40th St Between Park Ave and Madison Ave

   

Branching off a busy intersection of Park Avenue which includes the transition from the Park Avenue Tunnel to the Park Avenue Viaduct, this stretch of 40th Street is unassuming and unwelcoming. While there's a certain polish tourists come to expect from the 42nd Street / Grand Central area, it's interesting to see how much the side streets deviate from that image – and it's not surprising either, since hardly any tourists venture away from Park, Lex or 42nd. These neighboring throughways are mostly home to weekday lunch spots, business services and other local joints.

The massive building on the north western side of the street, 285 Madison, has a tremendous collection of miniature sculptures surrounding each of its windows and entrances. The ones closer to the ground have been mostly worn away over the years, but gazing upward, you can see incredible detail in the ones that have been protected by their fortuitous perch. Surrounding the rest of the intersection are a bevy of midtown lunch options. The newest member of this neighborhood, 4Foods has an interesting "modern" approach in-which they leverage social media, technology and their website to allow patrons to create and promote their own custom burgers. A series of seats with iPads near the front entrance should give you some idea of how tech-happy this place is.

Comments

[Kate]

Welcome back!

[ws]

I second that - so glad to see a new street!