Gone to Avenue C, which on a bad day is a good enough stand-in.

Between 14th and 23rd Streets, Avenue C is a very wide boulevard.

"Avenue C was pretty crazy," said Dan, who is no longer a squatter.

But as rents around Avenue C began climbing, they lost their luster.

"I should have taken a place on Avenue C a couple years ago," before the rents took helium.

Business on Avenue C has a rocky track record.

They laid Avenue C in the 1820's, and divided the western half of our block into lots for development.

The next - and final - step was to block off Avenue C entirely.

I added the place to my list, although Avenue C is not exactly on my beaten track.

It wasn't so long ago that Avenue C would be one of the last places you'd want to gaze out on while eating.