Morning View - Worldwide Plaza

Built in 1989 in Hell's Kitchen, Worldwide Plaza comprises three buildings between 49th and 50th streets on Eighth Avenue. One Worldwide, the tallest at 41 stories, is an office building where major ad agencies live. Ugh, the meetings I've had there. The shorter similar building to its left is all condos. A business acquaintance of mine works on the 21st floor of One and lives on the 21st floor of Two. For real. Three Worldwide is a low-rise mixed use building not visible here. The builders got a height waiver for One by putting a large plaza between the buildings, a common zoning evasion here in NYC.

Underneath that plaza is the fabulous New World Stages, a five theater complex that used to be cinemas, but now hosts some pretty great Off-Broadway productions. That's where I saw Die Mommy Die, Evil Dead: The Musical, and the heinous Mimi Le Duck (whose only saving grace was the too-brief presence of Eartha Kitt.) Eternal gay favorites Naked Boys Singing and Altar Boyz have been playing at the New World for years. Most of my friends have disagreed, but I rather like Worldwide Plaza.