West 28 St, Chelsea

We're getting way to close to Hell's Kitchen this high up in Chelsea. And, while there are some really lovely buildings around 9th and 10th avenues, the rest of the street is really commercial in a midtown (read: not fun) sort of way. And, unfortunately, even the western streets with the pretty buildings are ruined by ghastly looking things like the post office annex at 10th and 28th.
There's a church from the mid-19th century right at 28th and 9th that looks extremely out of place and it is. It was saved from being leveled because of its architecture. It's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen but it definitely is pretty compared to a lot of the other buildings on this street. This area used to be the Tenderloin, a huge crime neighborhood, so a lot of it has been leveled and replaced with massive condo buildings such as the Onyx right on the corner at 8th. I actually like this building despite the fact that it's new and big. This could be due to the fact that the rest of the buildings on this block are big, depressing slabs.
Once you cross 7th, you enter the flower district. This has been the big floral and plant selling area since the mid-19th century and I think that's pretty cool. There are a lot of flower shops on this street which does spruce up the ugly buildings quite a bit. In the midst of all the flower shops, there's a sort of unnamed landmark building: 147. It was the site of the three victims of the Draft Riots. One of them was a baby thrown from one of the higher floors. Kind of makes the sidewalk a little creepy and depressing.
Across 6th Ave, there's a little plaque marking what used to be Tin Pan Alley, named for the fact that this is where all the new sheet music was played on the street to lure buyers. That must have been really cool. I get happy any time I hear music in the streets . . .except for the sax . . man, I hate the sax. There are still a lot of plant shops on this street, but sadly, no tin panners. There is, however, a cool, old building in the midst of all of the uglies right at the corner of 6th. It looks very shabby chic for lack of a better term. There's another cool, castle looking building on the other side (at Broadway) that was a church and then a bathhouse and now it's a wholesale center. Go figure, New York.
I wouldn't live on 28th unless I found a sweet deal. There are no bars or restaurants and not much of a neighborhood feel. It's just pretty boring and ugly. It's a passover street in my opinion.

This street is not unlike many in in this particular area of the west side. Particularly between 8th ave and 6th ave, you will find a scattering of delis and hardware stores, and not much else. This is a fairly convenient area to live in due to its proximity to Penn Station and therefore, many of the main transportation lines. However, it is dingy, dirty, dark, and noisy. For some reason, there isn’t a lot of street lighting in the area, and walking around here at night is not too pleasant. One perk of this street, is that it is currently being used as a film set for some scenes of a popular show on ABC. However, besides a few minutes of star watching, you don’t really get much more out of that. There is a pretty decent Falafel place between 6th and 7th ave, but besides that your choices for food lie in the “fast” category.

West 28th Street is close to the following metro stations: A, C, E, L at 34th Street, Penn Station, 1,2,3 at 28th Street, an the B,D,F,N, J, R, N, W at 34th Street & Herald Square, 6 at 28th. It is also accessible to many buses. Foot traffic is light, and it is a good neighborhood for all people! You'll be very close to the nearby Chelsea Park and close to Madison Square Garden! This is a great place to get to the know the city, but might be a little too touristy and impersonal for some, but I hail its convenience!

In the 1930's New York's Flower Market was one most active markets. Back then it was customary to send flowers for nearly every occasion. Historically the Flower Market has been located on Sixth Ave between 26th and 28th Street. Last time I visited some vendore were still there but rumors of evivtion notices filled the air. It's quite sad this market was always full of life and color. I'll never understand New Yorkers ordering each other flowers on the internet when they could take a short and have a live person whip up an arrangement for a fraction of the cost. Hope you catch it before it's gone if not spend a moment to reflect the loss of another New York Tradition.