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Ah, Chelsea – there are plenty of things to do here, though it seems to be the oldest members of the young crowd (that makes sense, right?) that go out over here (probably because they have a bit more money than younger members of the youth). A really cool venue to check out is the Cutting Room, which features art, comedy, live music, and alcohol.

Tourists have to get over to West 23rd to see the Flatiron Building – which everyone has already seen in the Spiderman movies – but still, it’s a sight to behold. The street offers plenty of theatre history, too – this area was once the Broadway of the late 19th century. Rock fans should check out the Chelsea Hotel, also on this street – and view the place where Sid killed Nancy and Leonard Cohen bedded Janis Joplin.

This street goes smack into the middle of a plethora of expensive night clubs and restaurants, and perhaps the most entertaining (and interestingly themed) of these on this street is Aspen Restaurant and Lounge. The concept is obvious – the place is mean to look like a skiing cabin. The place is absolutely gorgeous and the food is pretty much what you would expect from such a trendy place – a pan American mix that involves avocados and goat cheese.

This street is littered with restaurants (Alonso’s Steakhouse, which is a restaurant that resembles an actual butcher shop) and nightclubs (Avalon, a club that it seems everyone has been to at least once, because they seem to offer a party for just about everyone at one time). You won’t be bored, even if you’re just looking. Check out the street’s fetish shop, Purple Passion.

There are plenty of businesses for the shopper/eater to explore on this street. There’s a Venezuelan restaurant by the name of El cocotero that is worth a look; there they offer coffee, tea, lunch, soups, and desserts, and it is very inexpensive. There is also an appropriately named Just Calm Down Spa, for those looking to forget the craziness of the city for a few hours.

Hotel 17 on this street is not the swankiest, trendiest place – but it does offer a quaint kind of Village area charm (though it’s a bit north of the East Village). Single bedrooms here are surprisingly inexpensive (especially for Manhattan), and this street is just a short cab ride (or walk, if you’re feeling warm enough) away to all the nightlife anyone could ever handle.

This is a great street for tourists. The street offers hotels, and is close to plenty of the neighborhood’s trendy shops and restaurants. If you consider yourself as part of the height of trendiness and you have plenty of money you want to get rid of, let yourself loose around here. It’s not exactly a utopia, though – beware the occasional discarded needle on the sidewalk.

Chelsea/Meatpacking is a great neighborhood for everyone – for tourists, for residents, and for people generally under the age of 40 (who also don’t have kids). It may not be the most picturesque street, but nearby there are plenty of things to do during the weekend hours – clubs, restaurants that serve brunch, etc.

This is close to Mount Sinai Hospital, and consequently you can find just about any sort of MD that you require on this street. There aren’t many recommended shopping or restaurant destinations here, though, so if that is what you want from a street you won’t find it up here (try lower street numbers!). Not recommended – boring street.

This is the kind of street you’d expect from New York – the deli, the church (okay, it’s Russian Orthodox, but still a church), the preschool, and the AT&T store. This isn’t Midtown anymore (or even close), so don’t expect too much if you’re visiting for the first time.

Weirdly, there’s a hostel on this street. This is odd because the surrounding neighborhood is a bit old, and hostels tend to interest only young travelers. For those strictly on a sight-seeing tour of museums, it’s a good location because so many are close by (The Met, The Guggenheim, The Whitney Museum, and The International Center of Photography).

This street has less to offer a zealous tourist and more to give to the street’s residents. Of course, it’s likely that if you’re a tourist you will never even consider venturing down this street (unless you don’t have much of an itinerary and love to wander) anyway.
But for residents this street is relatively quiet and assuredly safe. It is easy on the eyes as well, with its little trees and grand apartment buildings.

Eli’s Vinegar Factory is on this street – and sure, it’s way over on the very east end, but if you like food you have to check it out. (Well, I recommend it mostly for people who have access to a kitchen during their stays since it is really a grocery store.) This is my most favorite specialty grocery shop in all of Manhattan – they have an awesome selection of cheese, bread, and wine, and I can’t really think of anything I love more.

