23rd St Between 5th Ave and Park Ave
As someone who used to live on 23rd Street not too many years ago, it's always such a shock to see how much is constantly changing around here. For example...what the HELL happened to the entire area around the Flatiron building? This whole 'seating area' fad confuses and scares me. Also, I'm no cyclist, but I couldn't make heads or tails of what the hell the bike lane was doing just north of 23rd. It makes the Times Square Shuffle look reasonable and well-thought-out. Regardless of my complaints, it's still one of my favorite streets to use as a starting point when I'm going out around the downtown area.
I made this out to be an extra-long block (in so much that it includes 5th Avenue, Broadway, Madison Avenue, and ends at Park Avenue), because it wouldn't have made much sense to only include Madison Square Park, or only the Flatiron intersection. Besides, it's Friday...I just know you are looking for a long, painful description of 23rd Street to read.
When I visited, the day was incredibly windy and anyone who's stood down at the foot of the Flatiron building can attest to the magnifying effect it has on such weather. I watched several people chase after hats and came very close to losing my own.
The horrific Sprint Store still eats up the retail space at the foot of the building. We can only hope the broken LCD display which sits like a wart under the skin of the Beaux-Arts beauty will be gone soon as Sprint spirals out of control and into obscurity.
Madison Square Park is one of your typical Manhattan oases is home to the inexplicably popular (for me) Shake Shack. To me, the lines were never worth the product, but it's nice to see a little place like that thrive. I recently saw their second location on the upper west side, and considered stopping in (it was devoid of the downtown location's famous lines), but was unfortunately in a rush. The night photo of the Shack in this post's gallery is an old one I shot several years ago with my film camera...but I always liked it, and figured it was still relevant today.
After the park is the beautiful Metropolitan Life clock tower. I've always enjoyed seeing the tower as a landmark from various areas around the neighborhood. However, now that there's a giant high-rise blooming from the ground across the street, that view will now be all but gone from the south. But that's OK, I'll get over it.
This is going to be a little off-topic in terms of 23rd street, but I wanted to cover this: Something worth mentioning about the Met Life building is it's north building (11 Madison Avenue, connected to the south building over 24th street with a pedestrian bridge). It's a squat, yet imposing-looking building which always seemed out of place next to the clock tower and nearby New York Life building, and is actually incomplete. The original design called for a massive 100-story art deco masterpiece, but because of the Great Depression, had to be scaled back to 30. You can view original renderings of the design here and here.
Returning to 23rd Street, the south side of the block at this point is dotted with stores and restaurants ranging from Live Bait to Radio Shack, and Time Warner to Starbucks.
The two ends of the block here each claim home to a subway stop: 6-line on the Park side, and NQRW on the 5th Ave/B'Way side.
Friday, December 12, 2008 at 8:00AM
Reader Comments (4)
This area of Manhattan will always have a special place in my heart.
I wish we had a fiber optic holiday tree.. Festivus for the rest of us...
I wish we had a fiber optic holiday tree.. Festivus for the rest of us...
oh, and thanks for the update on these urban areas.. I now know which areas create slantyism..