West 54 St, Clinton / Hells Kitchen

54th starts off at the Hudson with a pretty bleak landscape save the Clinton Park. The park is decent sized but the surrounding aesthetic makes it not the most pleasing park by a long shot. It looks kind of like an industrial ghost town with a little bit of green next to it. I've only passed by this park: I've never actually hung out here. I can just think of way too many parks in the city that I enjoy to trek up to this one. Though, I'm sure it is quite welcome for the people that actually live over here.
The block at 11th is equally depressing with the AT&T monster on the south (a building with no windows) and a couple of housing projects on the north side of the block mixed in with ugly apartment buildings. The Colbert Report is taped on this block but that's hardly a reason to hang out here, in my opinion. The block at 10th is not much to look at, aesthetically, but it is an important block for music: it houses Sony Music, the School for Strings, and the former Hit Factory (where 50 Cent was stabbed). The Hit Factory is now a condo building but it the building is still the same which is pretty cool.
The block at 9th houses the Midtown Court and north Midtown Precinct. Across the street, there's a cute little Russian restaurant, a cute little gay bar, and a couple of apartment buildings. I wouldn't want to live on any part of 54th in Hell's Kitchen, but I really wouldn't want to live across the street from a court and police station. Yes, I suppose it must be one of the safer blocks in the neighborhood, but there's just too much commotion and lurkers hanging around both establishments for my idea of a nice, neighborhood street.
All in all west 54th is pretty depressing in Hell's Kitchen. It's so close to a beautiful neighborhood that it seems even more offensive to me than if it weren't. There's no neighborhood feel, no bars, restaurants, art . . .nothing. It's just a lot of big, ugly buildings, and a small ugly park.