The further up into the Upper East Side you go, the faster the restaurants and shops seem to sink away (okay, these things are everywhere you go in New York, but they are less and less frequent up here).
This street features plenty of residencies for those looking to retire with their millions and avoid visitors of the city for the rest of their days. There are doctors’ and attorneys’ offices here as well, and there is an event planner too. (So you see what I mean – the street is lovable for those that live there, but not so much for visitors.)

There isn’t much that a visitor would find appealing on this street – the businesses that line its sidewalk are mostly looking out for residents or potential residents. This is a nice neighborhood, though, and if you’re thinking of moving in and don’t want to be too close to any tourists hot spots, check out the street on the east end, closer to the East River.

This is a mostly residential street – tourists hardly ever wander so far away from the action. But – if you’re looking for a quiet street that offers fancy Upper East Side apartment buildings, this is the street for you. Even if you have to walk a bit to get back to reality, it’s probably worth it for people who really value a quiet neighborhood (which is increasing difficult to find in Manhattan).

If you stay pretty close to the park and Park Ave on this street, you will find a good deal of commodities – places to shop, eat. They may not be the best places the city has to offer, though so be aware of them if you are wandering the neighborhood, but if you’re looking to plan out where you will eat during your New York stay, you may want to stick with trendier areas.
That being said, there are a few places a tourist might find welcoming on this street, like Sotto Cinque – an affordable pasta restaurant with a warm atmosphere.

This street is smack in the middle of various streets that offer plenty of restaurants, and East 85th is no exception. There is also a yoga studio (these are really popular in this neighborhood) and an Equinox fitness gym. If you have to chose from the restaurants on this street, go with Jacques Brasserie (and yes, I admit to be partial to French food).

Walking around the Upper East Side, you will see a lot of restaurants. These definitely aren’t the trend setting places you tend to see further downtown, but rather they appeal to the old money residents of the neighborhood. One restaurant with an incredible atmosphere (chandeliers, wooden beamed ceilings, exposed interior brick walls) is Le Refuge. (You can probably tell by the name they offer, um, French cuisine. It’s really good.)

There are some restaurants on this street, though whether they are very appealing to a tourist is a question of what kind of tourist we are talking about. A restaurant way off the beaten track is Le Boeuf A La Mode, over toward the East River and FRD Dr. Residents of the neighborhood must go – it’s a romantic little place that constantly dishes out quality meals.

This street is a pleasant tour of Central Park, and it also features a stairwell hidden over by Belvedere Castle that leads to an open-ended cavern and subsequently to a series of four underground transverse roads that were built in the park. The rock tunnel was finished in the late nineteenth century, and this is the only place you can access it.

Terrace Dr. meanders through the middle of Central Park, near Cherry Hill and the lake in the center of the park. This is where you can find the Boathouse, which is a restaurant as well as a place where you can rent both bikes and boats. This is a popular place for park-goers, and especially during warmer months the lake is populated with boats and the lake shore is full of loungers.

This street is pretty diverse. It cuts right through Central Park (hence the “transverse” part of its name), and offers everything from hiking to softball fields. This street does not double as a jogging path, though, as it is a functioning road for traffic to get from one side of the city to the other.

If you want to jog or bike on East Dr in Central Park, then make sure you get to the park before 3pm or after 7pm, as this street is open to car traffic during those hours. Otherwise, this street is great for recreational purposes – it also affords pretty good people watching, as the park is populated by a lot more than just people attempting to stay in shape.

There are streets through the park so that traffic doesn’t have to go all the way around Central Park in order to transverse surrounding Manhattan neighborhoods. So if you’re looking for a jogging path, there are defiantly better ones than Center Dr. However, the street is only open to traffic from 7am-7pm on weekdays– so if you’re planning on jogging when the park opens (6 am), or from 7pm -1 am (when it closes), then you’re good.

