West 47 St, Clinton / Hells Kitchen

There's not a whole hell of a lot going on at 47th for the first couple of avenues, but that's kind of a relief for all of the townhouse residents, I'm sure. This street has some gorgeous homes on it as it used to be part of the Astor Property called Eden Farm. It's so quiet around here that you forget how close it is to Times Square. There are even trees and a neighborhood feel that's kind of nice aside from the lurking tourists and midtown traffic surrounding it. There's a Sullivan Street Bakery outpost at 12th that is absolutely fantastic and not nearly as crowded as other bakeries of its caliber. I highly recommend it. The townhouses continue all the way through to 9th Avenue and I always wonder how much they sell for. It's not nearly as ideal of a neighborhood as others with townhouses but I'm sure they're still outrageously priced.
Once you cross 9th, the street takes on more of a city / midtown kind of vibe. It has bigger apartment buildings, not so great eateries that cater to tourists, and a couple of religious buildings. It loses the quaintness and becomes more kindred to the streets you would expect to be surrounding Times Square which is kind of a bummer. So, I would recommend looking east of 9th as far as living situations go. It's a couple of avenues away from any sort of subway or anything to do for that matter, but it's so much lovelier over there.