West 55 St, Midtown

West 55th doesn't have as much in the way of restaurants and uptown-ness as the other West 50's so there's not really much to do or see. I haven't spent a lot of time in this area because it's pretty sleepy in even the realm of architecture.
Random House Tower is on the corner of 55th and 7th. It is the home to the publishing great, as indicated in the name of the building, but it also has residences which boasts inhabitants such as Puff Daddy. The Applejack Diner across the street is less than not noteworthy but it is on the site of an old gangster hang. One of the mob members was murdered and the case was dropped when all eight of the witnesses died or disappeared. That would be a really unfortunate thing to witness.
The Park Central Hotel is on the corner of 55th and 7th. People like Mae West and Eleanor Roosevelt stayed here and two of NY's most famous mob deaths occurred here. Come to think of it, there is an awful lot of mob activity that has happened in Midtown west and I have no idea why.
There's a really cool structure at 155 w 55th that was built to be a horse stable in 1888. It must have been one hell of a horse stable. It is so ornate that it was later turned into a theatre. It's really lovely, but sadly, it's now the back entrance to the London Hotel. Across the street is the New York City Center. It used to be the headquarters for a secret society. But now, it is the home to dance performances from Ailey, Graham and ABT.
There are a lot of restaurants leading up to 5th Avenue but none have the note the other restaurants have in this area. One thing of real note, however, is the Peninsula Hotel, on the south east side. It's one of the most famous hotels in New York and is incredibly posh. It wouldn't be my first choice for a place to stay if I didn't live here, but it's definitely worth taking a look.

55th Street starts at Sutton Place South on the East Side and doesn't turn into West 55th until the usual time (by crossing 5th Avenue), after which it runs all the way to the 9A West Side Highway. It crosses all of Manhattan along the way, making it a great street to walk for a (long) day's work.

I first came to 55th Street many years ago on a personal mission looking for... you guessed it... the Soup Nazi! The real life inspiration for the Seinfeld character ran a restaurant here called The Soup Kitchen, near the corner of West 55th and 8th Avenue. It's closed now, but there are still signs and funny graffiti ("NO SOUP FOR YOU!") to mark the original location.