West Drive meanders through Central Park, and so does car traffic. If you’re looking for a place to jog, there are safer paths to be had in the park. This is a lovely street, though (except for maybe during the winter months, when the trees seem depressingly grey). However, this street is only open to traffic from 8am-10am on weekdays, and since the park opens at 6am and closes at 1am there is plenty of time to jog on this street when it’s traffic-free.

This street doesn’t extend over to Central Park, which kind of makes it all the more tourist-free. There is more than one hotel on this street, however, like the Lucerne Hotel and Hotel Hayden Hall. The former is a gorgeous luxury hotel that is even beautiful to behold from the sidewalk.

There is a surprisingly inexpensive hotel on this street that is also done-up in the chic Upper West Side manner (leather headboards, bare wooden floors). The Belleclaire Hotel is also a romantic historic staple of the neighborhood, and it’s close to Broadway and the Hudson river, as well as the scenic Riverside Drive.

The art dealer Art Liquid is located here – they acquire art from artists at all stages of their career (including post-mortem), so if you’re looking to shovel away a few paintings check it out. There are also the staples you can find on just about any New York street here – the pizzeria, the bakery, etc.

It seems that the higher you delve into the Upper West Side, the more yoga and pilates studios you run into. That must be because these types of exercises appeal to the rich and elderly local population. This street isn’t exactly Times Square when it comes to tourist appeal, but it still has a New York City charm that comes from being steeped in local residents’ money.

This is a pretty residential street, though if you are visiting and staying here there are a lot of tourist attractions close by (like Central Park). If you’re a resident, you can stop in at the World Yoga Center and make sure that you can not only compete with your skinny rich elderly neighbors, but with Madonna as well.

If your desire is to move onto this road, good luck. That is, some of the most desirable residencies are located here and the competition is steep. You’d better not only have the cash to fork over, but know somebody who can get you in. If you’re just visiting, this street is absolutely gorgeous and you should take a walk down it for sure – just pack a lunch and have yourself a picnic.

This street is not only not for tourists (they would find absolutely nothing to do there), but apparently it’s sinking. As in, the street is literally sinking away from the sidewalk, and more and more people are moving out because they’re afraid the pavement will actually cave in. (Transportation officials refute the possibility, though – so don’t worry, if you’re planning on moving there it’s supposed to be safe.)

This little Blvd is on the east side of the Henry Hudson Parkway, and is pretty oriented toward residents. That is, you won’t be finding too many trendy eateries or shops that stock Marc Jacobs totes. The street features things like a preschool and ballet studio. Oh, and a cat hospital.

Since this is a main drag through the top hat of Manhattan, there are plenty of things to do for both residents and tourists. I’d recommend checking out Calle Ocho – especially if you live in New York and miss Miami terribly. Besides having mojitos that are actually made correctly (apparently it’s not as easy as you’d think), this place has a great atmosphere.

This street has plenty to offer the tourist lot – hotels like Inn New York City and Hotel Riverside Studios are a good place to start. The latter offers a startling view of the Hudson, and it’s always nice to see a little nature when you’re visiting Manhattan. Also on West 71st are the quaint Turkish restaurant PASHA and the ever-affordable New York style pizza place Big Nick’s.

This neighborhood is really pleasant – during warmer times you can see a lot of people wandering around the neighborhood (though it isn’t exactly a youthful crowd). There are a lot of cafes on this street – I really recommend Epices du Traiteur (which offers a sort of Village flavored atmosphere and serves Mediterranean style cuisine) and the Sensuous Bean on this street (as it’s always nice to get coffee from some place that isn’t Starbucks).

This is another street that has its share of restaurants – the Sheep Meadow Café gets great reviews (though it is only open during warmer months). It’s an outdoor Barbeque place and it offers some pretty great people watching. Not to mention it’s actually affordable – about $15 to $25 per person.

This street offers a swank residential building/extended stay hotel, a European style bakery, and the Church of St. Lazarus. Phillips Club is an extended stay that will house you if you’re feeling wealthy – and this neighborhood is a great one to be wealthy in. If you do decide to live it up in the Upper West Side, you can stumble over to the European Bakery Café for a post-partying eggs Benedict breakfast before heading over to St. Lazarus to confess the previous evening’s sins.

