This is one of New York’s most desirable residential neighborhoods because of its closeness to midtown. The area is historical for the old Third Avenue El, which was torn down in the mid 1950’s. After the El left the scene, Third Avenue underwent a massive face-lift. With the overhaul came redevelopment of the area into luxury apartment buildings and high rises.

While many agree that this part of town is nowhere near its completion, all will nod in agreement that the neighborhood is highly gentrified with its restaurants, shops and entertainment. Many interesting restaurants are located on Third Avenue, with a cluster of movie theaters near Bloomingdale’s. Unfortunately mass transit is limited to the Lexington Avenue line, but cross town buses run on 72nd, 79th and 57th Streets.

One of the unique parts of this neighborhood is the surrounding streets that still house old tenement buildings, most of which have been renovated. In addition to the tenements some of the side streets are known to have mansions and townhouses now owned by consulates, diplomatic missions and art galleries. Third Avenue is now this area’s most impressive avenue and host to many attractive restaurants and such neighborhood retail institutions as Gracious Home and Grace’s Marketplace.

The eastern edge of this area is bounded by Rockefeller University and the "Hospital Corridor" along York Avenue. The Art Deco tower of New York Hospital at 70th Street, designed by Coolidge, Shepley Bullfinch & Abbott, has long been a major architectural landmark.

This area, whose sidestreets still contain many tenement buildings, most of which have been renovated, changed significantly when Sotheby’s, the auction house, decided to relocate from Madison Avenue and 76th Street to a new low-rise facility on the southeast corner of York Avenue at 72nd Street.

It was late to bloom as a luxury residential neighborhood because of the presence until the mid-1950’s of an "elevated" line along Third Avenue. With the demolition of this noisy line, Third Avenue has undergone significant redevelopment with many impressive "luxury" apartment towers, especially in the 60’s that have dramatically altered, and raised, the area’s skyline. The tallest building on the Upper East Side is now Donald Trump’s Trump Palace on East 69th Street. Many of the area’s most impressive new high-rise towers soon were clustered around Sotheby’s, which considered redeveloping its site with a mixed-use tower designed by architect Michael Graves but finally decided against it after several years. In 1997, the auction house opened a very attractive small restaurant and a branch of Rizzoli’s bookstore, making it an even more attractive oasis of culture.

In the early 1990’s, developer Peter Kalikow tried unsuccessful to redevelop much of the full-block City & Suburban Homes low-rise residential complex at York Avenue and 79th Street with "luxury" apartment towers. A very vocal community group, however, won landmark designation for the tenement block and Kalikow’s plan was withdrawn. City & Suburban was an early attempt to improve housing conditions for the poor and has several courtyards, but it is not as attractive as the Cherokee apartments, a similar scheme, one block to the south.

While much of the post-World War II development of apartment houses in this area consisted of rather minimal, "white-brick" projects of little architectural distinction, the popularity of Post-Modern designs in the late 1970’s led to the construction of quite a few very handsome new apartment buildings, especially on the major cross-town streets such as 72nd and 79th Streets. The transformation of this area is far from complete, but the gentrification process is well along. Many interesting restaurants are located on Third, Second and First Avenues and there is a cluster of movie theaters near Bloomingdale’s on Third Avenue, not far from the very colorful tram station, designed by Prentice & Chan, Ohlhausen for the ride to and from Roosevelt Island at 60th Street and Second Avenue. Traffic on Second Avenue going to the Manhattan entrance to the Queensborough Bridge is quite heavy. One of the area’s nicest looking thin towers is Evansview (originally Memphis Uptown) at 305 East 60th Street, designed by Abraham Rothenberg and Gruzen Samton Steinglass.

Subway access is limited to the Lexington Avenue line, but cross-town buses run on 72nd and 79th Streets and westbound on 57th Street.

In addition to the boutiques and the area’s apartment houses, not all of which are distinguished, the neighborhood is noted for its very attractive sidestreets, line with many mansions and townhouses, many of which are now owned by consulates and diplomatic missions, and art galleries. Lexington Avenue, which served as the Upper East Side’s main service retail strip, has been considerably upgraded in the 1990’s with many attractive stores and restaurants. One of the Upper East Side’s most famous restaurants is Mortimer’s, which is located on the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue at 75th Street.

Among the area’s interesting landmarks are the Abigail Adams Smith Museum of the Colonial Dames of America at 421 East 61st Street that was built in 1799, the black glass apartment tower with curved corners at 265 East 66th Street, designed by Gruzen & Partners, the stunning glass apartment tower at One East River Place at 73rd Street and the FDR Drive that was developed by Sheldon Solow.

This quadrant of the Upper East Side, unfortunately, does not have many parks.