East 15 St, Stuyvesant Town

East 15th isn't the best street downtown by any stretch of the imagination. But, it's aesthetically pleasing and there are some things to do. The corner of 15th and Union Square is where e.e. Cummings lived when he first began to publish poems. Directly across the street is the site of the old Tiffany building that was really beautiful and then turned into a crappy bank. I think it is currently being restored to the opulence of the original Tiffany measure. 15th also runs into Union Square. I've said a lot about Union Square already. I'm not a huge fan of Union Square; but, historically, it is quite important. A lot of important rallies (like a 250,000 person support rally for the Union in the Civil War) and events (like displaying of all of the bodies from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory) have occurred in Union Square. So, it's still a cool place to walk around if you happen to catch it during the 30 seconds of the day it's not packed to the gills.
East 15th and Irving marks both the Lee Strasburg Institute and the Vineyard Theatre. Strasburg is one of the more famous acting schools though I don't know how popular it is these days. The Vineyard Theatre has seen the origins of a number of plays ranging from Albee to Avenue Q. There is a really lovely pub with pretty good food just across Irving so you can watch a show and go for drinks and dinner right on the same block.
There are some really lovely row houses around Irving and East. There are also a number of hospital related things -- a clinic, part of Beth Israel, etc -- which is kind of a drag because it can make the area a little sketchy at night. Also, there's a "park" which is hardly a park and Stuy Town on 15th. Neither of these are all that desirable. But, I'd still live here . . . if it were in one of the rowhouses.