If you’re looking for a theatre production and you hate Times Square and all surrounding areas, head over to this street and check out Lincoln Center Theatre. True, the shows they put on there seem to be geared to a more elderly generation (um, South Pacific), but this neighborhood is such a sigh of relief compared to Midtown that it’s worth visiting.
There’s a restaurant on this street that isn’t too far from Central Park West that doesn’t offer a vegan menu, but actually has a few options on the menu that vegans can choose from, like an organic tofu salad (hold the cheese). It’s called Le Pain Quotidien and it’s not exactly a chain, but it has multiple locations in large fashionable cities.

This street is populated with entertainment choices – if you’re a resident you can check out the West Side YMCA, and if you’re just visiting and happen to be wandering in the area, you can head over to the New York City Ballet Box Office located here. If you want to burn your money or if you only stay at swank hotels when you’re visiting the city, you can stay on this street at Empire Hotel, a gorgeous wooden decked gem of a hotel.

Ah, Central Park West. It’s so gorgeous – even in the winter when the sky is all gray and the park is all brown, the architecture and people watching are still entertaining. During warmer, greener months the street is of course busier with both street and sidewalk traffic – but that goes for the city at large.

This street is lined with brick apartment buildings and fitness clubs, and it’s pretty residential (as opposed to tourist-y). If you’re looking for restaurants in the area, it’s best to head over to the intersecting avenues – because there really isn’t much to say about this street as far as tourist commodities are concerned.

For some reason there are plenty of affordable hotels on the Upper West Side (as opposed to, say, the Plaza on the East Side). This is a great street for tourists to stay; as it’s close to places tourists need to visit on New York trips, like Fifth Ave shopping district and Central Park.

There are some relatively inexpensive hotels on West End, if you’re into that kind of thing. This is a good location for tourists, especially during the summer, as it’s close to Central Park (which is a beautiful place to tour at any time of the year – it’s a great break from the city streets), and it’s close to Upper West Side amenities like shops and restaurants. There are certainly cheap eats on this road, too – though if you’ve saved enough money on your hotel room, you can definitely find places to splurge on West End Ave.

Broadway in the Upper West Side (Broadway spans the entire isle of Manhattan, so to review the entire street would take quite a while), has something to offer everyone. There are expensive restaurants like the French bistro Alouette, a small outfit with a pleasant and stylish atmosphere, and there are really inexpensive places like Broadway Delights – a sliver of a sandwich shop that I’ve never heard anything bad about.
To make it in this fancy neighborhood, the food has to be pretty good, so a good restaurant gauge is to find out how long the particular restaurant you want to visit has actually been in business.

This is one of the main drags in the upper reaches of Manhattan, and it’s peppered with restaurants that are mostly populated by the Upper West Side’s rich elderly residents. It doesn’t seem like too many tourists venture up to this street, so if you’re looking for a New York neighborhood that is all your own (and you also have plenty of money to spend), then this is it.

The Upper West is supposed to be the “new money” side of town, but if you don’t really have money of any age, trust me, it’s all the same to you. This street isn’t particularly appealing to a tourist – but there are plenty of realty and medical offices for residents (or potential residents).
The cool thing about West60th is that it’s right near the south end of Central Park, and it’s close to the ritzy shops of the east side.

This isn’t just a little street – it’s a major two way street on both sides of Manhattan. It goes through Central Park and is basically an important artery to get from the Upper East Side to the Upper West.
The American Museum of Natural History is on this street – but you can’t get to it from this street, as the museum literally occupies the space where the street would be between Central Park West and Columbus Ave.
There’s a train stop here, so it’s an ideal place to stay if you’re visiting and like to be in the middle of a busy place, but the traffic may not be ideal for a potential resident. The neighborhood is pretty quiet at night, though.

