West 38th St, Clinton / Hells Kitchen

West 38th starts off in Hell's Kitchen just how you would imagine it to: ugly and boring. There's the Javits Center on 11th, a massive, ugly convention center, and the Lincoln Tunnel entrance and a firehouse leading up to 9th. And, that's about it. There's nothing to do, no architecture to look at and there's no neighborhood energy because there's really no neighborhood here. It's like a passover street that's pretty sketchy at night because there's really no one around.
The block between 8th and 9th has a few little places like a pork shop that has been there for sixty some odd years and a great little Mexican spot that's never crowded. There's also a cool building right on the corner at 8th that used to be a hotel. But, there's still really no neighborhood vibe and there's not enough to do on this block that makes it have any sort of draw in my opinion.
The street's run through the neighborhood ends at 8th avenue and there's little to note of it all the way through. You add the non factor factor to the fact that there are a lot of tourists, cabs and trash due to its proximity to Times Square, and 38th has little to offer as far as living . . . like most of midtown.