Meet 56th Street
56th Street was a lesson in the realities of twenty-first century New York: a city beset by constant development and growth where traces of its past exist intermittently – some celebrated, others barely noticed or forgotten entirely. The east side of 56th was largely residential, by far the most peaceful part of the street. Indeed, it begins in a small elevated outdoor space where Sutton Place Park provides an unobstructed view of the East River and Long Island City.
As I drew farther into the heart of midtown, I found development and renovation everywhere I looked, including at the corner of 56th and Park Avenue, where work is underway on what will soon be the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere. It was a welcome surprise to find amid the generic lobbies and plazas of the multitude of corporate buildings, The Sculpture Garden enclosed within a glass atrium where the mozzarella bar, Obika has its home.
Unlike much of 56th Street, the block between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was filled with stores, several of them packed three to an address. Tiny restaurants and delis serving all types of food exist alongside high-end shops, including Norma Kamali’s eponymous women’s boutique that she opened in 1968. And, amidst this block-long paean to commercialism, I discovered the Argentine Consulate and Promotion Center where they have rotating exhibits from Argentine artists, as well as tourism information and even the occasional tango class. Finally, I was pleased to discover another location of Dainobu, a Japanese market.
Despite the rampant growth endemic to 56th Street, remnants of Manhattan’s earlier days persist. On the east side, I appreciated the Lombardy Hotel, a transient co-op, with its ornate marble entrance and impressive architecture. Built in the 1920s by William Randolph Hearst, it was once home to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. To the west is Patsy’s Italian Restaurant, run by three generations of the Scognamillo family celebrating its seventieth year in business on 56th. As Sal, the warm and generous grandson of the man who opened the restaurant in the 1940s proudly declared to me, “I attribute our success to the three F’s – Food, Family and Frank Sinatra.”
The far west side, like the east, is calmer and more residential. There, I came upon doctors’ offices, parking lots, and, unexpectedly, Harborview Visual Arts Center, an art studio with an intriguing mission. Finally, 56th runs out into a massive sanitation building – a worthwhile reminder that while not everything on the side streets is charming or picturesque, each location plays a part in keeping the city moving forward.
