Renaissance style. It was built to be an annex to the Lord & Taylor department store buildings which took up most of the square block between Broadway and Fifth Avenue and East 19th and 20th Streets, being connected by bridge to two of them. After Lord & Taylor moved uptown in 1914, the building had multiple uses (Wiki).
The details of 119 Fifth Avenue
The details of 119 Fifth Avenue
One of the most impressive buildings in the neighborhood is the old Arnold Constable Store building that stretches from its Broadway entrance down the entire block on 18th Street to its Fifth Avenue entrance.
115 Fifth Avenue-Arnold Constable Department Store
This seven-story department store building was designed by architect Griffith Thomas in 1868 for the prominent dry-goods company of Arnold Constable & Company. ‘The Palace of Trade’ as it became known as, is located stretches between Broadway and Fifth Avenue. The stunning Second Empire building is faced in marble, brick, and cast-iron, features stacked arch orders and a prominent, two-story, pavilioned mansard roof. Arnold Constable & Co. was founded by Aaron Arnold, who opened a small dry goods store in the city in 1825 (Buildings of New England).
As the business prospered he moved into larger quarters numerous times. In 1842, James Constable, an employee, married Arnold’s daughter Henrietta and was subsequently made a partner. From this, the company was renamed Arnold Constable & Co. In its heyday, Arnold Constable & Co. was the largest dealer to the elite in New York City, supplying the latest fashions to a clientele that included the leading families in the city (Buildings of New England).
interesting history. The building was designed by architect Louis Korn and was designed in the Beaux-Arts design. It was completed in 1896 and it was named after Edwards Pierrepont, whose mansion had stood on the site before the construction of the building. When it opened the building was popular small publishing and mercantile companies (Dayonianinmanhattan.com).
The 103 Fifth Avenue details
103 Fifth Avenue embellishments
In between the buildings there was plaque to Levi Parsons Morton, the former Governor of New York State and the Vice-President of the United States under President Benjamin Harrison. This is where his home was located.
The plaque of the former Vice-President’s home on Fifth Avenue.
Vice-President and former New York Governor Levi Parsons Morton
The B. Shackman & Company sign was for the former B. Shackman & Company novelty and toy store that was located here until the 1970’s. The store once sold all sorts of novelties and gifts (Ephemeral New York.com/Consumer Grouch).
This beautiful office building was designed by architect Louis Korn for businessmen Henry and Samuel Korn in 1896. The office building currently houses small companies (Wiki).
The details of women looking down at us on the street at 91 Fifth Avenue
The lion details on 91 Fifth Avenue.
The last building on this part of Fifth Avenue was under an extensive renovation and I was not able to get the pictures that I wanted but still you could see the details in the building around the renovations.
Looking up Fifth Avenue from 16th Street
The Kensington Building was designed by architect Samuel Sass in the Beaux-Arts design and completed in 1906. Some of the first tenants of the building was the Milton Bradley company. The building was converted into a residential building in 1996 and were designed by architect Joseph Pell Lombardi (Landmark Branding LLC).
This part of Fifth Avenue has kept its character all these years and now that these buildings are back in vogue because of their history and design detail, they are being refitted for modern times. These were once the headquarters of companies that are now long gone but are housing the new future companies leading us into the 21st Century.
Looking up Fifth Avenue from 15th Street and the core of the Lower Flatiron District.
West 14th Street is a Hodge podge of building types and in various conditions. COVID really hit 14th Street businesses hard and between the pandemic, urban renewal of the neighborhood and changing tastes of building types, there is only a few buildings left from the era when this was a major shopping street at the turn of the last century. This was before everything moved up to the 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue area.
Much of the block between Fifth and Sixth Avenue is in the process of being knocked down, renovated or both. Still there are some architectural gems still left on the street.
On the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 14th Street is 80 Fifth Avenue.
80 Fifth Avenue is an elaborately-detailed Renaissance Revival style office building that was constructed by the architecture firm of Buchman and Fox. This building was constructed in 1908 to be used as manufacturing and office space (Kates, Ariel. Off the Grid).
Seeing better detail work on the building from the West 14th Street view.
This beautiful building’s lower and upper levels feature decorative floral and geometric ornamentation, elaborate cornices, and angled bay windows on the third floor. Ornamented pilasters are found at either side of these windows, with slightly more austere middle floors and in its arched windows and elaborate ornamentation at the top story (Kates, Ariel. Off the Grid).
The beautiful detail work on 80 Fifth Avenue.
The building’s history has a long past of companies that have worked in these offices but the most prominent had been the creation of the gay organization, The National Gay Task Force. Among the Task Force’s accomplishments during the time it was located at 80 Fifth Avenue included getting the American Psychiatric Association to end its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness; getting the federal government to end its ban on employing gay or lesbian people in any federal agencies (Kates, Ariel. Off the Grid).
Walking past buildings that are being renovating or built much of what must have been there from the turn of the last century had been torn down and that beauty in the buildings that must have been the ‘Ladies Shopping District’ in the early 1900’s. The only other building on West 14th Street that had the same characteristics and beauty is 56 West 14th Street by the corner of West 14th and Sixth Avenue.
This Neo-Classically designed building was the annex to the original Macy’s store that stood at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street. R.H. Macy Dry Goods originally opened in a small building (since demolished) on this corner in 1858, and as its success grew it expanded into a number of neighboring buildings. No. 56 was built in 1898 by then-owners Isador & Nathan Straus. It was designed by architects William Schickel and Isaac E. Ditmars (Moskowitz, Sam Off the Grid).
The elaborate embellishments of 56 West 14th Street
The interesting details of the building.
Four years later, in 1902, the department store moved uptown to it’s present location on Herald Square, which is the current headquarters of the store.
Walking up Sixth Avenue towards West 20th Street, there is again the same issue. Most of the more elaborate buildings are closer to the edge of West 20th Street. Walking back up toward the heart of the former “Ladies Garment Mile” along Sixth Avenue from West 18th Street to West 23rd Street, the lower part of Sixth Avenue is similar in look to West 14th Street. A mish-mosh architectural styles from years of knocking down the older buildings. Inside are a variety of fast food restaurants, coffee shops and small stores.
The first building left of the former shopping district is the former Pace Building at 610 Sixth Avenue.
David Price opened his first women’s clothing store, D. Price & Co. around 1887. The Price Building was built in 1910-1912 and designed by Buchman & Fox in the Beaux-Arts style (Wiki). The was the combination of the two stores, the one facing Sixth Avenue and the one facing 18th Street (DaytoninManhattan.com).
The embellishments of 610 Sixth Avenue designed by Buchman & Fox.
Next to the Price Building is what was one of the grandest of the department stores in New York City at 620 Sixth Avenue, Seigel Cooper
620 Sixth Avenue-The former Siegal Cooper Department Store
The original store design in the late 1800’s (New York Historical Society)
The Siegel-Cooper Department store was a Chicago based store that was founded in 1877 by Henry Siegel, Frank H. Cooper and Isaac Keim. They opened the New York City store in 1896 on the Ladies Mile Shopping District. The store was designed by the architectural firm of DeLemons & Cordes in the Beaux-Arts design. When it opened, it was the largest department store in the world until Macy’s opened in 1902 (Wiki).
The Siegal Cooper insignia on the building.
The window details
The details on the upper windows of the store.
Henry Siegel over-extended himself and sold the company in 1902 to an investor and the store declared bankruptcy in 1915 and closed in 1917. After the store closed, it was used as a military hospital and then as a warehouse. Today after years of being used as a warehouse, it now has several retailers located in the store space (Wiki).
Across the street from the Siegel-Cooper store is the old B. Altman & Company store before they moved to East 34th Street.
625 Fifth Avenue-The old B. Altman & Company Department Store.
B. Altman & Company was founded in 1865 as a family store that eventually came under the control of Benjamin Altman. It moved from its Third Avenue and Tenth Street location to 621 Sixth Avenue in 1877. The store expanded four times in this location to cover what is now 625 Sixth Avenue. The store was designed in the Neo-Grec design and built in four stages. First by architects David and John Jardine for the original store in 1877 and then the extension in 1880. Then by architect William Hume in 1887 and then by architects Buchman & Fox in 1910. The store moved to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in 1906 when the shopping district moved to 34th Street (Wiki).
The last old department store on the Ladies Mile Shopping District is at 641 Sixth Avenue on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street.
641 Sixth Avenue-The old Simpson Crawford Department Store
Simpson Crawford like many stores on Sixth Avenue had its humble beginnings on 19th Street. The store continued to grow and expand catering to the ‘carriage trade’ and selling the finest merchandise. After their new store was destroyed in a fire in 1880, they opened the store at 641 Sixth Avenue in 1899 which was designed by architectural firm William H. Hume & Son in the Beaux-Arts design (dayoninmanhattan.com).
The details of 641 Sixth Avenue.
This part of the Flatiron District feels so different from the northern part of the neighborhood. So much of it has disappeared over the years that the character has changed. It does not have the distinction of the blocks between 23rd and 20th streets. There are blocks of these types of buildings whereas the blocks of the old shopping districts of the early to late 1800’s from 14th to 18th Streets have slowly disappeared over time. Older buildings have since been replaced with modern office and apartment buildings. The buildings have even been refitted for apartments and for the growing college campuses in the area.
While there are many architectural gems in this neighborhood, it just goes to show the progression of Manhattan and how things have changed in the last 100 years. The City keeps marching on. Still this section of the Lower Flatiron District shows just how important this part of the old “Midtown Manhattan” was from the Civil War until WWI. Just look up and admire all the details on each building. There are a surprise and delight for the eyes.
The Street art on West 15th Street off Sixth Avenue “I Love New York”
Read my blog on Walking the Streets of the Lower Flatiron District:
One of the nicest events we have as members of the Cornell Club is the walking tours that the club offers during the year. It really does give you an interesting perspective of New York City. I have toured the historic bars and saloons of Lower Manhattan, walked through historic Midtown Manhattan for a Victorian Christmas through the Ladies Shopping Mile, walked through the haunted historic sites of lower Manhattan and toured Chinatown through some of its oldest buildings and then lunch at a local restaurant. I even got to sit next to the gentleman who helped the President of Bloomingdale’s organize the big “China at Bloomingdales” exhibition. Now that was interesting.
The latest tour I went on was the “Secrets of Grand Central Station” tour on a recent Saturday. A group of about 25 of us met at the club to tour Grand Central Station and learn about various points of the history of the building. The tour guide was over an hour late so everyone on the tour got to know one another before we left the club.
When the tour guide arrived, we took the two block walk to the club and started at the staircases as you enter the building at Vanderbilt Avenue.
The Grand Central Terminal is right around the corner from the club
The terminal was not that busy that Saturday morning and we were still able to walk around with no problems. We started the tour at the top of the stairs leading into the Great Hall of Grand Central Station. We were able to admire the room from a distance and all the activity that train travel brings.
As the tour guide explained, Grand Central Terminal was meant to impress a visitor when they arrived into New York City from wherever they were traveling from. You entered the room to see the elegance and vibrancy of Manhattan.
Though splendid in its day, the original Grand Central Depot of 1871 had become a 19th century relic struggling to meet the demands of a 20th century city. Its 30-year-old rail tunnels couldn’t handle the steadily increasing traffic. The building lacked modern conveniences and signaling technology, as well as the infrastructure for electric rail lines. And having been designed for three independent railroad companies—with three separate waiting rooms—the terminal was badly outdated, crowded, and inefficient.
On top of that, the old station no longer reflected its surroundings. In 1870, 42nd Street was still a relative backwater. By 1910, it was the vibrant heart of a dynamic, ambitious, and swiftly growing New York City (Grand Central Terminal History).
The new Grand Central Terminal was built between 1903-13 and opened in 1913. This beautiful rail station was designed New York Central Vice-President William J. Wilgus and the interiors and some exteriors by architects Reed & Stem and Warren & Wetmore in the Beaux Arts design. The exterior façade of building including the famous “Glory of Commerce” were designed by French artists and architects Jules Felix Coutan, Sylvain Salieres and Paul Cesar Helleu (Wiki).
Grand Central Terminal Great Hall
The architects brought in Parisian artist Sylvain Saliéres to craft bronze and stone carvings, including ornamental inscriptions, decorative flourishes, and sculpted oak leaves and acorns (symbols of the Vanderbilt family.) Playful carved acorns festoon the Main Waiting Room’s chandeliers. The architects specified Tennessee marble for the floors, Botticino marble for wall trim, and imitation Caen stone for the walls (History of Grand Central).
The Great Hall of Grand Central Terminal right before COVID 2020
The view of the Great Hall from the stairs at the Vanderbilt entrance
The Landmarks Preservation Commission protected Grand Central from demolition, but the dilapidated terminal was still ailing. Restoring its former glory required an owner that recognized the station’s beauty and potential, craftsmen able to renovate its battered décor, and strong public support. It also required money. In 1982, Metro-North took over the terminal—now primarily a commuter hub—and launched a four-year, $12 million repair program that stopped further deterioration but didn’t erase decades of decay (Grand Central Terminal History).
