7 Ave, Central Park

7th Ave around Central Park is slightly less chaotic than 5th or 6th but it's still an Avenue that leads up to the park. So, it's still noisy, crowded and full of tourists and solicitors. The neighborhood vibe is pretty much nill because of the overabundance of people around here that don't actually live here. But, the buildings are beautiful and the neighborhood is definitely upper class.
The corner of 57th and 7th is a gorgeous brownstone apartment building that I'm sure has a crazy rent despite being old with no view of the park. Two people have died in this building: the developer of it shot himself in the head here, and the writer of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes died of old age in her unit. Creepy, huh? Though, I guess people die all over New York and if they're not famous or otherwise known, we never hear about it. Across the street is an equally old and lovely building called the Osborne. Shirley Temple, Ethel Barrymore and Lyn Redgrave have all lived here. Gig Young killed his wife in this building also. It was a murdery kind of block back in the day, I guess. I feel like rich people used to have so much more scandal than they do now. Now, it's just money scandal so I guess our richies have gone soft. The apartment building next to the Briarcliff is an absolutely stunning, Renaissance building from 1909. It looks like a castle in the middle of 7th avenue. It's really extraordinary and though I've never seen the units, I bet they are just as fantastic as the facade. Across the street is another expensive residential building that is fine looking but completely gets swept under the rug by the castle. Man, that thing is a sight.
The block at 58th houses two massive, modern luxury residential buildings. I know the amenities must be through the roof and the view fantastic for many of the units, but theses buildings just don't have the charm of the previous block residences. I think I would forego a lot of conveniences to live in a magical looking old place with comparable rent. Though, with prices like these guys, I wouldn't complain either way if I could live there.
There's no neighborhood feel to this area because of the amount of tourists and businesses that cater to them. So, it's not my favorite part of town. Living-wise, it tends to have a much older demographic than a lot of other expensive neighborhoods. There aren't really any good restaurants or bars (unless you like caviar and frequent the Petrossian) and that's pretty important to me. But, this kind of park access is great and it's a really nice neighborhood.