West 23rd St, Chelsea

West 23rd isn't my ideal spot to live but it must be somebody's. My best friend lives at 23rd and 6th and while her apartment is pretty sweet and luxurious, it's also ridiculously expensive and too new to be cool. That's pretty far for the course on this block.
The area west of 10th to the Hudson used to be a giant landfill -- the actual Hudson shore used to come up to 9th. Now, its still a little desolate in the 20's but with the re-opening of the Highline, Chelsea Piers and a few massive apartment buildings some bustle is starting to come into the area. There are a number of art galleries and a theatre around 23rd and 10th. This theatre is where plays like Steel Magnolias had their debut. Not exciting to some people but Steel is one of my favorite plays ever -- I can quote almost the entirity of it. There's also a really cute little bar called The Half King right on the corner of 10th that's owned by a writer; a lot of literary types hang out here. There are also some apartment buildings on the east side of 10th that look like rowhouses. They're kinda cool but don't beat living in an actual rowhouse, I suppose.
There are some lovely buildings between 8th and 9th that are all from the early 20th century. There's not much that's noteworthy to do around here, save the Patsy's pizzaria. I know I will be met with much dissent on this claim, but Patsy's is one of my favorite Pizza places in NYC. As far as actual pizza, sit-down restaurants go, I much prefer Patsy's to both Grimaldi's and Lombardi's.
The block between 7th and 8th has a lot going on. Gotham Comedy Club is on this block. Being asked to tape Live at Gotham is one of the biggest honors a comic can achieve. It means they've "made it." A lot of famous comics stop by all the time to work out some material. There's a really quite Spanish place call El Quijote about 2 doors down that has been around forever and still has pretty good food. The very famous Chelsea Hotel is also on this block. Countless movies have been filmed her, Sid killed Nancy here and a number of famous people have slept in the rooms: Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan to name a few. It's gotta be on the top 10 things to see / have a drink in if you're visiting New York. Jake's Saloon is right on the corner on the same side of the block. It can get a little rowdy but it's still quite fun. You can spend an entire day of activities just on this one little block.
The block between 6th and 7th isn't particularly noteworthy. It's a lot of big buildings and one old, kinda pretty church. There are much more beautiful churches within walking distance of this one, though, so why bother? Fifth Ave and 23rd is kind of the same as the next block west. Although the buildings are a bit older many of them have been replaced by massive things built to resemble the ones they replace. Only a few actual old school buildings remain and the only one, in my opinion worth seeing is 14 West 23rd. It is where Edith Wharton was born and lived for many moons. She writes a lot about this area. In fact, in Age of Innocence she describes Countess Olenska as living in the very undesirable west 24th street. It's kind of funny considering she, herself, lived only about 2 blocks from such sadness.