In 1990, Metro-North announced ambitious plans to restore the station’s structural, architectural, and decorative glory. Peter E. Stangl, Metro-North’s first president and later Chairman of the MTA, led these efforts. Metro-North’s vision went far beyond simply refurbishing the building. Its master plan reimagined Grand Central as a vibrant shopping and dining destination, reclaiming its role as New York’s town square (Grand Central Terminal History).
The windows and the ceilings of the Great Hall
All the art on the window arches is dedicated to travel. The friezes were dedicated to travel, motion and speed. The theme of the sculptures was travel. The sculptures were designed by Sylvain Salières, who designed many other decorations around the terminal.
Artist Sylvain Salieres was born in France. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He taught at Carnegie Institute as a Professor of Art.
The interior of the building is just as spectacular. When you walk into the building and stare from the top of the stairs, you see the power and bustle of New York City. When you look up you will see the famous ‘Constellation’ ceiling cleaned and lit with all the stars in the sky. There is still a small portion of the ceiling that was not cleaned to show how dirty it once was before the renovation.
The ceiling of the Great hall shows all the constellations
The ceiling had been designed with the help of a professor from Columbia University who taught astrology. The tour guide told us it was after the completion of the ceiling that the constellations were upside down and backwards (which was also noted in the video as well). Still you can see its magnificence in the details and the fact that it is lit up with lightbulbs to represent the stars.
The dirt on the ceiling
This small spot left in the ceiling in the corner was what was left after they finished cleaning the ceiling and renovating the rest of the terminal in the early 1990’s. Both the tour guide and the video said that this was from years of allowing smoking in the terminal. That was banned in the late 1980’s and early 90’s by both the Giuliani and Bloomberg Administrations.
The windows of the Great Hall which have walkways going across balconies
The tour guide explained to us that the windows were also skyways where people could walk across them. I did not believe it until I looked up and actually saw people walking across the windows. They are actually skylights that are double paned and there are three levels of walkways for people who work in the building to walk across.
The tile ceilings of the “hallways”Whispering Hall” of Grand Hall
In all the years I have been visiting Grand Central Terminal the “Whispering Hall” was the most fascinating part of the tour. You can stand on one side of the hall and hear someone talking on the other side of the room. It was fun testing it out and it really does work.
This remarkable acoustic oddity is caused by the unusually perfect arches, which are a version of Catalan vaults, that compose the gallery. The distinctive tile work in the gallery is known as “Guastavino” tiles, named for the patented material and methods of Spanish tile worker Rafael Guastavino in 1892, whose meticulous work and herringbone patterns can be admired here and elsewhere in the city (Atlas Obscura/Wiki).
The Grand Central Oyster Bar Restaurant inside the main terminal
The Grand Central Oyster Bar was closed that day but is one of the oldest restaurants in the city and was located there for the commuters who came and went from the terminal. It has been there since the beginning.
The chandeliers of Vanderbilt Hall make quite a statement. These were created to show off the new modern technology of electricity which was new back in 1913 when they were installed. The modern light bulb replaced gas lamps and candles of an earlier era. The Vanderbilts wanted to show how progressive they were with the railroads so these were created to dazzle the modern train rider.
The first part of the use electricity with these chandeliers
The vaults and chandeliers on the side of the Great Hall
A combination of soaring ceilings and modern lighting were to show the progress of the rail system and to dazzle customers as they came into New York City. These halls were meant to impress travelers when they entered this part of the Terminal.
The Vanderbilt’s wanted travelers to know that Grand Central Terminal was electrified which was unusual at the time when the building was built. This was very important as they wanted travelers to know that they were in the modern age of travel.
Next we toured the Graybar Passage Way which is part of the Graybar building that is part of Grand Central Terminal. The tour guide noted the very decorative chandeliers that lined the passageway.
The Graybar Passageway of Grand Central
The details of the chandelier in the Graybar Passageway
The mural on the ceiling
The tour guide and the video you can listen to below both explained that this mural was part of the original terminal from 1913. The mural is a bit faded and I had walked these hallways before and never noticed it. It is a depiction of train transportation. The video said that at the time murals should represent what the building was all about (Grand Central Terminal Video). I thought that was very interesting. It is very easy to miss.
The Food Court
We took a quick tour of the Food Court area in the lower level and some people had to go to the bathrooms. This is one of the many money making parts of the terminal and the profits help with the continuous renovation and upkeep of Grand Central Terminal. Since COVID, this are is still not at 100% of what it was pre-COVID but is still slowly making its way back. It has a lot of popular restaurants that are convenient to commuters, tourists and office workers alike.
The Food Court like most of the retail spots in the Terminal was created to bring in income for the renovation and upkeep of the Terminal. We headed back up the ramps to the main room and headed up the ramp and out the door. We stopped first in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Foyer. This was dedicated to the former First Lady.
The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Foyer leading to East 42nd Street
Notice the lamp in the shape of an acorn. This was part of the Vanderbilt coat of arms. The coat of arms symbolized “from an acorn a mighty oak will grow”.
This entrance way was dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who with members of the Municipal Art Society and the City helped save this treasured building. With the recent destruction of Penn Station, the former First Lady lent her celebrity to helping save and preserve Grand Central Terminal.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis with Bess Myerson and Ed Koch in front of Grand Central (The Attic 2020) trying to save this landmark
Grand Central was symbolic of old Manhattan, a city her grandfather, James T. Lee, had helped build (highlights include 740 Park Avenue). Onassis also cared about historic preservation, having restored the White House to its former glory and saved Washington’s Lafayette Square from being replaced by ugly government office buildings in the early 1960s (Bloomberg 2013).
She was the star of a press conference in Grand Central’s Oyster Bar. “If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future,” she said into a bank of microphones over the din of flashbulbs popping. “We’ve all heard that it’s too late, or that it has to happen, that it’s inevitable. But I don’t think that’s true. Because I think if there is a great effort, even if it’s the eleventh hour, then you can succeed and I know that’s what we’ll do.” (Bloomberg 2013).
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Plaque in the foyer
This entrance was dedicated to her for all her work in preserving the building for future generations.
When we walked outside, the tour guide pointed at the grill work that surrounds the building. I never really thought of it because I had never looked at it before. All over the grill work is tiny acorns and leaves, the Vanderbilt coat of arms that was created by Alice Vanderbilt. They were all in the details of the grill work. This was a symbol of the Vanderbilt’s influence at that time.
The Grill Work on the outside of Grand Central Terminal
The Acorn Coat of Arms of the Vanderbilt family
Acorns and Oak Leaves are all over the Terminal as a symbol of the Vanderbilt family and the lasting of the family business. Within one generation the railroads and the family fortune would be gone.
The Statue of Mercury and the famous Grand Central clock “The Glory of Commerce”
There is a true beauty to the statuary and stone carvings on the outside of the building. Each of these were done by different artists. Some of the statuary was taken from the original railroad terminal such as the statue of Commodore Vanderbilt and the Eagle statues on both side of the front of Grand Central Terminal.
The Commodore Vanderbilt Statue
The statue was designed by artist Ernst Plassman a German born American artist who moved to New York in 1853. The artist studied under many famous artists in Europe before founding the “Plassman’s School of Art” in New York City in 1854.
The Eagle statues were taken from the previous terminal.
They are two of the 11 or 12 eagle statues that ornamented the terminal’s predecessor, Grand Central Station. In 1910, when the station was demolished to build Grand Central Terminal, the eagles were dispersed throughout the city and New York State (Wiki). These two statues now are located on both sides of the Terminal. This eagle was returned to the Terminal in 2004.
The Eagle Statue on the outside of the front of the Terminal
The Vanderbilt Eagle plaque in the Vanderbilt Plaza
The terminal housed the New York Central Railroad and some of the busiest routes. It now houses the New Haven, White Plains and Poughkeepsie lines and stop overs for some Amtrak lines. In 2020, it was house the new lines of the Long Island Railroad.
The new Grand Central Madison Avenue Concourse:
The Grand Central Madison Avenue is a brand new terminal that is situated deep underneath Manhattan’s East Side. In the next few months, 296 LIRR trains per day will be rolling in and out of the terminal. This will mean more frequent train service to Long Island and better access to the East side of Manhattan.
The project was first proposed back in the 1960’s and then began in the 1990’s. After 25 years, the project was finally finished with an 11 billion dollar price tag. The project delays were because of budget cuts, 9/11, Hurricane Sandy and other issues that the City was dealing with over the last forty years. The terminal finally opened fully in March of 2023 (Tour Guide/Wiki).
This is the new Madison Avenue Concourse to the Madison Avenue Terminal
In the lower terminal, steel and glass creates a sleek, modern feel. As passengers rise toward the 350,000 passenger concourse and street level, however, visual references to Grand Central’s Beaux-Arts style will create a smooth transition to the century-old landmark above. The Grand Central Madison Terminal provides eight new miles of track to connect Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. Transportation efficiency meets energy efficiency! Green design at the new LIRR concourse and terminal will combine maximum comfort with minimal power and water use (Grand Central Terminal History and tour guide).
The new artwork that dots the terminal and all the hallways is just beautiful. Many artists were commissioned to decorate the new rail terminal. These glass mosaics decorate the halls and subway entrances to the new part of the terminal.
Kiki Smith is a West German-born American artist[1] whose work has addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration. Her figurative work of the late 1980s and early 1990s confronted subjects such as AIDS, Feminism and Gender but her most recent works concentrate on the human condition and how it relates to nature. She studied at the Hartford Art School and is a member of Collaborative Projects, an artist collective (Wiki).
Further down the hall, we were greeted by this delightful and whimsical wall of surrealist images of happy and playful pictures. These engaging images were by artist Yayoi Kusama.
The artwork on the hallways of the new terminal area by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama “A Message of Love, Directly from My Heart unto the Universe 2022”
“The other part of the artwork”A Message of Love, Directly from My Heart unto the Universe 2022” . The other side of the piece.
Artist Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese born artist who studied at the Kyoto School of Arts & Crafts and is known for her installments and sculptures but also works in film, performance art and fashion among other mediums and is known for influence in ‘Pop Art’ . She is currently the most successful living female artist in the world and is still going strong in her early 90’s. She currently is working on a second line of merchandise with Louis Vuitton (Wiki/Artist Bio).
Please watch the video of Yayoi Kusama
On the lower levels at each subway platform entrance, there is a new piece of art by Artist Kiki Smith, who continues to show here creativity in a series of local points of nature as she interprets it. Each work of art has a different theme and use of creativity and color.
The artwork at each track entrance “The Sound” by Artist Kiki Smith
The artwork at the track entrance “The Spring” by Artist Kiki Smith
The artwork at the track entrance “The Presence” by Artist Kiki Smith
The artwork at the track entrance “The Water’s Way” by artist Kiki Smith
“I made images from nature that hold affection and personal significance to me as I hope they will for others,” Smith said. “I am very honored to be included in the tradition of artists making work for the MTA, particularly as I have rarely had the opportunity to make something that lives within the public realm.” (6SqFt 2023)
We finished our tour at the last piece of artwork and then made our way back to the Cornell Club. I stayed for a half hour taking more pictures around the terminal and admiring the architecture one more time now knowing its history in more detail. It is amazing to walk around a building your whole life and never really know its history or its details. It was a wonderful tour.
The new modern entrance is now open for business and people can enjoy these wonderful pieces of art created for them to enjoy on their way to their trains and subways.
Grand Central Terminal at night
When I left for the evening, I got to see Grand Central Terminal at night and it really is nicely lit. You get to see the building at its best. It really is a beautiful building.
This was the closest tour I could find online of what I experienced:
Listen to the YouTube video while you are reading the blog. We had the same tour as on this video.
What is even more beautiful in Grand Central Terminal is it decorated for Christmas. Walking through the Great Hall with its towering wreaths and garland adorning the hallways.
Grand Central Terminal during the Christmas holiday season in 2023.
The beautiful wreathes adorn the walls of Grand Central Terminal. Christmas is such a special time at Terminal.
With classes finally behind me for the term and the Summer break here, it is time to start exploring the West side of Manhattan. I had started the borders of Midtown West/ Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen before Final exams and just finished before we ended the semester (See Day One Hundred and Ninety-Four) and it took time.
The neighborhood which is located next to the Theater District on the other said of Eighth Avenue is a mess. That part of the neighborhood is loaded with closed theaters, hotels and restaurants and loaded with graffiti. You would think the City would have had these business owners clean their buildings on a regular basis.
Day One Hundred and Ninety-Four: Walking the Borders of Midtown West/Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen:
I swear sometimes I never realize the ground I have to cover for this project. I have been walking the streets of Hell’s Kitchen for three days and I am only doing half of the area. That stretch of walking back and forth through the neighborhood from Eighth to Tenth Avenues can be exhausting. This neighborhood is much different from the others I have walked in the past as most of the housing is low level former tenement buildings with a few small apartment buildings on the edges of the neighborhood. It looked like Mayor Bloomberg did not zone this area for much development.
Still block by block each is unique in its own way. Here and there tucked in a corner or on a wall is an interesting piece of street art, a pocket park, a small restaurant or an interesting quirky store and occasionally face stares at you from a building. This part of Midtown West/Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen has what we call ‘character’. Even though it still has that rough look about it, the area has pretty much been fully gentrified.
