Sutton Place

Sutton Place is a small residential neighborhood right by the Queensboro Bridge. The area is best known as one of the most upscale in the city and its residents include actors, actresses, architects, designers, former Governors, and just the generally well-to-do folks of the city.

If you are considering moving here, way to go. Congrats on your six-year deal with the Knicks, platinum album, or what-have-you. Real estate in this area, mostly townhouses with a few mansions, go for quite a bit of cash, as you can imagine. If you do get to live here, you are in luck. Not just because you can already afford a place here but because it is undoubtedly gorgeous inside and out with spectacular views of the East River and the bridge, you are within a few blocks of Central Park, Midtown Manhattan, and a short ride away from everything else. The area is clean, secure, and beautiful.

Visitors can go for a stroll through the neighborhood and pick out their future home but there is not much going on around the neighborhood. Which is just as well since EVERYTHING is going on just a few minutes away in Midtown. Nice places if you can get 'em, still good to look at and mutter under your breath when you can't.

Sutton Place is a small midtown/Upper East Side neighborhood that stretches only a matter of a few blocks from 53rd to 59th Streets in the far eastern portion of the east side from about Second Avenue to the East River. It has long been known as a very upscale, posh area. If you have a Sutton Place address, there's a certain amount of prestige that goes along with it. Michael Jackson once had a place in this neighborhood, and one of the buildings was built by the Vanderbilts. It has been featured in books and movies for many years, so it has been a symbol of wealth for decades. You'll read about it in "Catcher in the Rye" and hear about it in the movie from the 50s with Marilyn Monroe, "How to Marry a Millionaire." In fact, Marilyn lived in this neighborhood back in the day. It's also used as a symbol of having "made it" in the original "Wall Street" movie. Today, actors, socialites, and designers live here.

Finding an apartment in this area isn't easy. People don't let them go frequently and move elsewhere, and if you do find a place, you can expect to pay plenty. You might be able to find a more affordable place not far from Sutton Place, so you can pretend you actually live there. If you're a tourist, though, it's fun to walk around the neighborhood. It's quite pretty, residential, and located fairly near a lot of other areas you'll be visiting.

If you're looking to buy in this area, congrats. You must be rich. You'll likely live in a huge townhouse that's beautiful inside and out. You'll have a ton of awesome neighbors like Kenneth Cole, and actress Sigourney Weaver. Your former neighbors include Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, and Marilyn Monroe.

Congrats, again.

You won't be near many subway trains, but few who live in Sutton Place take public transportation. Your driver can take you wherever you need to. You're also not near many shopping places, but if you live here you'll likely already have everything you need or a staff that does your shopping for you.

If you don't have tons of money, a personal staff, and 24-hour driver on hand....you may want to live somewhere else, as you may feel a little out of place.

I say this half kidding, but only half. It's an expensive area and the quality of life that can be experienced here can only be achieved by those that can foot the bill. It's go big or go home here...just remember there are a lot of other great places to live where you can feel rich without having to actually BE rich. This is not one of them.

Tourists can check it out, but the best views are on the inside of these buildings...not the outside.

Along with Beekmen Place, Sutton Place makes up one of the most affluent areas in New York City. These two cul de sacs make up one of the city's quietest areas, with a line of elegant townhouses shrouded by leafy trees, overlooking the parks that, while technically public, can sometimes seem to fashion as a private backyard for the area's residents. This place has a long and storied history as a playground for the rich and intentionally-out-of-the-papers, back in the days of Edith Wharton: Anne Harriman Vanderbilt lived here, as did Anne Morgan of J.P. fame. Today, the area retains its traditional charm, as well as its high-priced connotations. Unfortunately, there's little to do on these streets other than wander with sparkling effortlessness - to nearby East side avenues are not quit so charming, but they do offer basic necessities such as groceres, restaurants, etc. A bit further south, in the Kips Bay/UN area, the mood becomes more lively, as diplomats overtake socialites, an restaurants like the panoramic Beekman Hotel offer even the most staid inhabitants of Sutton Place something with which to fill their time.

I mean, what can you even say about this tiny chunk of Manhattan?

If you could afford to live here, you probably wouldn’t be reading this review. You would be on a yacht somewhere off the Seychelles sipping champagne and eating Pop Rocks (well…I would because Pop Rocks are delicious). If you are reading this review, you are probably reading as someone who is considering visiting Sutton Place. As I have done.

It’s a nice neighborhood, very clean of course, with doormen peering at you suspiciously from behind wrought iron gates taller than a giraffe. Unless you are thinking of going to one of the no doubt fabulous restaurants, there is little to do in Sutton Place. I’ll warn you, though, that the restaurants are significantly more expensive than Pop Rocks.

But, if you’re anything like me, than you might just go to enjoy the little parks. And if, like me, you get really lucky, you can steel wireless Internet from one of the nearby residences. I don’t really know for sure which building Stephen Sondheim lives in, but I like to think that I used his wireless to look up the number for Domino’s pizza. The parks are actually very nice, propped on top of FDR, which afford fairly nice views of Roosevelt Island. They are kind of hard to get to, which might be why they are so empty. It’s a nice place to stop for a bit of quiet, but doesn’t have much in the way of excitement.

You may not remember this, but many celebrities lived on this block, especially at 440 Sudden Place. Sudden Place actually covers 55th, 56th, and 57th St, along with Sutton Place. I remember visiting a friend on 55th St. and she told me about how she met Frank Sinatra coming out of the building one day.

The entire area of Sudden has an alluring quality to it. It is charming in its own way. It may not be a paradise, like with parks, but the buildings do have attractive architecture. And there is a bit of history as well.

Go there some time and you may still run into a celebrity or two.

This neighborhood is pretty close to the FDR, so expect to hear traffic buzzing along just about all of the time if you move in to an apartment above sea level. However, it’s a pretty lovely neighborhood if you can shell out the cash for it. The neighborhood also features all the comforts of Midtown, but it’s far enough from the tourists that you won’t feel like crying yourself to sleep at night. This neighborhood is where Marilyn Monroe lived with husband du jour Author Miller, and it resembles what you would expect from a place that has been graced with such old Hollywood glamour – richly tree-lined streets and fancy townhouses galore.