46th and Lexington

140 East 46^th is a grungy old Midtown building where I lived for several years only because my office was in 245 Park Avenue, which is diagonally across Lexington. It’s the sort of address that when your friends from Chelsea and the Upper East Side ask where you live and you say «46^th and Lex,» they gaze into the distance with a little frown trying to picture it only to give up finally with «People live there?» Living there conferred instant hipsterdom, whether you wanted it or not.
But the reason I stayed there once I found it is that I was living in the shadow of the Chrysler building, a short walk to Grand Central. It had plenty of issues, including a shower head that would literally suck in air at peak periods. But Midtown Manhattan was out my front door. That trumps everything else, no pun intended.