Navigating New York City

Manhattan Street Design

New York City may strike the newcomer as a difficult place to navigate, but once you grasp a basic idea of the geography of the city and learn the different forms of transportation, then getting around will become easy.

Manhattan streets are laid out in a grid pattern, with avenues running north and south (uptown and downtown) and streets east andwest (crosstown). Fifth Avenue divides Manhattan into the east and west sides. South of 4th Street in the Village, the streets follow an irregular pattern and have names instead of numbers.

Get yourself a good street map (available in bookstores); this will be especially useful for finding locations in New York City's other boroughs-Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. Or go online to a site such as MapQuest (www.mapquest.com) or Straphangers (www.straphangers.org).

Key to Manhattan Street Addresses

Manhattan's numbered streets are all labeled "East" or "West." Pay attention to these designations, because they denote different addresses. To determine which avenue is nearest to a street address, use the following chart.

Example: 356 West 34th Street is located between 8th and 9th Avenues.

Key to Manhattan Avenue Addresses

To determine the approximate cross street for addresses located on the avenues, try the following formula:
    Cancel the last figure of the house number
    Divide the remainder by two
    Then add or subtract the key number listed below. the result is approximately the nearest cross street.

Example: 350 Park Avenue is located near what street?

    the last figure (350=35)
    Divide by 2 (=17)
    Then add the key number (for Park Avenue this is 34). This address is located near 51st Street (17 + 34 = 51).