CHELSEA AND GRAMERCY
(between 14th and 34th Streets)
I’d rather be a lampost in New York than Mayor of Chicago.
(Mayor James J. Walker)
Let’s start the walk on 9th Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets: here is Chelsea Market, one of the world’s largest covered markets. The State’s favourite sweet was born here in 1912: the Oreo. One of the many interesting stores here is Ronnybrook Milk Bar with huge selection of milk products.
Travelling 3 stops east on the L subway line we reach the rundown, noisy Union Square, a place of many homeless people and beggars. The square is bordering Park Avenue, the Broadway and the 14th and 17th Streets. It used be a centre of theatre and business life, nowadays it only makes the news for political demonstrations. The beggars share the place with neighbourhood pensioners chatting and sunning themselves, skateboarders in baseball caps and an organic market. If we start north on Broadway, we are walking on the onetime Ladies’ Mile. It’s hard to imagine but a couple of decades ago these few blocks were the most prestigious shopping area. Now we can only find stores selling fairly rubbish clothing and continuously “going out of business”.
If we take 20th Street eastward by Lexington Avenue, we’ll end up at Gramercy Park, the city’s last remaining private park. There used to be several private parks in various sizes to which only the neighbouring properties had keys but this is the last one. The small green oasis was created in 1831 and the residents from the buildings around it used pure gold keys to get in. Now the keys are made of iron but outsiders are still prohibited from entering – except once a year, generally the first Saturday in May, when the curious can visit.
Nearby is a pretty street area, the Block Beautiful. There are lovely houses on East 19th Street between Irving Place and Third Avenue which together form a harmonious whole.
One of the city’s most photogenic buildings, the Flatiron Building, is at the crossing of 23rd Street and Broadway.
In 1902, it was proudly towering over the city’s other buildings with its 20 stories, but was soon overtaken. After it was finished it attracted huge crowds and inspired artists. One of the most famous photos of it was taken by Steichen.
Chelsea Hotel, whose literary and artistic inheritance probably cannot be matched by any other hotel, is at 222 W23rd Street. It has welcomed Tennessee Williams, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac and Dylan Thomas among others. In 1966 Andy Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls” was filmed here and Leonard Cohen wrote a song about it. In 1978 a punk musician killed his girlfriend here – all this increased the hotel’s cultic fame.
Now (spring 2014) it is being refurbished and cannot take guests. However, the shop on the ground floor, Donut Plant, is open with excellent doughnuts.
Another culinary institution is the Eataly, mainly offering Italian gourmet products.
Madison Square Park is at the crossing of 23rd Street and Madison Avenue, along with a few interesting skyscrapers. The golden topped New York Life Insurance Building is on the north-east corner of the square, built by Cass Gilbert (the architect of the Woolworth Building). One block south is the building of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court with Corinthian columns and next to it the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower.
If you get hungry during sightseeing, the sweetgreen chain has a shop on Broadway between 27th and 28th Street, the Nomad. There are individually assembled and ready-made salads – a brilliant place.
“The Little Church Around the Corner” is at 1 East 29th Street. In 1870, an actor was supposed to be buried by a nearby church, but the priest there didn’t take on the funeral because of the deceased’s lowly profession and suggested the little church around the corner. Since then, this church has had a special relationship with the theatre world and other artists; P. G. Woodhouse had his wedding ceremony here.
Walking around in the area, the best place for a coffee is Stumptown Coffee (18 W29 Street), a real new wave café next to the excellent Ace Hotel. In the dim lobby area, every guest had a laptop, as if a strange sect was having a meeting.
In this area of the city, my favourite eatery is the Ichiumi, 6 E 32 St (between Fifth and Madison). It’s heaven for sushi lovers – all you can eat buffet! Lunch is $18.95 and dinner is $31.95 from Monday to Thursday and then lunch is $24.95, dinner is $34.95 the rest of the week.
A real New York institution is the Second Avenue Deli, which is actually no longer on Second Avenue. Its current address is 162 E33rd Street (between Lexington and Third Avenue). It was established in 1954. There are huge sandwiches, problematic even for two, and waiters are known for their rudeness – as it is supposed to be in a real deli. Before getting to the head of the queue, take a deep breath because you’ll have to answer the waiter’s question lightening fast. What type of bread for the sandwich (white, wholemeal, rye, French, etc), what kind of filling (lettuce, mayo, etc). There is no time to ponder these. Only our imagination will put an end to the size and type of the sandwich.
Finally, I recommend an attraction on the west side of town: at the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street, in the Hudson Yards, is Edge, one of the new lookouts. It is the highest open lookout point in the Western Hemisphere, located 100 storeys (345 meters) high. The triangular terrace protruding from the plane of the building is very special, and the tip is such a popular photographic point that people are waiting in long lines for a picture (i.e. rather 10-12). You can only go up to the lookout at pre-set time zones, after which everyone stays as long as they like. The sunset period is especially popular and on the one hand the ticket is more expensive and on the other hand the time zones are filled much quicker. I bought a ticket for the last non-sunset time period, took the elevator up and happily waited for the sunset 🙂
