2 Ave, Kips Bay

2nd Avenue is really sleepy and aesthetically boring uptown but as you move down it becomes really lively and interesting. The UES is one of the most boring areas in town, but the East Village is fantastic. The only thing that is really crappy about 2nd Avenue all around is that there is no East Side Subway so it makes getting anywhere a real pain.
The Roosevelt Island Tramway cracks me up because it looks so Disneyland. It is an elevated car type thing that starts at 2nd Avenue at 59th. It was supposed to be a subway alternative but that thing looks scary as hell. Speaking of kid's memorabilia, just down the street (the corner of 2nd and 57th) is where JD Salinger lived after the publication of Catcher in the Rye. I think I'm one of the only people alive that didn't like that book. There are mostly just giant apartment and corporate buildings throughout 2nd Avenue in the uptown to midtown area. It makes the area pretty charmless and boring -- although way less crowded than midtown west especially on the tourist front. But, there is a pretty interesting place at 2nd and 47th. There's a pizza place called Nino's where you can buy a caviar pizza for 1,000 bucks. That seems like not only a waste of money but really disgusting -- but people actually buy it. Only in New York . . . .
Once you get into the 30's at 2nd, you enter one of the most boring neighborhoods in New York: Kip's Bay. It's named for Jacobus Kip who was a wealthy landowner when New York wasn't even New York yet. Kip's Bay in it's entirety was Jacobus Kip's farm. That is one huge farm. Now, the only thing noteworthy (in my opinion) in Kip's Bay is the massive movie theatre. It's a really personality-less part of town.
When you get down toward the Stuyvesant part of town -- Peter Stuyvesant used to own all of the 2nd Avenue land from 23rd to 6th -- things start to get a little more lively but it's still pretty sedate. There is a park called Stuyvesant Square that is pretty but it hasn't really got the appeal or energy of even Madison Square. The 20's and late teens of 2nd Avenue seem to be so sleepy, in my opinion, because there are so many hospitals and medical schools around here. I guess it's just all students and sick people. There is a really cool building at 18th and 2nd called the Rutherford Place Apartments. It used to be a hospital where pretty much every baby was born in New York city. Now it's really swanky apartments where Judd Nelson has lived. The architecture is really lovely and it would be pretty cool / creepy to live in a former hospital.
Once you get to 14th street and you're in the East Village, things really start to get shaking. There are a ton of restaurants that are fantastic (like Veselka and Mermaid Inn), great bars (like Bar Veloce) and shopping (Urban Outfitters and American Apparel). The St. Marks at the Bowery church is pretty much my favorite church in the city. It is very old and absolutely stunning.
There is so much life on 2nd Avenue once you get below 14th. It's one of my favorite areas to hang. You can walk into almost any restaurant or bar and have a great time. Plus, there is always a ton of people watching.

Winding its way from Harlem to the East Village, heading through Gramercy Park and Murray Hill, this laid-back commercial and residential area isn't particularly pleasant, although in its uptown stretches it plays host to a number of uber-preppy bars where blazer-ed boozers play pool and reminisce about Deerfield (case in point, Dorrian's Red Hand on 84th Street). That said, while Second Avenue can be a viable option for a family looking for a safe and livable neighborhood on a lower income, the Second Avenue Subway Line - which has begun its constructed phase after nearly a century of on-again, off-again, planning - has led to an almost unbearably level of noise, mess, and general unpleasantness in the area, an unpleasantness which seems poised to last for quite some time. While the Second Avenue Line is sure to provide New Yorkers with an easy commute upon its completion, upping the value of the area's real estate, for now it's only an inconvenience.

Mid March is obviously the time when New York, and the world, goes crazy on the Irish theme but there is a rich Irish history woven into the fabric of New York and if you want to experience this or you are feeling homesick, head to 2nd Avenue where a bevy of Irish bars will welcome you. Oneills, Failte, Doc Watsons, Eamon Dorans and Clancys is more than enough to keep even the most hardened Irish drinker occupied so why not see this street and have a great night out that’s guaranteed to be full of great craic.

I lived here for about a month and my friend lives here now. It's a nice spot, pretty straight-forward, ie what you see is what you get. There is a Gristedes next door and a decent supermarket around the corner. It's pretty safe, you see a few shady characters but that's not unusual anywhere in Manhattan.. The subway is 1-2 avenues away and there is a bus on the corner which takes you across town.

My friend lives in the apartment buildings on 27th and 2nd, they are safe, clean and reasonably priced. He's got a good studio for around $2200 I think.

All up, it's a decent spot, lacking that neighbourly spirit and charm, and sort of tucked away from the action but anywhere below 30th is decent I think, and this area has the added advantage of being only $5 downtown east village.