Broadway, Gramercy Park

It's really busy right here, but I do love this stretch of Broadway. As you're walking up, there are so many beautiful, old buildings in the horizon. It's so gorgeous and old timey on a dreary day especially. You feel like you're in the Alienist whenever you're walking up this street.
The building that now has Petco on the ground floor right at 17th was Andy Warhol's last factory right up until he died. There's a pret-a- manger directly across the street but I wouldn't recommend eating at any of these. They're really gross and I don't understand how they got to be popular at all. I would, perhaps, try a milkshake at Goodburger a few doors down from Petco instead, but that's just me. There are a few shops on this block like Steve Madden and Paragon. The shops aren't anything impressive but the buildings are gorgeous.
The block at 18th has some serious, over the top architecture. Right on the corner, the McIntyre building looks like a gothic, warlord castle. It's gorgeous but really ornate and creepy. There's a mattress store there now, but apparently, there used to be an illegal club called Snake Club or something, and they were finding snakes throughout the building for years after it was shut down. I would die. I would literally die if I were just mattress shopping and a snake ran across my foot. Across the street, there's another really ornate building that houses a few little shops, but the killer building inside and out (or 2 buildings, rather) are the ABC Home and Carpet shops on the corner at 19th. The buildings are very lavish and old and gorgeous. And, ABC is the go-to spot for elite home decor. Apparently, it always has been. When I have a little time to kill before a movie or something, I always just walk around ABC.
Across 19th, there's a little store called Fish's Eddy which is a fantastic spot for cheap dining ware. The stuff is pretty cool and eclectic and it is really, insanely cheap. I think all of my coffee mugs have come from this shop. Across the street from Fish's are two Ballet companies and a movie theatre in one building: how's that for artsy? This theater doesn't have the panache that the union square one does, but it doesn't have the crowd either so I go here a lot. There's also Craftbar next door (which is great) and an Equinox gym in the old cast-iron Lord and Taylor Building. This is the best looking Equinox from the outside and one of my least favorites on the inside.
There's a really beautiful, Stanford White building on the corner of Broadway and 20th (west side) but the rest of the block is pretty boring. The further north you go toward Madison Square Park, the busier and more commercial it gets. There is a lot of traffic around here and not much to do in the way of bars and restaurants. And, outside of the Flatiron builiding, the architecture gets a little less glamorous as you move up as well. 17th-20th really is Broadway's sweet spot.