West 57 St, Midtown

West 57th starts off its run through midtown with some very high end jewelry. Van Cleef and Arpels and Bulgari line the corner at 5th Avenue which is pretty much saying welcome to uptown. But, the uptown people, I guess, can't have the shopping directly at their doorstep because there would just be too many people around. The Bulgari store is in a really pretty building that looks much older than it is. There's a lot of those mixed in with the skyscrapers so if it weren't for all the people it would be a lovely street to walk down. A lot of the buildings have residential spaces above them and if they're anything like the outside on the inside, I'm sure they're lovely . . and really expensive. The noise must be insane too because there are stores on the grounds of nearly every inch of this street. Club Monaco, Brookstone, GNC. It's like an outdoor mall right here in really old buildings. The only thorn in the mall is a rehab clinic on the corner which replaced a shabby apartment building where Dorothy Parker and Marlon Brando used to live. It was quite the nice block (Teddy Roosevelt's mansion used to be here) but now it's basically just shopping.
If the first block was all shopping, then the block across 6th is all hotels. Le Parker Meridien, a Starwood and Buckingham are all here. Le Parker Meridien is definitely the nicest one (though the now seedy Buckingham has the best history). The one thing that makes the Meridien even nicer is Normas. It's the house restaurant and they have a ridiculously great brunch. It's really expensive but a must try at least once. I still have dreams about their food and I haven't been in about a year. The west side of the block holds the back side of Carnegie Hall and the Russian Tea Room which I'm sure do quite well because of all these hotels. Though, I'm sure Carnegie Hall would do well no matter what.
The street makes a much needed departure across 7th Avenue with two gorgeous apartment buildings that were built for artists. I don't know how many artists still live there but quite a few did back in the day (like Ethel Barrymore). There are so many lovely buildings on this street that the ugly Brookyn Diner is quite the eye sore. I guess we just needed another reminder that we aren't quite Uptown yet. Of all the blocks on West 57th in this neighborhood this may be the only one I would consider living in. The buildings are so lovely that you forgive the diner and all the meanderers.