Sixth Avenue

Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers^[2][3][4] – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial for much of its length.

Sixth Avenue begins four blocks below

Sixth Avenue was laid out in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. As originally designed, Sixth Avenue's southern terminus was at Carmine Street in Greenwich Village, and it continued northward to 147th Street in Harlem. Central Park was added to the street grid in 1857 and created an interruption in Sixth Avenue between 59th and 110th Streets. Proposals to extend the street south of Carmine Street were discussed by the city's Board of Aldermen as early as the mid-1860s.^[6] The IRT Sixth Avenue Line elevated railway (the "El") was constructed on Sixth Avenue in 1878, darkening the street and reducing its real-estate value. In the early and mid-1800s Sixth Avenue passed by the popular roadhouse and tavern, Old Grapevine, at the corner of 11th Street, which at the time was the northern edge of the city.^[7]

In late 1887, the Harlem portion of what was then considered Sixth Avenue was renamed Lenox Avenue^[8] for philanthropist James Lenox; a century later it was co-named Malcolm X Boulevard, in honor of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X.^[9][10]

Starting in 1926, as part of the construction of the

On March 10, 1957, Sixth Avenue was reconfigured to carry one-way traffic north of its intersection with Broadway in Herald Square.^[23] The rest of the avenue followed on November 10, 1963.^[24]

In the mid-1970s, the city "spruced up" the street, including the addition of patterned brick crosswalks, repainting of streetlamps, and new pedestrian plazas. Special lighting, rare throughout the rest of the city, was also installed.^[25]

Renaming and co-naming

The avenue's official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by the City Council, at the behest of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia,^[26] who signed the bill into law on October 2, 1945.^[27] The intent was to honor "Pan-American ideals and principles"^[28] and the nations of Central and South America, and to encourage those countries to build consulates along the avenue.^[29] It was felt at the time that the name would provide greater grandeur to a shabby street,^[30] and to promote trade with the Western Hemisphere.^[31]

After the name change, round signs were attached to streetlights on the avenue, showing the national seals and coats of arms of the nations honored. However, New Yorkers rarely used the avenue's newer name,^[4] and in 1955, an informal study found that locals used "Sixth Avenue" more than eight times as often as "Avenue of the Americas".^[32] The move was also criticized as "propaganda" by those who wanted to return to the original name.^[33] Since then, the thoroughfare has been labelled as both "Avenue of the Americas" and "Sixth Avenue" in recent years. Most of the old round signs with country emblems were gone by the late 1990s, and the ones remaining, which were only present between Canal Street and Washington Place in Greenwich Village and in Midtown around 57th Street began showing signs of age.^[31] However, starting in March 2023, the city began to install new signs along most of the length of the avenue, in addition to replacing the remaining original signs, which were aging.^[34][35]

Notable buildings and events

Sights along Sixth Avenue include

Sixth Avenue is the site of the annual Village Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village^[42] and the Dominican Day Parade in Midtown.

Mass transit

Sixth Avenue is served by the

The avenue is referenced both in the name and in the lyrics of "6th Avenue Heartache" by The Wallflowers.^[45]

See also

• 6½ Avenue

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 6th Avenue (Manhattan).

• New York Songlines: Sixth Avenue – a virtual walking tour