Those small tenement buildings have been sandblasting back into pristine form and many have small gardens, plantings and artwork incorporated to their entrances. A newer much younger resident has replaced the people who used to call this place “Hell’s Kitchen” and use the more historical name of “Clinton” after the family estate that used to dominate this area of the island before the Civil War. Governor George Clinton called this place home just until after the Civil War when the real changes in the neighborhood happened.
I started my walk on West 43rd Street around the corner from Eighth Avenue. This area has been going through a transition since the Bloomberg Administration rezoned the area and parts of Eighth Avenue have been rebuilt with larger hotels and office buildings. Even though COVID has emptied these areas out for the time being, the whole district around the Port Authority building has become home to more company offices and has started already to return the workers that crowded the streets here.
As I walked each street, they are pretty much lined with older tenement buildings that have been renovated and sandblasted back into more luxurious homes. I can see this in the details such as the fancier gates, the ornate door knobs, the flowering pots and small gardens that are surrounding each home. Here and there are small treasures such as interesting street art and small pocket parks and community gardens. Each block has it own attributes.
As you walk down West 43rd Street from Eighth Avenue you will pass the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center building for the Health Care Worker Association the 1199SEIU at 314 West 43rd Street. On the side of the building is the tile art by artist Anton Refregier that was created in 1970.
The Anton Refregier mosaic at 314 West 43rd Street. This will be demolished soon.
It captures the ideals of the labor movement with the wording saying “If there is no struggle, there is not progress”. Unfortunately this well-known mosaic can’t be moved and the building is scheduled for demolition this year. A copy is being created in the new headquarters to replace it (W42nd Street.nyc , O’Brien 2021).
Artist Anton Refregier was born in Moscow and moved to Paris as a teenager. He immigrated to the United States in 1920. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and worked for the WPA/FPA as an artist through the Depression and was known for many of his works.
The beauty of the gardens and landscaping in front of 423 West 43rd Street
Venturing further down West 43rd Street, I stopped in front of 421 West 43rd Street and admired the embellishments and decorative carvings on the building. The front of the entrance has interesting details around the entrance. The elegant building was built in 1910 (Realty.net).
421 West 43rd Street stands out amongst the smaller tenements
The interesting landscaping at 413 West 43rd Street
Reaching Tenth Avenue, I travelled back down West 43rd Street and stopped in McCaffrey Playground at 341 West 43rd Street, where groups of families were chasing their small children around the park. I needed to take a break and relax so I sat towards the back of the playground. I must have stood out at 6: 4 with tinted glasses because many of the parents gave me a funny look.
The little oasis of green was named after Monsignor Joseph A. McCaffrey, known as the ‘Bishop of Times Square’, who fought against crime in Times Square. It was at his urging of the City that the land was bought for a park to be developed for neighborhood children. It was one of the many parks built during the Robert Moses era (NYCParks.org). The playground has been renovated many times with modern play equipment and many shade trees for the weary traveler like myself.
Monsignor Joseph A. McCaffrey who the park is named after
I had read online that the Little Pie Company was on this block and I made a B-line to the bakery. The bakery is known for their small five inch individual pies and I wanted to try one.
Little Pie Company is located at 424 West 43rd Street and was founded in 1985 by actor Arnold Wilkerson who was inspired by his grandmother’s baking. I have to tell you that the Three Berry pie was delicious (see my review on TripAdvisor) and was reasonable at $10.95.
THe Three Berry Pie at Little Pie Company is terrific
I stopped at the little park down the block and ate my little pie with gusto and ‘MMM ing’ the whole time at the tart sweet taste. Even the pigeons stared at me to get a taste.
After about fifteen minutes of relaxing and getting more stares, I moved on down West 43rd Street and turned the corner of West 44th Street. Much of the block around Eighth Avenue has been rebuilt with modern buildings but still there are many gems tucked here and there.
The Lattice Peach Pie is delicious too
Being so close to the theater district, I passed two famous studios for actors. First was the New Dramatists building at 424 West 44th Street. The organization is located in the former All People’s Church which was built in the 1880’s in the Gothic Revival style for St. Matthews German Lutheran Church. The New Dramatists are an organization of playwrights founded in 1949. Playwrights serve a seven year residence here as they hone their skills (Wiki).
Further down the street is The Actor’s Studio at 432 West 44th Street, which is world renown as a place for actors to ‘hone their craft’. Founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Bobby Lewis and it known as the home for ‘method acting’ (The Actors Studio History Website).
I was not sure if either organization was open at the time I was in the neighborhood because they both looked so quiet. With the theaters scheduled to open at the end of September (some say closer to December), this will become a much busier block.
Walking back down from Tenth Avenue, I passed a tiny gift shop, Domus-unaffected living at 413 West 44th Street. This quirky little store was closed on my first tour of the neighborhood and I made this my first place to visit when I came the second day (see my review on LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com and on TripAdvisor).
Domus-unaffected living is an interesting little gift and home furnishing store that carries many unique items from handmade throw pillows and table runners to toys, books and games for some lucky child. They carry porcelain from a local artist in the neighborhood to handmade jewelry. The store also supports small female owned manufactures and artists both here in the States and abroad and I thought that was important direction the store was taking. The owner is really nice and spent time with me explaining her business.
There is a little something for everyone at Domus-unaffected living
The fun merchandise on their display tree
Walking down West 45th Street was interesting at the blocks between renovated tenements and small restaurants along the Avenue corridors. I was entering the core of the residential section of the neighborhood and was impressed by the pride people took in caring for their homes. Even in the pandemic, people took time to tend to their gardens and showcase their flowers which were blooming all over the neighborhood.
I stopped at Mathews-Palmer Playground at 445 West 45th Street for a quick rest. I am not sure what I am doing when I enter a park but I could see those little stares again as a single man walking into a playground to take a rest. This busy little park stretches from West 45th to West 46th and is extremely busy in the afternoons with families. Kids were running all over the place chasing one another while parents chatted.
The Mathews-Palmer Playground at 445 West 45th Street
The park has all sorts of interesting equipment to play on and the shade trees are really nice as the weather is getting warmer. It is just fun to watch the families interacting with one another even as COVID rolls on.
The inside of the park
The park is named after two neighborhood activists May Mathews, who worked and lived in the neighborhood eventually working at the Hartley House as the head social worker until 1954. Alexandra Palmer was a long time resident of West 46th Street who worked tirelessly to maintain the park and work with its upkeep (NYCParks.org).
The inside of the park
Behind scaffolding in the park is a well known mural “Against Domestic Colonialism” by artist Arnold Belkin. You could not see it from the park side so I had to look up. The work was finished in 1972 during the time the artist was living in New York City between the late 60’s and early 70’s. It has been deteriorated over the last few decades (Boston.com).
The Arnold Belkin mural “Against Domestic Colonialism” before the scaffolding (still being renovated in 2024)
Mr. Belkin was born in Canada and started his training at the Vancouver School of Art and continued his training later at the Banff School of Fine Arts. The artist is known for his murals large and small and his work with plastic.
Artist Denise Penizzotto, who is handling the restoration
Ms. Penizzotto is a professional artist with experience in project and arts management both here and abroad. She is currently attending and working at Hunter College in New York and has studied at St. Cloud University.
Another interesting mural in the park that you can see from the playground is the “Kids Project 1991” mural at the front of the park.
The “Kids Project 1991” in Mathew-Palmer Playground
(NYCParks.org/Artists Bios)
When I entered West 46th Street, most of the street was barricaded off for outdoor dining for “Restaurant Row”, a well-known group of eating establishments that cater to the theater crowd. Many of these were closed at the time I made my first visit to the neighborhood when it was colder but as the weather has gotten nicer the tables have been set up and people are enjoying outdoor dining again. The closed off block is only between Eight and Ninth Avenue.
As I passed through, I stopped to admire the plaque at the Hartley House located at 413 West 46th Street. This important establishment has been helping neighborhood residents since 1897 founded on providing education, volunteerism and charity (Hartley House History).
Tucked behind an alleyway and gate is the only remainder of the old Clinton estate, the old carriage house which is now a private home. You really have to look for this hidden entrance as it is in the middle of two buildings down a narrow alley. It is like a hidden kingdom.
The Clinton Court gate leading back to the old carriage house
The carriage house is said to date back to the 1820’s and may be the last reminder of the old estates that used to be part of this neighborhood before the Civil War. The Clinton family had owned most of the land in this neighborhood (Untapped Cities/Emphemeralnewyork@Wordpress.com). As several bloggers mentioned, you can’t see the carriage house from the street and it is private property.
The old Clinton Carriage House at 420-422 West 46th Street
I finished up the first day of walking the neighborhood exhausted. It had been a hot day and it was a lot walking from West 43rd to West 46th from Eighth to Tenth Avenues after a long day of running around. It was also still getting dark early so I finished the evening here.
I returned a few days later to finish the rest of the streets and this time left plenty of time to really look things over that I might have missed. I started my afternoon by revisiting a restaurant that had been closed for a while in Murray Hill, Hop Won at 149 East 45th Street. It was so nice that the restaurant reopened. I was scared that it had closed permanently.
The family that runs the restaurant looked like they happy to see me on that late afternoon. I had the Combination Roast Duck and Pork plate with white rice with an egg roll (see my review on TripAdvisor) and it was so good. I munched down on that for lunch and that got me through the rest of the afternoon of walking.
Don’t miss Hop Won Express at 149 East 45th Street in Midtown East
The roasted meat combination plates are Hop Won are wonderful
I walked from the east side to the west side after lunch and revisited some of the spots that I needed more time at like rewalking restaurant row (it was much busier on this warmer day) and Mathew-Palmer park to take a better look at the restoration after reading up on it.
I then turned the corner onto West 47th Street and came upon another painting outside the restaurant Anejo, a Mexican and Tequila Bar at 668 10th Avenue. It seems that a lot of the restaurants in the City are using artists to decorate the side walls of their restaurants.
As I walked down the street I came across the Actors Temple at 339 West 47th Street. This interesting building was built in 1917 as the West Side Hebrew Association. Because of a dwindling membership, the synagogue now rents out the space for dance, music performances and religious services (The Actors Temple NYCArts.org).
I took a moment to relax and finish my notes at Ramon Aponte Park at 343 West 47th Street, a small pocket park in the middle of the neighborhood. This busy little park had kids running all over the place like many of the parks in the neighborhood while the parents talked amongst themselves.
This wonderful little park was named after Ramon Aponte, who was the former President of the 47th/48th Street Association. When the Police Station that once stood in this spot was knocked down the spot became a vacant lot and stood empty during the high crime years of the City. He and many concerned residents of the Association thought it would make a nice green space for the neighborhood. The park opened in 1979 and it was transferred to the New York Parks system in 1987 (NYCParks.com).
Ramon Aponte Playground on a sunny afternoon
I picked up the pace a bit when I got to West 48th Street. I wanted to make it to West 58th Street before dark and I was spending too much time looking at every building carefully. I was amazed for small tenement buildings that people had done such a nice job fixing them up. I wonder what the residents from thirty and forty years ago who lived in the neighborhood would think of this.
On West 48th Street, I passed the Clinton Community Garden which was closed for visitors because of COVID but I could see the volunteers working inside. The garden was not in full bloom yet from what I could see but it looked very impressive and I will have to revisit it in the future.
The Clinton Community Garden at 434 West 48th Street
When the Clinton Community Garden was started over thirty years ago, it was vacant lot with a lot of illegal activity in a time when the City was falling apart. Volunteers cleaned the plot up and planted the area. When the lot was threatened to be sold, the volunteers from the neighborhood appealed to the City to buy it. It was transferred to the Parks system in 1984 and now is run along with the Clinton Garden non profit. Many special events happen in the Garden during the warmer months (NYCParks.org).
The outside of the garden in the summer of 2024
When I reached Tenth Avenue again, I relaxed in Hell’s Kitchen Park which lines Tenth Avenue between West 47th and 48th Streets. This restful park was always busy when I walked in the neighborhood and was a nice place to bring my lunch on several afternoons when I want to rest from a long day under the shade.
Hell’s Kitchen Park is on Tenth Avenue between West 47th and 48th Street
Hell’s Kitchen Park has an interesting history in that it had once been a parking lot. Since there was not a lot of green space in this area of the City since it was developed, the City bought this land which had been condemned at the time and developed into the current park that opened in 1979. Today it is one of the hubs for the neighborhood (NYCParks.org).
The relaxing benches of Hell’s Kitchen Park
When I visited, there was always a pickup game of basketball and the kids populated the park after school. I enjoyed eating my lunch here and watching the families enter the park and have a nice time. It is nice to relax on the benches below the shade trees and nod off.
Relaxing in Hell’s Kitchen Park on a hot day
After my break at the park, I turned the corner again and walked down West 49th Street from Tenth Avenue. As I passed the Mather Building Arts and Craftsmanship High School at 439 West 49th Street. On the side of the building, there was another interesting piece of outdoor art by artist Hans Hofmann called ‘Untitled’. The mosaic was created in 1957.
Artist Hans Hofmann was born in Germany and started his career in public service but always leaned towards the creative arts. On encouragement, his studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Academie Colarossi in Paris and immersed himself in the Avante-Garde scene. He moved to the States in the thirties to teach and remained in the United States for the rest of his life becoming a citizen in 1941 (Wiki).
