The changes are striking — towers of glass and steel climbing from once-ignored blocks, intent on touching the sky. The changes are subtle — new, dimly lit restaurants trying to be trendy enough to survive the next round of rising rents.
Disfigurements and improvements dot Manhattan’s West Side, where tourists keep trickling out from an elevated rail line turned popular park, where a new 11th Avenue subway stop helped chisel away at decades of isolation.
Changes keep coming, but certain monuments still exist. To Joakim Noah’s delight, Happy Joy Chinese restaurant is still standing. After spending his formative living years in Hell’s Kitchen, the new Knicks center’s beloved Central Park is just a leisurely Citi Bike ride away from his new home in Chelsea.