Gramercy, Manhattan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gramercy, also called Gramercy Park, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, focused around Gramercy Park, a private park between East 20th and 21st Streets at the foot of Lexington Avenue. The area is named for a stream which meandered like a 'crooked little knife,' or 'Crom messie' in old Dutch ('Krom mesje').

Roughly speaking, Gramercy is bound by 14th Street, First Avenue, 30th Street, and Broadway. Some consider its northern boundary to be 23rd Street, and consider the area north of 23rd Street to be Rose Hill, though the usage of Rose Hill has never entered the popular lexicon. Others refer to the area north of 23rd Street as Curry Hill. Today, the northern boundary of Gramercy more likely meets the Murray Hill section of Midtown at around 30th Street. To the west is the Flatiron District and Union Square, to the south the East Village, to the east Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, and to the northeast Kips Bay

Gramercy, particularly the area immediately around Gramercy Park itself, is generally perceived to be a quiet area, safer than many other parts of the city. Gramercy Park is a private park, to which only people residing around the park have a key. The public is otherwise only allowed in the park one day a year. The actor James Cagney once lived in one of the buildings on Gramercy Park South (East 20th Street), as did Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. Amanda Peet grew up on the park. Many actors, actresses and artists live in the district including Jimmy Fallon of Saturday Night Live, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts and Rufus Wainwright. Due to the beauty and exclusivity of the park as well as the National Arts Club and The Players' Club located on its south side, it is not uncommon to recognize a face or two.