Next to the high school was the closed and probably much needed Gutenberg Playground at 420 West 49th Street named after Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of moveable type in printing and was noted for creating the ‘Mazarin Bible’ also known as the ‘Gutenberg Bible’. The playground was built next to the high school in 1958 and was transferred to the NYC Parks Department in 1959. The playground is currently getting an update (NYCParks.org).
Artist Ernst Plassmann’s bronze sculptures of celebrated printers Benjamin Franklin and Johann Gutenberg , which were created in 1872, are located outside lobby (NYCParks.org).
Artist Ernest Plassmann was a German born artist known for his realistic life sized sculptures. These are two of his most famous works.
Walking back to Eighth Avenue, I had to make another rest stop in the courtyard of the World Wide Plaza Residence at 350 West 50th Street which stretches from West 49th to 50th Streets. It is a nice place to take a break and just relax from the traffic of the City.
In the middle of the courtyard of the building that is open to the public, is the most unusual and beautiful fountain. The fountain called “The Four Seasons” was designed by artist Sidney Simon and each of the four female statutes holds up a globe and represents the four seasons. The statutes were modeled by Molly Ackerman (Wiki).
The World Wide Plaza Fountain “The Four Seasons” by artist Sidney Simon
Sidney Simon was an American born artist from Pennsylvania. He was educated at Carnegie-Mellon and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Fine Arts and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Known as a sculpturist, the fountain at World Wide Plaza was considered one of his most noted works (Wiki).
Walking along West 50th Street in front of 423 West 50th Street
When I turned the corner onto West 50th Street and walked down the street, I passed the Stella Tower at 425 West 50th Street which was an elegant building in the middle of a neighborhood of small structures. The apartment house was built in 1927 and designed by architect Ralph Walker and was named after his wife, Stella. It is considered a prime example of Pre-War architecture with art deco details (StreetEasy.com/CityRealty.com)
I walked down the rest of the street admiring the small buildings and the array of restaurants that lined the Avenues.
When I started my walk down West 51st Street, I came across the most intriguing and colorful paintings outside ‘ritas Restaurant at 756 Ninth Avenue. The colors are so vibrant and the skull in the middle of the mural is pretty powerful. The reviews on online say that the food is excellent.
The Mural at ‘ritas Restaurant at 756 Ninth Avenue should not be missed
As I walked towards Tenth Avenue, I noticed the beautiful Sacred Heart of Jesus Church at 457 West 51st Street. What an interesting little church. Even though the cornerstone was laid in 1884, there is some debate on when the church was finished and designed by who. The church says it was finished in 1885 and the AIA Guide to New York said it was finished in 1901 and designed by the architects at Napoleon DeBrun & Sons. The church is designed in red brick and terra cotta (Wiki).
Sacred Heart of Jesus Church at 457 West 51st Street
Walking back down the street, I noticed to beautifully detailed buildings that stood out amongst all the others. One was at 330 West 51st and the other was at 306 West 51st Street. They stood out amongst the smaller tenements buildings on the block.
The stone work and carvings of 330-332 West 51st Street was built in 1920 and has interesting archway entrances. The building is an SRO and was just renovated. There is an elegant beauty to it with its faded stone work.
This recently renovated apartment building was built in 1920.
The faces that stare at 314 West 51st Street
The faces that stare at 314 West 51st Street
The stone work of 306-310 West 51st Street also shows an elegant beauty in its stonework and impressive entrance. This apartment building was built in 1945 (StreetEasy.com).
306-310 West 51st Street
The details of 306 West 51st Street-The Lincoln Apartments
There were also two interesting restaurants that I popped my head into when I was walking around. The Hudson Market Place Deli at 755 Ninth Avenue and another small restaurant that just opened Seguidilla Empanadas at 455 West 51st Street.
Both look really nice and are pretty popular in the neighborhood.
Seguidilla Empanada just opened their doors and did this video on YouTube:
The owner welcomes you to his business.
When I walked the neighborhood another afternoon and was traveling the border of the neighborhood I stopped in for a snack. I tried the Chicken Empanada ($2.99) and they were really good. The empanadas were filled with chicken and served it with a pink sauce. They also carry a Dominican soda called ‘Country Club’ and the orange really hit the spot. They have a nice menu.
Turning the corner onto West 52nd, there was a lot to see. At 348 West 52nd Street is an empty carriage house that was in the process of being renovated. The carriage house was built somewhere in the 1870’s by owner, John Newcomb, who ran an auction business. He used this carriage house for his stables for delivery. Since his ownership, the building has had many incarnations up until recently when it was a trendy bar called ‘Therapy’ (Daytonian 2019).
348 West 52nd Street-The John Newcomb Stable now “Therapy”
The mural on the side of the building (could not find the artist for this)
Outside Crispin’s Restaurant at 764 Tenth Avenue off West 52nd Street is an unusual mural outside the restaurant that I thought was very amusing. This wonderful Italian restaurant I have read has excellent food.
Crispin’s Restaurant mural on West 52nd Street and Tenth Avenue (did not the artist for this too)
The restaurant is now called Semes and the mural has been tagged and painted over since my original walk
By this point, I needed a break for dinner myself and I was dying for a hamburger. Lucky for me that I found Lucky’s Famous Burger restaurant at 370 West 52nd Street. This little hole in the wall burger place is excellent. They are also very reasonable. For $12.95, I had one of their combination meals of a Cheeseburger with fries and a large coke. The amount of food I got was a lot.
The cheeseburger was incredibly juicy and the fresh toppings really made the burger and the fries were cooked to perfection and the portion size was more than generous (please read my review on TripAdvisor).
The Lucky’s Burger combination platter of a Cheeseburger with fries and a Coke.
The burgers are amazing!
After dinner was over, I was done for the day. It was getting dark out and I could not see much in the dark. I just could not believe how fast these days went.
Don’t miss their Chicken Fingers either. The meal is a real treat!
When I returned a few days later, the weather finally broke and it was nice outside. It was a breathtaking beautiful sunny afternoon when I arrived in Midtown West/ Hell’s Kitchen again. It was the perfect day to walk around.
I started by walk on the top of West 52rd Street, passing the many businesses I had just visited the other day and then rounded the corner to West 53th Street. Most of the block was non-descrip with the exception of an unusual mural someone spray painted behind a fence at 333 West 53rd Street.
As I rounded the corner onto West 54th Street off Eighth Avenue, I was struck by the beauty of the Saint George Greek Orthodox Church at 307 West 54th Street. This beautiful church was constructed in 1886 and has served many purposes over the years. In the 1950’s, the church took over this spot (Saint George Greek Orthodox Church history)
307 West 54th Street-Saint George Greek Orthodox Church
Further down the block, when I passed 341 West 54th Street, I saw a series of faces staring back at me. I love these buildings with faces all over them. I was in need of something sweet to keep me going with all the walking that I had to do this afternoon, so I stopped at Huascar & Company Bakery at 453 West 54th Street. This tiny bakery is tucked into a corner near a building that is being renovated so it is easy to miss.
Not wanting to have the usual cupcakes and cookies, I saw in a jar a small cookie that the woman behind the counter said was a traditional South American cookie, a Alfagar, a type of sugar cookie with a caramel filling and powdered sugar on top. It was a little expensive at $3.50 (now $4.50 in 2024) but it was delicious and worth the price.
The cookie is wonderful to look at
The taste is amazing! Thick and creamy Dolce Leche (or Caramel not sure) inside two thick sugar cookies. It is delicious.
After having some refreshments inside me, I walked down West 55th Street and noticed the elegance of the Sherwood Apartments at 340 West 55th Street. The Sherwood was built in 1925 and is a combination of stone and brick and has some stand out balconies. It stands out from the other residences on the blocks between Eighth and Tenth Avenues (StreetEasy.com). It even has a planted roof deck.
When walking down West 56th Street, I noticed that the block had some interesting artwork all along the block in places you would never think. In front of 424 West 56th Street, you are greeted by a purple figure smiling at you. I figured a local artist lives here.
They must have also decorated the fence across the street which has all this unusual stuff attached to the webbing of the fence. It will be hard to keep up when the construction finishes on the site.
This is a portion of the fencing at 310 West 56th Street (the fence is not there anymore)
The current fencing by the park
Tucked into the public plaza at 330 West 56th Street, there was an unusual bird sculpture located near the entrance, but I did not know who made it. It had the strangest shape to it.
The bird sculpture outside of 330 west 56th Street (artist unknown)
Walking through the courtyard of The Sheffield at 322 West 57th Street from the West 56th Street side, I came across the unusual sculpture ‘IKON’ by artist David Hostetler. This strange portrait of a woman made an impression on everyone relaxing in the garden. The sculpture has an unique form and stands out in the courtyard.
The sculpture “IKON” by artist David Hostetler at between West 56th and 57th courtyard of The Sheffield complex
Artist David Hostetler is an American born artist from Ohio. He graduated with a BA from Indiana University and a MFA from Ohio University. He specialty was wooden and bronze sculpture and known for his ‘feminine’ works (Artist Bio).
When I rounded West 57th Street from Eighth Avenue passing the The Sheffield again I passed another building at 309 West 57th Street. On the outside of the building was a plaque to the composer Bela Bartok.
The plaque dedicated to Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, one most influential composers of the 20th Century. Mr. Bartok was born in Hungary and studied at Royal Academy of Music in Budapest and studied under many well known composers. He migrated to the United States in 1940 with his wife when he refused to recognize the Nazi regime. He remained in New York for the rest of his life working for Columbia University
When I walked along West 58th Street again, I noticed that a lot of the restaurants and stores had closed during the era of COVID. This part of the City has really taken a hit with the lack of tourists and office workers. There is only so much the local residents can support. I walked towards the back of the Time Warner Building and walked past the back entrance to the Time Warner Building and I noticed a piece of street art that I had not noticed on my last few trips in the neighborhood. That statue is called “Asaf and Yo’oh” by artist Boaz Vaadia and is tucked into the entrance of the building at 25 Columbus Circle-1 Central Park West.
The artist was born in Israel and came from a farming background. He studied at the Avni Institute of Fine Arts in Tel Aviv and was sent to the United States on a grant from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation and then studied at Pratt. His works are made of varies mediums of stone (Artist Bio).
It was surprising how quiet the hotel looked as the Mandarin Hotel was one of the few uptown hotels that are still open during the pandemic. No one was around so it gave me a chance to peek inside the building which looked empty. With most people still working from home I did not expect to see a lot, but the area is getting busier.
I ended my walk on the last afternoon at 57 Taco Express for lunch. I was in the mood for a Cheese and Chicken Quesadilla ($5.99) and ordered one and took it down to Hell’s Kitchen Park for lunch. It was nice to just sit back and relax and watch the world go by. The quesadilla was pretty good. It was nice to eat it in a sunny park under the trees watching everyone have a great time around me. Some people have not let the pandemic totally control their life.
Midtown West/Hell’s Kitchen offers so much so take time to stroll each street and take it all in.
With the College in Summer recess, its full steam ahead!
Check out the other walks of Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton/Midtown West on the blog:
Walking the Border and Avenues of Hell’s Kitchen Day One Hundred and Ninety Four:
I had to split the neighborhood into two parts separated by 10th Avenue as there was so much to see and the complexity of the neighborhood changes on each side.
Don’t miss this unique little store in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan for unique one of kind merchandise.
Don’t miss this quirky fun store in the heart of Midtown West/ Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen for fun merchandise and personal service from the owners of the store.
The front door at Domus is very welcoming.
The special handmade ornaments on their display tree inside the store
Even in the era of COVID, it is nice to see stores still hold their creativity and vitality in such a hard time. While I was walking around the Midtown West/Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen section of Midtown Manhattan I came across this wonderful little store, Domus at 413 West 44th Street. Sometimes there are little things that set a store apart from another like the window displays or the sign that directs you in the door. Domus has both. The first time I visited the store it was closed for the day but I would visit it another day.
Domus at 413 West 44th Street has eclectic window displays
As I finished by Borders and Avenue walk of the Midtown West/ Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”…
I finally got back to the West Side of the Island since before the Christmas holidays of 2019. I could not believe it had that long since I had visited that part Island. Like the rest of Manhattan, this area just keeps changing. COVID has changed the rest of the country but in New York City, it has shuttered and changed whole neighborhoods.
Unlike the Midtown South neighborhood that had been built as Midtown business district during the “City Beautiful Era” of cities between the Civil War and WWI with its classic Beaux Arts and French Renaissance style buildings, Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton was filled with tenements and smaller commercial buildings that catered to the working class living there who were employed in the factories and the docks in Chelsea and the Garment District. Up until the early 1990’s, this was still a pretty tough area. As the City has gentrified, this is one of the last frontiers for people to move into reasonably. Up until COVID hit the City, the area had been fully gentrified and the corridors of Ninth and Tenth Avenues had become ‘restaurant rows’ for the theater district . Now Tenth Avenue is retrenching with a lot of empty storefronts.
I started my walk at the Port Authority which is the southern part of the neighborhood. This is the main port of transportation for thousands of workers from New Jersey and in pre-COVID times, this area was filled with active restaurants and theaters. Things have opened back up slowly but most of the restaurants for now closed. The 42nd Street Corridor from Eight to Sixth Avenue has not fully recovered from the lost of the Theater traffic. As I walked up Eight Avenue from West 42nd to 59th Streets, some restaurants were fully opened and some were take out and delivery so the foot traffic was pretty quiet that day. Even some of the hotels have not opened back up for business. This area has been hit very badly since the closure of the Theater District.