There’s a NY Sports Club on this street (okay, I know – there’s hardly anywhere on this island where there isn’t an NYSC nearby), as well as a string of restaurants, but it isn’t exactly a great tourist attraction. Besides NYSC, there is business that offers fitness consultation called Nu-Train Nutrition here on East 76th.

This is a relatively quiet street on the Upper East Side. There aren’t too many businesses that would attract a tourist on this street, so if you happen to be looking for a quiet place to live and you have the money to spend on this particular neighborhood, have at it.

There’s not a whole lot to see and do here, so it’s not really ideal for tourists (unless you are planning on walking over to Fifth Avenue or into the Park). It is a nice place for residents, though – the streets stay pretty clean, and pretty quiet as well. Just like every street in the neighborhood, it offers a few cafes of the cookie cutter sort.

Most of the businesses on this street are pretty commercial – like a maid service – and there are also a few health care businesses as well.
Shabu-Shabu is on this street; it’s a Japanese restaurant that is close to Hunter College, and sort of caters to a student sort of crowd (they have movie posters on the walls).

The higher into the Upper East Side you go, the more the neighborhood caters to residents rather than tourists. That’s not to say that you can’t find a few businesses that cater to tourists on this street, especially toward tourist cruising spots like Fifth Ave by Central Park.

An interesting stop on this street is Debauve Gallais Chocolate, a shop that offers yummy (but expensive) truffles and bonbons.

This is a resident friendly street (actually, most streets on the Upper East Side are pretty resident friendly – probably because it costs so much to live there). It features a few restaurants, a hospital, and a pilates studio (it seems that there are a lot of yoga and pilates places in this neighborhood).

There’s a public library on this street – though I’m not so sure if Upper East Side residents visit such places (I myself have been to just about every library in the borough of Manhattan, and this one is alright).
67th Street isn’t exactly a tourist hub, even if it does intersect with both Fifth Ave and Park Ave. There is a trendy moment on the street, with L’Absinthe Restaurant, which markets itself as a bit of Paris on the Upper East Side.

East 66th Street is a relatively quiet and residential street. It has all the regular New York amenities that any resident would need, but as far as tourist attractions, there aren’t too many (unless you count the nearby Central Park). There is a pretty cool bistro that scales the border between tourist attraction and neighborhood gem – and that is Bistro Chat Noir. You can actually find both tourists and residents here.

This street is pretty residential, so if you’re looking for a place on the Upper East Side that is close to Midtown (though why a resident would want to be close to Midtown is beyond me, unless you work there), this is a good street for you. It’s relatively quiet (except at busy avenue intersections), and there are a few restaurants on it, like Two One Two (a sleek restaurant with a bit of a played-down atmosphere that actually features Gerber baby food on the brunch menu).

The further uptown you go on the east side, the more homier everything seems. That is, signs of trendiness begin to disappear and the neighborhood takes on a diner-and-department store type of vision. On this street, this transition isn’t complete, but you can find just as many laid-back restaurants as expensive trendy ones. If you’re in the mood for some laid-back teatime, check out Alice’s Tea Cup Chapter 2.

This street offers residents places to better their bodies – spas like Sunpoint Inc., and yoga studio Some Like It Hot Yoga (which in case you haven’t figured out offers different styles of high-temperature yogas like Bikram and “hot” power Vinyasa). This is a street that loves you if you have money, and if you don’t, you can simply take a stroll down to the park and take in the view of classic New York.

This is right in the area where Midtown has become the Upper East Side, and since there are a lot of fancy hotels in the vicinity, this street tends to cater to the tourist population. The street isn’t too busy, except for at intersections with big avenues (where there is both street and sidewalk traffic). The street isn’t too long, but it has plenty to offer as far as restaurants go, like David Burke & Donatella, and the fancy Aureole (did I mention that this street tends to cater to RICH tourists?).

This street is a bit away from it all, and probably the biggest landmarks it offers are a few university hospitals (of Columbia and Cornell), and Rockefeller University. York Ave doesn’t even begin until East 59th Street, so it is a true Upper East Side street (seeing as it doesn’t go anywhere else), and the vibe definitely represents the neighborhood – it’s full of tall residential buildings and little mom-and-pops places to eat.

