East 49th St, Midtown

49th is one of the prettier streets in Turtle Bay and the aesthetic takes a pretty swift departure once you enter the midtown section at 3rd Ave. There are a lot of hotels right at the start of 49th's run through midtown and it's pretty much just all business patrons. I know because I had to stay in the W on this block. It's a nice hotel but walking out is really depressing for a downtown person like myself. There were suits everywhere. And, no good restaurants. Across from the W is the Marriott which is an okay hotel that has some great history from when it was the Shelton. Georgia O'Keefe lived here as did Penny Guggenheim. Harry Houdini used the basement for his under water coffin trick. I wish the Marriott would have kept up the grandeur of this place but I don't know that Marriott's are capable of that.
The next block houses the Barclay Hotel which is pretty nice but it gets really overshadowed by it's across the street neighbor, The Waldorf Astoria. My parents stayed here the first time they came to visit and it is a really beautiful hotel. Unfortunately, it has been taken over by the business set so it doesn't have that kind of swagger it became famous for these days. It's still an institution, though (even though it's now owned by Hilton). The salad really is great and the restaurant is named for the Alley (Peacock Alley) where all the society figures paraded in the hotel. Many presidents, Kissinger, and Eisenhower have all lived here at some point. It's worth taking a look and trying the salad, that's for sure.
The block between Park and Madison loses all of its timey grandness with commercial buildings that house banks and big business. You walk out of the old timey Waldorf and right into depressing block USA. But, it sort of turns around again just before 5th with the famous Saks Fifth Avenue, the headquarters for New York Magazine and shops such as American Girl Place. Sidenote: I find American Girl Place to be one of the creepiest stores in existence but I guess kids like it. I went in there once and upon seeing that they have a doll hospital, immediately walked out.
East 49th has some great historical and noteworthy places to see but it's definitely not a great place to live. It's too commercial and filled with suits, tourists and traffic. There's no neighborhood feel and no great restaurants, bars, etc.