Living in Murray Hill: A Practical Neighborhood Guide

Murray Hill sits just south of Grand Central and just north of Gramercy, close enough to Midtown that you can walk to work and quiet enough that the side streets empty out by early evening. If you're moving here, this is the short practical version: where it is, how to get around, and the one errand nobody mentions on the listing.

Where it is and how to get around

The usual boundaries are East 34th to East 40th, Madison Avenue to the river, though most people stretch the southern edge down into the high 20s, where it runs into Kips Bay without any clear seam.

Transit is the neighborhood's strongest card. The 6 train stops at 33rd and 28th on Lexington. Grand Central, a ten-minute walk from the low 30s, adds the 4, 5, 7, S and Metro-North. Herald Square to the west covers the B, D, F, M, N, Q, R and W, plus the PATH to New Jersey. The Queens-Midtown Tunnel entrance is around East 36th and 37th, which is handy if you drive and loud if you live on an approach block.

For daily basics, Third Avenue has the bars, diners, delis and pharmacies; Lexington in the high 20s has a well-known cluster of South Asian restaurants and grocers; Madison Square Park and St. Vartan Park cover green space.

The laundry situation

Most of Murray Hill's character comes from its prewar buildings, and most of those don't have in-unit washer-dryers. Many have a shared basement room with a few machines. Plenty have nothing.

That leaves a building laundry room (fine until Sunday afternoon, when sixty apartments want four machines), a laundromat (two hours and a bag down the block), or pickup and delivery, which is what most people here settle on once they've priced out their own time.

Our shop is at 136 East 31st Street, right where Murray Hill meets Kips Bay. In-store drop-off wash & fold is $2.50/lb with a 10 lb minimum. Pickup and delivery is $2.95/lb with a 17 lb minimum, and the delivery is free anywhere in Manhattan below 110th Street. Standard turnaround is 24 to 48 hours; same-day is available if we have your bag by 10am. Comforters are a flat $35, and dry cleaning is per item, usually back in three to four business days. Everything is on the pricing page.

Two things worth knowing. Every order is washed separately, in its own machine, never mixed with another household's. And we work with doorman buildings, package rooms and Latch and BuildingLink systems every day, so your laundry can come and go while you're at work.

Hours are Monday to Friday 8am–8pm and Saturday 9am–6pm, closed Sunday. The shop number is (917) 733-1504.

First-month checklist

• Find out whether your building has a laundry room and what it costs before you count on it.
• Learn your nearest 6 train entrance and crosstown bus stop.
• Check which side of the tunnel approach you're on.
• Pick a grocery, a pharmacy and a coffee shop within three blocks.
• Set up your weekly errands, laundry included, in the first two weeks. If that includes us, the code FIRST15 takes 15% off your first pickup order (express excluded). You can schedule a pickup in about a minute.