West 19 St, Chelsea

There's not a lot of noteworthy things about West 19th going on today. Chelsea does have some beautiful apartments and there is so much commercial activity in the neighborhood that running errands is a dream around these parts. But, there's no where really cool to eat, drink or hang out. Weirdly, though, there are a lot of buildings on this street that hosted some rather intriguing happenings throughout history that, if you're into that, are worth taking a look at . . . in between home wares shopping.
There's a bar called Peter Mcmanus at 7th avenue that if you go to for nothing else, go because it has been run by the same family since it opened in 1936. The same side of the street but at the 6th Avenue corner used to be a Department Store called Simpson-Crawford. They kept a low profile architecturally, apparently, to keep the riff-raff from wanting to come inside and they had no price tags because "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." I'm actually amazed that this didn't work in New York of all places, but it closed in 1915. The building that houses Bed Bath and Beyond used to be a wildly popular department store that was famous for being the first to hand out a free sample. Sadly, that went under around the same time that Simpson Crawford did and now it's a discount mecca. Directly next door to the BB and B store is an apartment building famous for being the sight of the beginnings of NY's last recorded duel. Some woman's fiancee pee'd in the fireplace at their engagement party and her brother was so put off by it that he asked the fiancee to take it outside with him. The fiancee lost. Across the street and a little east (at 5 West) is where Jackson Pollack learned how to "paint" -- if you're into the origin of art that isn't really art . . .
Other than that, there are a few specialty shops (like a bondage store) and some little jinky restaurants but nothing really noteworthy or cool.

There’s a strangely (for New York) rustic Italian restaurant on this street that offers beautiful platters of mussels, meats, and various preparations of veal. They aren’t open for lunch, but do offer brunch (it seems everyone is these days) on both Saturdays and Sundays. You can also find the Flatiron Lounge, a bar that specializes in martinis.

while the Chelsea neighborhood continues to attract young wall street money, pushing out the historic gay population, this block can be noisy and congested making it a less desirable block to live. The loading dock of the metropolitan pavillion, the fire station, a new school for young children, and a technical school for would be mechanics and plumbers can and do create noise and distractions which may imped your enjoyment. It would not be unusual at 2am to hear loading trucks, cars parked with master music blasting, several garbage trucks performing their duties and the occasional drunk couple proclaiming their love or hate to each other - making you very much apart of their world. Still, shopping conveniences exist and public transportation access is fantastic making an apartment choice in the rear a better alternative.