Since Midtown West had been rezoned eight years ago, the area is in the process of being knocked down and rebuilt with new office buildings and apartment houses. The area around Eight Avenue from West 42nd to 50th Streets has changed a lot in the last ten years. COVID has closed most of the restaurants on the street as well. Looking on the side streets many of the theaters in the Theater District are either chained closed or boarded up with the hotels in the neighborhood. It can be a scary ghost town at night.
The area has had an interesting past. During Colonization by the Dutch, the neighborhood was known as “Great Kill” due to three streams that used to empty into the Hudson River and was home to many large farms and estates of the wealthy . The area was dominated by family names such as Hopper and Clinton, the latter being the former Vice-President and New York State Governor George Clinton, whose family owned a villa around where present West 46th Street is now. All that is left of that part of the neighborhood’s history is the carriage house from the estate in an alleyway at 422 West 46th Street (Wiki).
Former Vice-President and New York Governor George Clinton
In 1849, the railroad reached the neighborhood and it started to form its Industrial stage with tanneries and docks being built along the shore and shanty towns for workers forming along the waterfront. Later tenements were built to house the workers of the industries filling with recent Irish immigrants after the Civil War and the area had a notorious reputation for gang violence until gentrification started in the 1980’s. The neighborhood has been transforming since that time with new construction along the West 42nd to 59th corridor along Eighth Avenue (Wiki).
The area is still in a state of transformation even during the Global Pandemic. Many of the restaurants around the neighborhood have closed partially due to the closing of Broadway theaters that dominate the neighborhood and the empty office buildings that line Eighth Avenue. The ‘Theater District’ that lies just east of the neighborhood is still mostly boarded up as well as the hotels are still all closed. It makes it spooky at night to walk through almost similar to those years in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when you had to run down Eighth Avenue to get to the Port Authority.
The edges of this neighborhood have changed a lot in the past twenty years. Between the redevelopment of the area under the Koch and Giuliani Administrations and the rezoning under the Bloomberg Administration, the Eighth Avenue corridor and streets from West 40th to 45th have all been rebuilt. I have never seen so much change in an area in the last twenty years.
Pre-COVID the Port Authority between West 42nd to West 41st Streets from Eighth to Ninth Avenues was going through a face-life renovation and the facility started to move out all the older stores and restaurants for higher end takeout places and an art gallery. It looks now that it has been put on hold until people start to return.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal at 625 Eighth Avenue
Since I returned to Manhattan to resume this project last June, the traffic going through the Port Authority has not changed much even though there are more people on the bus. The afternoon I came into the City it was sunny and 66 degrees. More outdoor dining was in play and more people were outside enjoying the weather.
I started my walk exiting the Port Authority at the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 42nd Street, a corner that still needs a lot of work. Pre-COVID this was a bustling area of theaters, shops and restaurants and one of the biggest McDonald’s in the country. Most of it is closed down now and the homeless have taken back over this area. Surprisingly though, it still remains clean a result of the Partnerships established in the mid-1990’s. This area is swept all day long.
As I walked along the eastern border of Midtown West/Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton, there is a distinct change in the area. Even if many of the hotels and theaters are closed, slowly the restaurants in the Theater District have reopened to outdoor dining giving this area a much needed boost.
One of the most interesting buildings in the Times Square area is the Westin New York at Times Square at 270 West 43rd Street which stretches from West 42nd to West 43rd along Eighth Avenue. This hotel (which is currently closed during COVID) was considered one of the most innovative designed buildings in New York City when it was built.
Westin New York at Times Square at 270 West 43rd Street
The hotel was so innovative at the time when it was built and was considered a key in the redevelopment of the West 42nd Street district. The hotel was commissioned by the architectural firm of Arquitectonica to design the building. The 863 room hotel is actually two towers merged together with a ten story midsection for retail and hotel suites. The large scale abstract design has the look of a multi-dimensional gigantic origami (Arquitectonica website). The building was designed by HKS architects and was finished in 2002.
Further up Eight Avenue is the well-known Row NYC Hotel at 700 Eighth Avenue. This hotel opened in 1928 as the Hotel Lincoln and was the largest hotel in Manhattan when it opened with 1331 rooms. In 1957, the hotel was sold and remodeled and open again as The Hotel Manhattan. It was closed in the 1960’s as the rest of the area declined. It reopened again as the Milford Plaza Hotel in 1978 and was a big theater going hotel. In 2013, the hotel was sold once again and went through another renovation and opened as the currently Row NYC Hotel (Wiki).
Passing now closed hotels and restaurants that line this part of Eighth Avenue that border the theater district, I passed the now closed Smith’s Bar, which has been a fixture in Times Square for over sixty years opening in 1954. The bar had been sold to new owners in 2009 and then closed in 2014 to reopen a year later. The bar is now closed again due to the COVID pandemic.
This bar has seen Times Square go through a major transition over the years and was once located in one of the worst areas during the 1990’s. It survived all of that and closed a few months ago due to the COVID pandemic.
Further up the avenue on the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 46th Street is the West 46th Street SRO. This interesting building that I thought was an elegant Victorian is actually a combination of three former tenement buildings and two residences to make one building. Architects Oaklander, Coogan & Vitto PC created this interesting building with an additional shared floor topped with a mansard roof and tower. It used to house many trendy restaurants and bars but since the pandemic has been empty (OCV Architects PC).
I reached West 48th Street and I passed Engine 54/Ladder 4/Battalion 9, which I used to pass all the time when I worked down the road at the Java Shop on the corner of Broadway and West 46th Street at 782 Eighth Avenue. These companies were hit hard a year after I left my job on 9/11 when the Brothers of this house lost 15 members that day, their entire shift. The memorial they have to their members is really touching and the guys that work there always seem so friendly to all the tourists that pass by.
Engine 54/Ladder 4/Battalion 9 at 782 Eighth Avenue
Pay respects to the Engine 54/Ladder 4 Memorial on the front of the building
The Memorials
Engine 54 Plaques and Awards including 9/11
I made a detour back to West 55th Street for lunch. I stopped at Stage Star Deli at 105 West 55th Street for a sandwich before I continued the walk around the neighborhood. The deli is so reasonable and has so many choices (See my reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).
Stage Star Deli at 105 West 55th Street
I chose a Chicken Salad sandwich with Pesto combination lunch ($8.95) which was excellent. The chicken salad was so fresh and the pesto had such a nice flavor. The sandwich was served on a hero roll and could have fed two people. The food here is consistent and excellent.
The Chicken Salad with Pesto here is excellent
Their Chicken Salad here is excellent
After lunch I headed down the road to Myzel Chocolate at 140 West 55th for dessert. I had not been there in over a year since the shutdown of the City last March. I had to have one of their Chocolate Chip cookies and they still had Cadbury Creme Eggs from Easter (See reviews on TripAdvisor and LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com). I was shocked when the bill came to $4.10. For a cookie and a piece of candy that must have been a month old?
Myzel’s Chocolate at 140 West 55th Street
I talked with the owner, Mrs. Myzel and she was talking about the lack of business since the shut down and all the problems the City was facing with the homeless and the lack of office workers. I told her it would be about a year until things started to get to the new normal. Still the store had so much of its magic to it with all the decorations and displays. It is a store to visit to forget your troubles.
Mrs. Myzel greets all her customers with a smile
There are two wonderful Chinese restaurants that I like to visit when I am in the neighborhood. One is Peking Roast Duck at 858 Eighth Avenue, which has wonderful lunch specials until 4:00pm. The restaurant has some of the best egg rolls that I have tasted in a long time.
Peking Roast Duck Restaurant at 858 Eighth Avenue
The other is Real Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns at 811 Eighth Avenue which is known for their Pork & Crab and Pork Soup Dumplings. I love their fried dumplings, Scallion pancakes with sliced beef, the pan-fried Duck Buns and the Shanghai pan-fried pork buns. Everything on the menu here is excellent and you can eat your way through the menu of delicious Dim Sum.
Real Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns at 811 Eighth Avenue
The Soup Dumplings here are so good
I double backed to Eighth Avenue after lunch and walked up the avenue to West 59th Street. As I continued up Eighth Avenue and circled Columbus Circle, I saw the familiar sites of the statue of Christopher Columbus and the Time-Warner Complex in the background. It has been almost two years since I finished the Upper West Side of Manhattan and even as I walk those streets again I always feel like I missed something. In the era of COVID, it keeps changing so much.
Columbus Circle has changed over the last twenty years
The detail work is amazing
Columbus Circle was always busy day and night with street vendors, bicyclists, performers and just people sitting and reading or enjoying the weather and people watching on a warm day. Now because of the ‘Cancel Culture’ crowd dominating the headlines and the idiots knocking down statues, the area is fenced off with police cars around it. It used to be such a nice area to sit down and talk.
The 76 foot statue was designed by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo as part of a plan to honor Columbus’s discovery of the Americas as part of the 1892 commemoration of the 400 year anniversary of the event. If you look closely at the pillar, you will see the reliefs of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria ships on the memorial (Columbus Memorial and Wiki).
Columbus Circle itself was part of the great plan of Central Park in 1857 by Fredrick Law Olmsted, the designer of many parks in New York City as having four rotary entrances to the park. The other rotary in the neighborhood is Grand Army Plaza by The Plaza Hotel.
The Time Warner Center on the other side of the circle represents the massive change in the Upper West Side from a liberal working class area to the new luxury of Manhattan. The Time Warner Center is a mixed use building containing office space, the Mandarin Hotel, many exclusive restaurants and shops and entertainment. The building was designed by David Childs and Mustafa Kemel Abadan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This modern palace of luxury replaced the old New York Coliseum and opened in 2003 (Wiki). Don’t miss just wondering around the building.
On the other side of the Circle is the new Museum of Art & Design that opened in 2008. The building was the former home of the Gallery of Modern Art designed by Edward Durell Stone in 1969. The building was modernized by architect Brad Cloepfil (Wiki) and the museum shows interesting aspects of art from media, video, painting and photography.
Museum of Art and Design at 2 Columbus Circle
As I crossed the street, the neighborhood is full of Post War architecture but one building stands out with its modern twist. The Hearst Tower at 300 West 57th Street.
The first six floors of the original Hearst Tower were built in 1928 by architect Joseph Urban for the headquarters of the Hearst publishing empire. The building was originally supposed to have an office tower on top but the Great Depression put a stop to the construction. Take a look at the statuary, stone work and details of the original building before admiring the new addition (Wiki).
Admire the detail work of the original 1928 building
Architect Norman Foster designed the 46 story addition to the building which was completed in 2006. The addition of glass and steel is designed in the ‘Diagrid’ pattern and was the first ‘green building’ with environmental features in New York City (Wiki).
I then walked across that street to the Time Warner Building right off the subway station under Columbus Circle (it is amazing where they put this stuff) to the food court in the subway station. The Turnstyle Underground Market is located at the West 59th Street entrance at the Time-Warner Building. Just take the escalator down.
The Turnstyle Underground is in the subway station at the Time Warner Building at 59 Columbus Circle
The food court market had just reopened a few months ago and the place was more than half empty. All the great little restaurants that were independently owned were gone. VIctims to the COVID pandemic and the lack of tourists and office workers. I had read that my favorite, Daa Dumplings had closed about four or five months ago due to lack of traffic (See Day One Hundred and Fifty-Walking the Borders of Central Park South):
If I saw four people sitting down there, it was a lot. Most of the restaurants were empty and almost all the small stores were gone as well. Even the bar that was so popular at the end of the food court and the small independent pizzeria were shut down. It was really spooky because just a year and a half earlier your could not get a seat here.
I walked towards the back of the Time Warner Building and walked past the back entrance to the Time Warner Building and I noticed a piece of street art that I had not noticed on my last few trips in the neighborhood. That statue is called “Asaf and Yo’oh” by artist Boaz Vaadia and is tucked into the entrance of the building at 25 Columbus Circle-1 Central Park West.
The artist was born in Israel and came from a farming background. He studied at the Avni Institute of Fine Arts in Tel Aviv and was sent to the United States on a grant from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation and then studied at Pratt. His works are made of varies mediums of stone (Artist Bio).
It was surprising how quiet the hotel looked as the Mandarin Hotel was one of the few uptown hotels that are still open during the pandemic. No one was around so it gave me a chance to peak inside the building which looked empty. With most people still working from home I did not expect to see a lot.
West 59th and 58th Streets are disrupted in their flow by the Time Warner Building and I continued my walk across West 58th Street and then crossed back over to West 59th behind the complex. This area of the City was part of major urban renewal project back in the 1960’s when the Lincoln Center complex and the Colleges were built so most of the construction up here is new or been updated. I have seen a lot of changes since I walked this neighborhood in when walking the area in 2018 (See Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five-MywalkinManhattan).
Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five: Walking the Streets of the lower part of the Upper West Side:
Still here and there are gems of architecture from another era. Walking down West 59th Street there are still structures that survived urban renewal of the area. I passed the the Parish House of the Church of St. Paul at 415 West 59th Street. The building was built in the late Victorian Gothic Revival style by architects Jeremy O’Rourke and the Rev. George Deshon between 1876 to 1884. The structure was construction used stones from various historical buildings (Church of St. Paul and Wiki).
The Parish House of the Church of St. Paul at 415 West 59th Street
The doorway of the church in the front of the building.
The other building not to miss is the Williams J. Syms Operating Theater at 338 West 59th Street right behind the Time-Warner Complex. It was built in 1892 as a medical hospital and is the last remaining piece of the old Roosevelt Hospital by architects William Wheeler Smith and surgeon Charles McBurney. Made with marble and mosaic floors as not to harbor bacteria, it was considered state of the art when it opened. It is now being renovated for a school (Wiki and HDR Org).
Turning the corner on West 59th Street at Tenth Avenue, you will face the beauty of the John Jay College of Criminology Haaren Building at 899 Tenth Avenue. The building is home to many classrooms and the library for the college. The building was designed by Charles B.J. Snyder and was completed in 1903 (Wiki and John Jay College). The building was originally the Dewitt Clinton High School.
John Jay College Haaren Building at 899 Tenth Avenue
The walk down Tenth Avenue was very different from other neighborhoods I had been recently. NoMAD, Rose Hill and Kips Bay were filled with historical architecture and embellished office buildings while this part of Midtown West/Hell’s Kitchen is filled with tenement housing, small theaters and restaurants. Unlike Ninth Avenue with its vibrant restaurant scene, Tenth Avenue is full of empty storefronts and closed restaurants with ‘For Rent’ signs. This is a sign of the times during the era of COVID.
One of the few patches of green in the neighborhood is the Hell’s Kitchen Park at thew corner at Tenth Avenue and West 48th Street. This park was created from a parking lot in 1966 when the neighborhood demanded green space for residents who lived here (NYCParks.org). The park was packed with families and kids playing basketball and running around the playground.
Hell’s Kitchen Playground at Tenth Avenue and West 48th Street
It was strange to be in a neighborhood with such small buildings. Not just small buildings but so many ‘For Rent’ signs on the windows. I know this neighborhood will bounce back to the vibrant place it once was but it will take time. The traffic changed again when I got to West 42nd Street. There were most people walking around the streets.
Hell’s Kitchen Park during the Summer of 2024
A lot of the businesses on West 42nd Street heading back to the Port Authority have started opening up again. Sidewalk cafes were out with the warmer weather and customers were milling around.
One of my favorite Chinese restaurants from the 1990’s, Ollies at 411 West 42nd Street had not just opened their dining room but their outside cafe dining. Ollies had once been a popular restaurant in the Theater district at the corner of West 46th Street off Broadway and one of my favorite places to eat after work. It is still popular but the chef has since changed.
One building that stood out amongst the smaller tenement buildings of West 42nd Street was the Holy Cross Church at 329 West 42nd Street, which was decorated by plantings of many flowers that gave it a festive appearance.
The building has a interesting history. The parish was established in 1852 and the original building was built in 1852 but it was outgrown so a new building was built in 1854. This building was hit by lightning in 1867 and the current building was built in the same spot in 1870. It was built by architect Henry Englebert and is the oldest building on 42nd Street (Wiki and Holy Cross History).
Once I got back to Port Authority is was back for a bathroom break as there are not many public toilets in the neighborhood. Then I made the walk around the second time around the perimeter admiring the buildings and businesses for a second time. I could see by the traffic that the east side of Eighth Avenue was very quiet near the now closed theaters. This area was hit hard by COVID pandemic and it is rumored that Broadway theaters should open between September and December (we all hope) and the district will once again open.
When I reached West 58th again, I stopped at Amore Pizza Cafe at 370 West 58th Street for a quick slice. The pizza was pretty good and it was a nice sized slice of pizza. I had passed the place for years but never went into so it was another dining adventure (see review on TripAdvisor).
After my snack, I continued the walk back down Tenth Avenue and stopped in Hell’s Kitchen Park to take some more notes. I swear the park got busier since visiting a few hours before. I made the turn on West 42nd Street and decided to walk up the length of Ninth Avenue and explore the Avenues of the neighborhood as well.
The pizza here is excellent
Just like Tenth Avenue, Ninth Avenue is filled with smaller tenement buildings, restaurants and small theaters and shops but being the heart of the Gay community, Ninth Avenue is much more vibrant. Most of the restaurants and outdoor cafes were filled the afternoon I visited the neighborhood. Being later in the evening, many people filled the bars and tables of the establishments and I noticed how many people were on top of each other and were not wearing masks. I thought this is a recipe for disaster but still it has a very vibrant restaurant scene.
In the midst of all the restaurants and bars on Ninth Avenue, there were only two that I have tried, Mom’s Kitchen & Bar at 701 Ninth Avenue for breakfast a few years before and Saccio Pizza at 819 Ninth Avenue for pizza one afternoon and it was pretty good.
The one thing I remember about eating at Mom’s Kitchen & Bar that morning was the unusual menu they had for brunch. A friend and I shared an order of their Fruity Pebble Pancakes and their Mac & Cheese Pancakes and they were strange combinations but really tasted good especially the Mac & Cheese Pancakes with a honey syrup. It was an interesting breakfast.
The inside of Mom’s Kitchen & Bar at lunch time
The Mac & Cheese Pancakes at Mom’s Kitchen & Bar are amazing
These are a combination breakfast and lunch meal and can be really filling. They are the perfect cold day food
This is a neighborhood in a big transition now that the theaters are closed but I know brighter days are ahead as things open up soon. With the warmer weather and more vaccine coming, it will revert back to the neighborhood it was becoming. You can see this on a busy night at dinner time with restaurants filling up and people walking around with and without masks.
I am still wearing my mask around the City for now.
Check out the other walks of the Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton/Midtown West on this blog:
Walking the Border and Avenues of Hell’s Kitchen Day One Hundred and Ninety Four:
I had to split the neighborhood into two parts separated by 10th Avenue as there was so much to see and the complexity of the neighborhood changes on each side.
Sometime you just pass by a restaurant many many times and never stop in. This was the case with Stage Star Deli. It was one of those restaurants that I just ‘passed by’ on my way to another one until someone put out a sandwich board with specials on it and that peaked my interest. There were all sorts of wonderful specials all priced around $8.50. That made me walk in to see what was on the full menu.
Stage Star Deli at 105 West 55th Street
The restaurant is a small deli with about four tables now due to COVID. Pre-COVID there were about seven small tables around the deli. One one side there are all the cold foods, salads and sodas and then on the other…
I have recently been reading articles about New York City and how ‘dead’ it has become and how ‘it will never come back this time’. It’s funny when people who did not come into New York in the 1970’s and early 80’s or were even born remember what we went through when visiting Manhattan. Some residents who came into the City in the last ten years see a much different place than what I remembered in all my years working on Macy’s on 34th Street. It was ‘no miracle in 1990’s when I started in the Buying offices and Seventh Avenue after 6:00pm was no better when left the store for home.
That famous cover from so many years ago
Walking through the Murray Hill neighborhood at Park Avenue and East 37th Street.
Still by doing this walking project I don’t see a ‘dead city”. I see a City going through another transition and adaption. New York City is unique in the way it changes over time. When I walked the streets of Manhattan at Christmas just nine months ago, I saw a City again in the process of changing. I had never seen so many homeless out on the streets and saw the streets and avenues get dirty again. This started the last two years under Mayor Bloomberg and continued under the current mayor. I was not too sure what was happening or why it was changing considering all the building going on and renovations in parks, squares and pathways around the City.
Still as I started to walk the Avenues of Murray Hill, I did not see a ‘dead city’. I saw vibrancy and energy on each block. I saw adaption in restaurants with outdoor dining and delivery. I saw stores open to limited people but still open and display their wares with zest. I saw hopelessness next to enthusiasm but the one thing I didn’t see was everyone giving up.
Bryant Park waking up after a long slumber.
From the delivery guys from Grub Hub piling up orders to the men and women meeting their friends socially distanced at outdoor cafes all over the neighborhood to the little girl who was shooting hoops (and hitting every basket) in St. Vartan Park that afternoon. There is still resilience and things to do and get done in Murray Hill and all over New York City.
I really had a nice time walking around Murray Hill the other day and started today with a plan to walk all the Avenues of the neighborhood. Again I was amazed how quiet the City was this afternoon but more people are starting to sit in Bryant Park and the lines for the bathrooms there (the public bathrooms there are still the best in NYC) are getting longer.
The Bryant Park bathrooms; they should all be like this
I am starting to see tourists slowly coming back as I am seeing more selfies in Midtown. Not like Christmas (not at all) but still slowly coming back in. There are still a lot of people (masks included) walking around the City taking pictures, searching for an open restaurant and sunning themselves in the park.
The New York Public Library to the front was coming alive in the beginning of the Spring.
The library is just as magical at Christmas time
The library is always decked out for Christmas time
I started the walk today walking down Eighth Avenue to see if some of the restaurants on my ‘DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com site was still open. Restaurants have been closing like crazy, but the small places still have staying power.
I stopped for an early morning snack at Fu Xing at 273 West 38th Street for some roast pork buns ($1.20) which they make homemade and when they come fresh out of the oven are amazing. They are soft and sweet on the outside and filled with freshly chopped roast pork. I ordered two and munched on them on the walk around Bryant Park. I was just happy that all the places in the Garment District are still open.
The assorted buns at Fu Xing are available in the mornings and late afternoons
I took these wonderful little treats on my walk around the Garment District and back up to West 42nd Street and then cut across town back to the borders of Murray Hill. I started my walk again at the front of New York Public Library admiring the architecture of Fifth Avenue and passing it on my way to Madison Avenue.
When I was walking Fifth Avenue, even after all these years, it feels like I am seeing it for the first time. With not many people walking on the sidewalks, you have more time to look up and admire what is right in front of you. I never realized how from 34th to 42nd Streets was such a prominent shopping district before the move further up Fifth Avenue. The buildings reflect how retailers took themselves more seriously about setting up shop and how the exteriors should match the importance of the interiors. They were merchants that were there to stay (now mostly gone with the closing of Lord & Taylor).
The former Lord & Taylor Department Store headquarters on Fifth Avenue
Madison Avenue is still an important advertising and communications business neighborhood with many current office building renovations to workers who may or may not come back after the pandemic. It was really creepy to not see more than ten people walking down the Avenue.
The entrance to Lord & Taylor before closing permanently in 2021.
Amazon, who bought the Lord & Taylor Building brought back decorating it for the holidays at Christmas 2024
The old Lord & Taylor decorations in 2024
Amazon brought back the Lord & Taylor tradition of decorating the windows as well in 2024
I could not believe how many restaurants had closed and stores that have not reopened. The problem is that with all the office workers gone, the foot traffic during lunch went with it. So many restaurants that were packed just a few months packed up and closed. Still there are many bright spots that make Madison Avenue so unique.
The Library Hotel at 299 Madison Avenue at 41st Street is a beautiful spot on the Avenue with music drifting from the main lobby and outdoor tables from the cafe spilling on to the sidewalk with a few people dining in the early afternoon.
Their outdoor restaurant, Madison & Vine is a beautiful little cafe with an interesting menu and the few people dining there looked like they were having a nice time. I will have to try it in the future (I had lunch here later on when walking the neighborhood in 2020-See review on TripAdvisor).
The hotel is housed in a former office building designed in the ‘sliver design’ facing East 41st Street across the street from the New York Public Library. The hotel is designed in the ‘Neo-Gothic style’ in 1912. Many of these historic office buildings have been turned into hotels while historic hotels like The Plaza and The Waldorf-Astoria are being turned into condos.
Madison Avenue in the East 40’s is mostly office buildings but here and there are architectural gems tucked here and there left over from the Gilded Age. At 205-209 Madison Avenue is the Church of the Incarnation, an Episcopal church that was built in 1896. The original church had been built in 1865 but was destroyed by fire in 1882.
The original design for the church was designed by architect Emlen T. Littel and after the fire all that survived were the walls and the tower. The redesign of the church was built by architect David Jardine and added many of the features seen today. Many prominent ‘old families’ of New York were parishioners here like the Sedgwick’s, Delano’s and Roosevelt’s. Take time to look at the church’s details and stained-glass windows (Wiki).
The church is now an historic landmark
Further down Madison Avenue are reminders of the ‘Gilded Age’ in the form of the Morgan and De Lamar mansions built at a time when money was no object and there were no income taxes. These palaces of gracious living were a reminder of people who wanted to show their place in the world and Society welcome them with open arms (if Mrs. Astor allowed it).
The church’s gardens to the side of the church.
The De Lamar Mansion, which is now the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland of New York since 1973. was built by C. P.H. Gilbert in the ‘Beaux-Arts style’ for millionaire Joseph Raphael De Lamar, a Dutch born sea merchant who made his fortune in mining and metallurgy. The home was completed in 1905. By the time the mansion was finished, he and his wife divorced, and he lived in the house for another eight years until his death in 1918. The mansion was sold by his daughter shortly after on her move to Park Avenue (Wiki).
