22nd St Between 6th Ave and 5th Ave
While there's plenty to do around here, I've always seen this street as purely utilitarian one. Sure, there's some places to duck into, grab some food or get your haircut – but this street, for me, has always been the one I walk down when I don't want to deal with the nut cases up on 23rd. It's an avoidance street. I avoid the crowds, I avoid the noise, I avoid the buses...because lets face it, I just want to get from the east side to the west side and all that double-wide block to the north offers is pain. Thus the saving grace that is 22nd Street.
Further leading to it's "utilitarian" nature are all the loading docks and parking lots that dot the stretch – all in service to stuff on 23rd St. I found the number of "Available For Rent" signs to be very telling of either our dire economy, or the pointless nature of opening a place on 22nd. Because lets face it, when you have Flatiron to the east and Chelsea to the west...what the hell are you doing here?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 8:00AM
Reader Comments (1)
I loved this post. I walk down 22nd every day to work and also use it as my "avoidance" route instead of dealing with the nutsos on 23rd (btw, wtf is up with the SE corner of 23rd and 6th? It's possibly the most hellish 10-square-feet of sidewalk in the city!) In the morning 22nd is nice, quiet, and the people who are loading/unloading for Home Depot,etc., even say, "good morning" to me.