A pretty cool place to visit (if you are in the mood for cakes and cupcakes) on this street is the Buttercup Bake Shop – everything inside of it looks absolutely incredible. Restaurants on the Upper East Side include Cilantro (which as you may have guessed features southwest-style cuisine. So if you’re missing your hometown Texican cuisine, or you’re just in the mood for a green chile cheeseburger – you should check it out.

Third Ave stretches the entire length of the east side of Manhattan, and right up in the Upper East Side area, where Central Park begins, this avenue is pretty downbeat as far as nightlife goes. There are the usual Midtown and Upper East Side restaurants on this street, in their respective places along the avenue (burger joints, luncheon places). This street also offers hotels and other tourist-y sorts of amenities.

Lexington in the Central Park area is a lot of what you’d expect – expensive apartments, shopping, and hotels. There is also the obscure and unexpected hostel for international student visitors on this street.
The vibe is enough to make you feel like you have enough money to be there, though – the street is beautiful, and worth a look if you’re just in town but don’t have too much money to spend.

East 59th Street features just what you would expect for a street that borders Midtown and the Upper East Side – a bunch of places to spend your hard earned money (usually in the form of restaurants, but you can also spend a good deal at Williams-Sonoma if you want to buy fancy cooking wares for your home).

This street is a mix of residential buildings and tourist trafficking.

There’s a library on this street – though I am probably the only person in the known universe who still frequents libraries in the city and is not also homeless. Anyway, it’s a pretty good branch if you’re into that kind of thing.

Besides such a public service, this street also offers swanky restaurants with a capital S – like Le Cirque Restaurant (only go here if you’re impeccably dressed and feel like dishing out a ton of cash), as well as one of the locations of Pop Burger, a lovely over-the-counter burger place that is especially appealing to those who have been drinking.

East 57th Street isn’t too far out of the way if you’re doing a bit of Park Avenue browsing – this street offers plenty of shops and restaurants that tend to cater to the wandering tourists in town. At the intersection of Fifth Ave, there is the (expensive) department store Bergdorf Goodman, and there is a Louis Vuitton store on the street as well as a Levi’s Store (which I love for featuring jeans that aren’t a million dollars).

Fifth Avenue is among the most famous places to shop in the world (read: Saks Fifth Avenue can of course be found here). A New York City icon (perhaps in part thanks to Truman Capote) is located on this street: Tiffany and Co. This is another street that caters to tourists – especially in the Midtown area, but not limited to that neighborhood, as the tourists seem to spill up into the Upper East Side as well.

Madison Ave is one of the quintessential New York City streets to see. If you’re a tourist, you must head over to Madison Ave – preferably in the Upper East Side area, though Midtown has a lot to offer as well. Be prepared to venture into crowds on warm sunny days, though, as there is a great deal of shopping to be had on the street. The atmosphere on this street really can’t be beat – just bring lots of money, or be prepared to stare wistfully at those all around you on a shopping frenzy.

This street is a great place to go if you live downtown, but have visiting relatives in town. There are plenty of restaurants to take your visitors, and while in the neighborhood they can see a bit of the cliché New York neighborhood that is the Midtown area (though this street is pretty close to the Upper West Side border).

This street is a haven for tourists who have come to the city with plenty of money to spend. It not only houses some of the country’s most glitzy hotels (try the Plaza Hotel), but features a number of restaurants as well. The street is relatively busy with tourist and street traffic just about all of the time. It’s close to plenty of shopping on Fifth Ave as well.

Up by Central Park, this area of Park Ave caters not only to fancy residents, but to those tourists willing to shell out a few extra bucks to stay in what we shall call the typical New York neighborhood (or what movies and television has portrayed as the norm anyway). There are plenty of grand hotels to check into on Park, and there are plenty of condos to buy up if you happen to be a celebrity. Park Avenue itself stays pretty busy – it’s one of those streets that allows traffic to travel in both directions, and acts as a major artery on the Upper East Side.