The De Lamar Mansion (now the Polish Consulate) at Madison Avenue & East 37th Street
Jan Karski Statue outside the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland/De Lamar Mansion
The statue is of Jan Karski who was a courier who served as part of the Anti-Nazi Resistance in German occupied Poland during WWII. The statue was created by Polish artist Karol Badyna. The statue was dedicated in 2007 (Big Apple Secrets).
Karol Badyna is a Polish born artist who has studied at the Post-Secondary School of Conservation of Works of Art and Sculpture at Monuments Conservation Studio in Krakow, Poland. He currently serves a Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts (Artist bio).
The Morgan Library & Library is at 225 Madison Avenue is a wonderful little museum that holds the art and library collection of J.P. Morgan, the famous banker. The museum is made up of three buildings, the original library that JPMorgan built before he died, the annex building where the bulk of the museum collection is located and the brownstone mansion where the Morgan Dining Room and gift shop are located.
The first part of the building was the Italianate brownstone on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 37th Street that was built by Isaac Newton Phelps in 1854 who left it to his daughter upon his death. It was bought by J.P. Morgan for his son, J.P. Morgan II who lived there from 1905-1943. It houses the Morgan Dining Room and the gift shop (Wiki).
The Morgan Library & Museum-The Phelps Mansion and the Annex
The Morgan Library’s Annex building in the middle of the Museum was built on top of the original family mansion and was built by Benjamin Wistar Morris. This is where the exhibition hall and theater is located (Morgan Library Museum).
The last part of the building is the Morgan Library that houses the manuscript collection and artworks. The building was designed in the ‘Classic Revival Style’ by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White. The building was finished in 1907 (Wiki).
The former J. P. Morgan mansion is now the Morgan Library Museum.
The Morgan Library Museum Annex and Library buildings
The inside of the Morgan Library Museum Annex
On the corner of Madison Avenue and East 34th is the old B. Altman Department store, the final location for the iconic department store that closed in 1989. The store was the brainchild of merchant Benjamin Altman. The store was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in 1906-1913 expanding from Fifth to Madison Avenues. The store was designed in the ‘Italian Renaissance style’ (Wiki).
The former B. Altman & Company at the Fifth Avenue entrance
The store was known for its exclusive designs, Couture clothing, its elegant wooden interiors, Christmas window displays and the famous Charleston Gardens Restaurant.
The Charleston Gardens Restaurant at B. Altman & Company
Walking back up Madison Avenue, I notice another sculpture that popped out at me. The sculpture of “Eight” by artist Robert Indiana located in front of 261 Madison Avenue.
Eight by Robert Indiana
Artist Robert Indiana was an American born artist who was involved with the ‘Pop Art’ Movement. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Edinburgh College of Art (Wiki). He looked at art with images of small-town America with the visual image of High Art. The result was what he called a “verbal visual forms’ (MIA).
I rounded the corner from Madison Avenue to the open blocks of lower Park Avenue seeing Grand Central guarding over the Avenue. This beautiful ‘Beaux Arts Style’ building seems to define the elegance that is Park Avenue.
Grand Central Station defines Park Avenue with its elegance
Just walking down Park Avenue you can see the difference in the way the Avenue portrays itself with its elegant office buildings, Gilded Age mansions tucked here and there, private clubs and interesting pieces of street art creating an ‘open air’ museum to walk through.
Grand Central Terminal decorated for Christmas 2024
Just outside of 90 Park Avenue is the interesting artwork “The Couple” by artist Arthur Carter. Mr. Carter’s extraordinary life took him from the military to Wall Street to publishing to farming to art. A Brown and Dartmouth graduate from a financial background is pretty much self-taught. His works are very impressive and this work does stand out.
the corner of Park Avenue and East 37th Street on the side of a building is the plaque for the home of the Murray family mansion (which the neighborhood is named after) ‘Inclenberg’, that once stood on the site.
The plaque to the Murray home “Inclenberg”
The Mary Murray plaque in the middle of Park Avenue and East 37th Street hidden from the rest of the garden.
The Murray family were merchants and prominent business people at the time of the Revolutionary War. Robert Murray’s wife, Mary Lindley Murray, had delayed General Howe’s troops by several hours letting the Patriots escape by serving wine, tea and cake to the British soldiers and entertaining them with music and conversation (Wiki and Untapped Cities).
Mary Lindley Murray entertaining the British at her home
The Murray Mansion ‘Inclenberg’ now the site of Park Avenue and East 37th Street
The continued walk on Park Avenue brought me to the Union League Club at 38 East 37th Street. The club was founded in 1863 by former members of the Union Club who did not like the Pro-Southern activities of club members and created their own club with the Union League Club. The current clubhouse was designed by member Benjamin Wistar Morris and opened in 1931.
The elegance of the Union League Club at 38 East 37th Street
At 23 Park Avenue, another elegant mansion graces the beauty of Park Avenue and a reminder of its Gilded Age past. The home was designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White with architect Stanford White leading the design. The home was built in 1890 for retired Senator James Hampden Robb and his wife Cornelia Van Rensselaer Robb. The mansion is now a co-op (Street Easy & Wiki).
Another Gilded Age mansion is now the Guatemala UN Mission at 57 Park Avenue was once the Adelaide T. Townsend Douglas mansion. She had been the wife of William Proctor Douglas, a Capitalist and rumored to be the mistress of JPMorgan, the banker. Never divorcing her husband, she continued on as a New York Socialite (Untapped Cities).
The mansion was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer in the ‘French Classical style’ and it was completed in 1911. In 1978, the house was sold after several owners to the Guatemala UN Mission as their headquarters to the United Nations (Daytonian).
57 Park Avenue-Guatemala UN Mission & the former Townsend Mansion
One of the little treasures I found on Park Avenue though was the alleyway of the Church of our Savior at 59 Park Avenue. This beautiful church has hidden off to the side of the building a tiny alleyway with a garden with statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. It is such a nice tranquil place to relax and think that I did not want to leave. It was a relaxing reprieve from the hustle of the City.
The Church of Our Savior at 59 Park Avenue-Check out the garden alleyway
The church’s details on the outside of the building.
The garden is tucked in to the side of the building and hidden from Park Avenue unless you walk past it. It is really a hidden gem in the City and a nice place to relax on a hot day.
The hidden garden of the church from the entrance at Park Avenue.
The view from the back of the garden.
The Virgin Mary Memorial in the garden.
The garden is a perfect to reflect on life.
Another building that stands out is 41 Park Avenue owned by the Stonehenge NYC. This beautiful and elegant building was built in 1950 and has all the pre-war details.
Artist Ara Starck is a French born artist who takes a very non-conformist and almost ghostly approach to her creative works (Artist website).
The artwork by Ara Starck
The artwork from another perspective.
I was in a mood most of the morning because of some past events of the week and as I passed a small cafe on the corner of Park Avenue and 40th Street I heard a familiar song from the 1980’s that reminded me of college and immediately put me back in a good mood. It is amazing the power of the memories of songs.
‘Once in a Lifetime’ by Talking Heads
I was humming all the way to Lexington Avenue. The rest of the day just seemed so much better. The song brought me back to my wonderful college years.
Lexington Avenue was quiet for most of my walk down to East 34th Street. Lexington Avenue between it and Park Avenue has some of the most beautiful brownstones on the side streets. It looks like a classic New York neighborhood. That runs between about East 40th to East 36th Streets and then gets more commercial as you get closer to 34th Street.
Murray Hill Brownstones at East 36th Street
East 38th Street in Murray Hill
What I was surprised by is the number of restaurants that closed their doors on Lexington Avenue. I never saw so many for rent signs on buildings before. Some well-known neighborhood places like House of Lasagna were shut at the time of my visit. When it reopened, I had dinner here twice on separate visits ordering the same lasagna both times. The food and service are really good at this neighborhood establishment.
House of Lasagna at 334 Lexington Avenue (Closed January 2025)
On a recent visit to the neighborhood in 2021, I went to dinner at the House of Lasagna after it reopened for business. I thought the restaurant was really nice and the service was excellent, but the lasagna was okay. I had the Lasagna Bolognese, and it was just okay. I am not too sure it warrants another trip, but I am willing to try it in the future (the restaurant was a little dark and this is why the pictures came out with a shadow).
Dining inside The House of Lasagna at Christmas time in 2024
The Christmas decorations inside The House of Lasagna in 2024
I started the meal with a delicious Bruschetta with a Coke
The Bruschetta here is amazing
The Lasagna Bolognaise is the star here and I ordered twice on both visits to the restaurant.
The Lasagna Bolognaise at The Lasagna House
It was so dark in the restaurant that night but trust me the lasagna here is really picture perfect
The both times I ate here, the food and the service were very good. It is not fancy gourmet but it is a nice friendly neighborhood establishment and the staff is very welcoming and friendly.
One restaurant going strong with outdoor dining with a creative menu is Hunan Manor (now Hunan Village) at 339 Lexington Avenue. I saw some of the patrons eating outside and their Soup Dumplings and Chicken dishes that I saw people eating for lunch looked really good. Another restaurant for the bucket list. I finally ate in the restaurant in May of 2021 when it reopened under a new name and new owners.
The lunch specials here are very reasonable and the food was very good that afternoon. I had a General Tso’s Chicken lunch special with Vegetable Fried Rice and Hot & Sour Soup. I thought the meal was delicious, but they put all of their food on cold plates, so the food got cold fast. The place was empty as this section of the City is still opening up in May of 2021.
Hunan Manor Restaurant at 339 Lexington Avenue (now Hunan Village)
The General Tso and Fried Rice special at Hunan Village.
On a recent trip to the neighborhood, I visited the new Dim Sum garden at 338 Lexington Avenue after a movie at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). The restaurants on this block all close now at 9:00pm on most nights (they were open to 10:00pm) since COVID. I was really in the mood for Chinese food that evening and it came highly recommended.
I was able to order before the kitchen closed and it was a nice dinner. The food was so fresh and it looked like everything was made to order and homemade in the kitchen. The Shrimp Balls were especially good. They were made with sweet shrimp meat, nicely coated with rice flour and deep fried perfectly. It was one of the best Dim Sum meals I have had in a awhile.
My dinner of Soup Dumpling, Shrimp Balls and Roast Duck Rolls
The Shrimp Balls
The Soup Dumplings
The Roast Duck Rolls
Walking down Lexington Avenue was very different from Fifth, Madison and Park Avenues with their unusual architecture, interesting parks and street art. It was more of a combination of low-rise buildings and commercial spots. There was one standout though and that was the Sailors Club at 283 Lexington Avenue.
283 Lexington Avenue-The Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Club
The Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Club is the only private club of its kind to provide accommodations at a subsidized rate for service men and women and retirees, veterans and their families visiting New York (Club website). The club was founded in 1919 by Cornelia Barnes Rogers and Eleanor Butler Alexander Roosevelt with General John J. Pershing. The club is housed in two 1880 twin brownstones that once served the area as upper middle-class housing (Club website and Wiki). Towards 34th Street you will enter the midtown campus of Yeshiva University.
Walking back up Lexington Avenue, you can see how both Lexington and Third Avenue are quickly changing. Gone are all the low rise and smaller buildings and their businesses giving way to large office high rises and commercial spots. The small rise buildings are being razed for larger buildings.
Here and there on Third Avenue are pockets of the old neighborhood below East 38th Street but the neighborhood is changing to a more modern commercial area. There are more smaller businesses as you get closer to 34th Street. One older restaurant, Sarges Delicatessen & Diner at 548 Lexington Avenue has been around since 1964. It offers traditional deli items such as Matzo-ball Soup and over-sized sandwiches. The restaurant was the idea of retired NYPD Sargent Abe Katz, who loved Jewish style cooking and wanted to open a deli when he retired. The family has been carrying his tradition for all these years offering many dishes made from scratch in-house (Meat & Poultry-Fox 2019).
Sarges Delicatessen & Diner at 548 Lexington Avenue
All around Sarges though the neighborhood continues to morph into a commercial neighborhood where skyscraper office buildings are becoming the norm. Here and there tough are little touches of artistic creativity.
The sculpture “Windward” is sitting just outside an office building at 655 Lexington Avenue by artist Jan Peter Stern.
“Windward” at 655 Third Avenue
Jan Peter Stern was a German born American artist who specialized in contemporary, politically influenced artist of the Post-War era. He graduated from Syracuse with a degree in Industrial Design and married to artist Irene Stern.
The changes of Lexington and Third Avenues in the East 40’s is also changing the complexity of Second Avenue as well. In the upper parts of the neighborhood, the small buildings and brownstones that set the character as one of the last bastions of ‘old New York’ are giving way to office buildings and apartment high-rises. Second Avenue to me from 100th to 34th Streets still represent ‘old New York’ to me with the smaller buildings with character and the ‘mom and pop’ stores that still line the Avenue.
In the East 30’s there are still the quintessential small brownstone and low-rise buildings with many ‘for rent signs’. A lot of the smaller ‘mom and pop’ have closed with the ravages of COVID-19 or just have not reopened. Some of the smaller restaurants have opened outdoor cafes and with the NYU Langone Hospital around the corner, there is a small lunch business when I visited but most workers take their lunches to the open garden courts and then get back to work. Still there is a lot of character to this part of the neighborhood.
