East 25th St, Madison Square

Much like 24th in this neighborhood, 25th is a commercial street on its run from Park to Madison / Madison Square Park. You almost can't live on this block and there's not really anything going on outside of the park because it's just business buildings. There's one apartment building on the north side of the street where Humphrey Bogart once lived. But, it's next door to a courthouse so I don't know what kind of draw that has for me. The courthouse is very pretty -- a Renaissance style building built at the turn of the 20th century. But, I feel weird living next to a government building that so many weirdos are obliged to go into all day. The other end of the block holds a bank building, and across the street houses the massive Credit Suisse building with Danny Meyer restaurants 11 Madison Park and Table. They're both very expensive (11 Madison is a month's rent kind of expensive) and I prefer Tabla out of the two. 11 Madison won the James Beard award last year but the food is very shishi. It's too fancy, weird and small for me; and, I'm not in love with the kind of places that have their staff crawling all over your every move. It's too stuffy for me. Tabla is really expensive for Indian kind of food but not nearly as bad as 11 Madison. And, I enjoyed the energy and overall tasting experience a lot more here. There's also Meyer's quite cheap and chipper Shake Shack across the street in the park which is always a delight if both are too pricey.
It's nice to live right on a park like this because Madison Square Park is lovely. But, it is a really busy part of town and the rent reflects the park more than it does the fact that it's a commercial area. For that kind of dough, I would much rather live in a more neighborhood kind of neighborhood that's a few blocks from a park. But, that's just me . . .

If I could pick a street to live on in New York City, it would be this one. The housing is beautiful, the people are friendly, things are convenient, and it is the only place in the city I didn’t hear a siren in for at least 20 minutes. I loved the homely feel of the neighborhood, and nearby Baruch college kept the area fresh and new. Ole Restaurant is a good place to dine on Mexican Cuisine and there is an assortment of shopping throughout the neighborhood. It is easily accessed by the metro ( 6, 23rd St) and by many buses.

(east 25th street, Lexington avenue)