One of the standouts in the lower part of the Murray Hill between Second and First Avenues is St. Vartan’s Park. This small oasis of green is very popular with families in this part of the neighborhood.
St. Vartan Park is between Second and First Avenues at East 35th Street
The park is named after the Armenian Orthodox Church nearby, St. Vartan Cathedral which is a nod to the neighborhood’s Armenian heritage (NYCParks). The park has a wonderful basketball court, playground and lawn space to run around on. The bathrooms were shut which was not helpful but still a nice place to just relax under a tree.
It was just nice to sit and relax both when I was walking Second and First Avenues. The shade trees blocked the sun and there were nice benches to sit down on and watch everyone playing basketball and paddle ball.
What really caught my attention was at the other end of the basketball court was this little girl who could not have been older than four throwing the basketball into the adult hoop. What was amazing was that she made it every time! I could not believe it. She would just throw it and it went right into the basket with no problems. I was mystified by it all how she did it.
After some rest in the park, it was time to finish the walk with a stroll down First Avenue which I made on my border walk of the neighborhood a few days earlier. The upper parts of First Avenue like everything between Lexington and Second Avenue is going through a big transition and must have been before the COVID-19 pandemic with the upper sections of the neighborhood. The low-rise buildings are giving way to new office and apartment buildings that offer views of the river and the changing Brooklyn and Queens skylines.
The New York Public Library and Murray Hill during the day.
Just like the rest of the City during the Pandemic, the Murray Hill is quietly changing and morphing into a new neighborhood. It will be interesting to see what will develop here in the future. Like a flower in the Spring, it will show its ‘true beauty’ in the future.
The Murray Hill skyline at night
Midtown at night
Park Avenue decorated for Christmas in 2024
The Corporate Christmas trees that lined the office buildings in the neighborhood in 2024
The Corporate wreaths that are in office buildings all over the City
Please read my other blogs on walking the Murray Hill neighborhood:
My walk of the Borders of Murray Hill on August 13th, 2020:
Fee: Adults $22.00/Seniors (over 65) $14.00/Current Students with ID $13.00/Free to Members and Children under 12 accompanied by a parent. Free on Friday Nights from 7:00pm-9:00pm. Discount for people with disabilities $13.00-Caregiver Free. review
I have never seen such a drop in temperature in one week. It is only a week since Halloween and on Halloween night it was 71 degrees and humid. I had to turn the heat off in the house and turn the air conditioner on one last time before I went to bed. That was unusual but the reason why I keep the air conditioners up until the weekend after Halloween.
Walking the Avenues of Central Park South this afternoon there was a distinct drop in the temperature by the afternoon. It was freezing in the City by 2:30pm. When I came out of the Cornell Club where I was doing all of my work, it must have been around 48 degrees and continued to go down. By the time I finished walking all of the Avenues, it must have been 40 degrees as the sun went down. I could tell by the way everyone was dressed this afternoon that no one was prepared for this.
I started my walk at Hop Won Chinese Restaurant at 139 East 45th Street for lunch (see reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com). The food at the restaurant is always impressive and very reasonable. A combination platter is $9.00 for an nice sized entree, fried rice and an egg roll. On this trip I had the Sweet & Sour Shrimp with fried rice and an egg roll and a Coke ($10.95 with tax) and your could not beat the portion size or quality.
Hop Won Express serves excellent Chinese-American cooking and is reasonable
They served me eight nice sized tempura shrimp in a light sweet and sour sauce and they were sweet and fresh. Their fried rice is very good, a little light sometimes on the ingredients but still good and the egg rolls here are good. This is why the restaurant is so popular at lunch hour for people in the surrounding office buildings and with tourists.
The Sweet & Sour Shrimp here should not be missed
After lunch, I walked up Lexington Avenue to East 59th Street and walked across the familiar neighborhoods of Turtle Bay and Midtown East which I had finished walking over the summer. Both are going through extensive changes with renovations and refittings of older buildings and the knock down and total construction of new ones. The Manhattan of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s is slowly becoming a memory as the City morphs into its next step of existence, which seems to be very upscale. The commercial and residential buildings are definitely catering to a certain clientele.
I started my walk on the Avenues of Central Park South at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 59th Street. This section of Manhattan is some of the most expensive real estate in the world and with the changing of the neighborhood and rents skyrocketing, I saw a big change not just in the buildings with their updates and renovations but a change in the businesses as well. Those 1990’s leases are coming up on their twenty year anniversaries and a lot of smaller businesses are being pushed out. If you do not own the building or have a certain lease with the landlord, you might be facing a double or triple increase in rent and its too much for the smaller restaurants and services like dry-cleaners and shoe repair shops.
Sixth Avenue (or Avenue of the Americans which NO ONE calls it) has seen a lot of changes over the years especially from Central Park all the way down to West 34th Street and it still is changing as we speak. Yet there traces of the old Manhattan that still stand out on the Avenue.
57 West 58th Street The Coronet, an 11 story brick building
At the corner of West 58th Street is 57 West 58th Street, The Coronet Building, a 11 story condominium building that was built in 1901. The building is built of red brick and limestone and what gives it its unique look is in the detail work of the entrance with its arched entrance and quoins, a type of wedging on an angle, that are made of limestone and detail work around the windows. The Beaux Arts detail work was very fashionable at the time (CityRealty 2018).
The beauty of the entrance to 57 West 58th Street
Another standout building on Sixth Avenue is one that sits on the corner of 57 West 57th Street. This 20 story Art Deco Building was was built in 1928 of stone and glass and was renovated in 1988 by Der Scutt, the architect behind Trump Tower.
57 West 57th Street beauty is in the Art Deco details
They restored the façade of the building and redid the lobby . Some the details of the building were gold-leafed for effect (LoopNet).
The details on the building facing West 57th Street
The entrance 57 West 57th Street with the fancy grill work
At the edge of the neighborhood is the famous New York Hilton Hotel Midtown at the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 54th Street. This hotel is the largest hotel in New York City and one of the largest in the world. The hotel was designed by architect William B. Tabler. When it opened in 1963 with 2153 rooms it was the largest hotel in the City (Hilton History and Wiki).
The hotel has a lot to claim to fame. John Lennon wrote “Imagine” in the hotel, the first cell phone was used here in 1973 and President Trump recently gave his victory delivery speech in the hotel in 2016 (Wiki).
When walking back up north on Sixth Avenue at the corner of West 55th Street is artist John Rennert’s sculpture, “Listen” on the spot where the well-known “Love” sculpture used to be.
Artist Jim Rennert’s “Listen”.
“Listen” sits proudly at the corner of West 55th Street & Sixth Avenue
Mr. Rennert was born and raised in the Southwest in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. A former businessman, Mr. Rennert later wanted to try his hand in being an artist and a sculptor in 1990 with much success. His works have been shown all over the world with his portrayals of the success and obstacles of the modern working man. His works are formed with a combination of bronze and flat laser steel. “Listen” is one of his public works (Artist Bio).
Across the street from this statue, sits another interesting Globe sculpture that I had not noticed on my first trip to the neighborhood. It sits in front of the entrance of 1345 Sixth Avenue, the Alliance-Bernstein Building. It must have just been placed there since my original visit. It is a very detailed piece art.
Rounding West 59th Street I continued down Seventh Avenue and was struck by the beauty of a building even under scaffolding. Alwyn Court is one of the most beautiful buildings in this part of Manhattan.
The beautiful details of the Alwyn Court building.
The Alwyn Court at 180 West 58th Street was built at a time when the wealthy were abandoning the large mansions of Fifth and Madison Avenues and wanted luxury apartments instead (ie Income Tax has been introduced). The building was created between 1907-1909 and was designed by architects Harde & Short in the French Renaissance style with terra cotta ornamentation done in the Francis I style which gives it the unique look.
Alwyn Court’s terra-cotta ornamentation on the windows.
The beauty is in the detail work of the building and it is going through a second cleaning and repair. It was designated a landmark in 1966 (Wiki).
The historic plaque.
Further down Seventh Avenue you come to one of the most famous buildings in the world, Carnegie Hall at 881 Seventh Avenue at the corner of West 57th Street. One of the most recognized music venues in the world, this building was designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and build by Andrew Carnegie, business owner and philanthropist in 1891. It was one of the last largest buildings in New York City build with masonry and no steel frame (Wiki).
Outside Carnegie Hall at Christmas for the Amy Grant concert.
You can see by the last three years of Christmas blogs that I have written that I have visited Carnegie Hall many times for the holiday concerts. The joke “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice” is so true. The best and most talented perform here.
The Amy Grant Holiday Concert in 2023 at Carnegie Hall last Christmas was amazing!
There are more interesting buildings further down Seventh Avenue that are going through a renovation. 850 Seventh Avenue is a elegant detailed eleven story building at the built in 1910 with its stone exterior and its Art Deco features. It is very impressive when you look from the other side of the Avenue.
One sad reminder of the changes in Manhattan comes with 854 Seventh Avenue, the former home of the Carnegie Deli which closed in 2016. This was one of the most famous and iconic eating places in New York City and was in more TV and movies that I can remember. The restaurant was opened by Leo Steiner and Milton Parker in 1937 and the most amazing food including over-sized pastrami sandwiches, Matzo Ball soup and cheesecakes. I had eaten there many times in both high school and college and then when I was working in the City. The building remains empty today as the new owners are waiting to demolish it and build a residential building there (Wiki).
The famous Carnegie Deli in its heyday at 854 Seventh Avenue
Across the street from the former deli is 853 Seventh Avenue, “The Wyoming” apartment building. What stands out about this beautiful twelve story building built in 1906 is the elegant Beaux-Art style detail work around the windows and roof.
853 Seventh Avenue at the corner of West 55th Street
Heading back up Seventh Avenue, don’t miss the famous Osborne Apartments at 205 West 57th Street which faces Seventh Avenue. This elegant apartment house was built and designed by James Edward Ware between 1883 and 1885 in the American Renaissance style with masonry bearing walls and the building itself looks like a giant brownstone.
The Osborne is Victorian elegant at its best at 205 West 57th Street at the corner of Seventh Avenue.
The splendor of The Osborne lobby can not be matched
It was just starting to get dark when I rounded West 59th Street one more time for the last Avenue to walk and Broadway is always interesting. Having walked this main artery during the summer months three times, I gained a respect for the complexity of the businesses and apartment buildings that line it from Inwood to the Bowling Green. This former Indian trail offers a lot of interesting things to see and do.
My first stop was a visit to the new Nordstrom department store at 235 West 57th Street in the heart of the business district. After years of working at Macy’s, I always remember my store manager saying that they never wanted to open in NYC because of the unions. They felt they could never give the service that they were known for by opening in Manhattan. What twenty-five years does to a City!
I have to admit that the store is pretty and has beautiful merchandise but the staff was either so busy kidding around with each other or on their cell phones, they were not paying attention to the customers too much. The restaurant on the top floor was the busiest department I saw in the store and they seemed overwhelmed.
The Women’s Department at Nordstrom
A couple of things I did notice when walking through the store was the staff was so young and not dressed in the traditional conservative Nordstrom way that I knew of the suburban stores. The dress code went out the window here. That and no one ever approached me no matter what department I entered. Big change from the 90’s store that I remember. The second thing I noticed was that no bags were leaving the store. I always remember my boss saying that was the sign that a store was doing well.
Nordstrom Manhattan
Walking down Broadway in the later afternoon and evening, this part of Broadway is full of large office buildings that are somewhat generic but here and there are still traces of old New York.
At the corner of Broadway and West 55th Street is the Dream Midtown Hotel at 210 West 55th Street. What makes the hotel unique is that it is a renovated 1895 Beaux Arts building that also encompasses old brownstones on West 55th Street for a unique design. The hotel is basically a hip new hotel surrounded by New York elegance and the hotel has done a wonderful job restoring this old building.
My last stop up Broadway was at the Museum of Arts and Design at 2 Columbus Circle (see my reviews on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum.com) which I had visited a few times over the summer to see the ‘Post Punk and New Wave Art’ exhibition. It is really different from the more traditional museums in the City.
The Museum of Arts and Design at 2 Columbus Circle
The museum was founded in 1956 and has had a few name and location changes over the years settling in this building in 2008 with a total redesign of the building by architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture. The museum’s purpose direction is dedicated to creativity and craftsmanship of the artist along with their materials and techniques (Museum history).
I thought the exhibition on the Post-Punk and New Wave era was really interesting as I remember the music from that era.
There had been some controversy when redesigning the building. It had been originally built in 1964 by A & P Heir Huntington Harford to house his collection of art as a museum. The original building before the renovation was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and opened as the Gallery of Modern Art. According to what I read, the building was never endured by any of the architectural reviewers and only came into notice when the building was sold in 2002 (Wiki).
The old 2 Columbus Circle “The Gallery of Modern Art” before the renovation
This museum and the Dream Hotel Midtown are examples of what is happening in Manhattan now. The reuse of buildings and the old mixing with the new as businesses are being reworked into old establishments and that morphing Manhattan into its next stage of existence.
I walked around Columbus Circle as the lights were coming on and the temperatures were starting to cool. The holidays are around the corner and it looks like the City is gearing up for them.
Central Park was still busy and the carriage rides were in full swing that night. A lot has changed since the 80’s.
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