Jones and Jones

[Frank Abate]

Jim L asked:

>>
What has happened to the numbered street names in the NYU area?
<<

Look in a history of NYC, but the quick answer is that the lower end of
Manhattan was the earliest settled by white folks, and that the numbered
streets and avenues came along much later.  All that is now above about 14th
St. was developed in a very patterned and regular way -- a grid was platted,
and the street and avenue numbers assigned by city planners.  Of course,
there were exceptions and holdovers, as for Broadway.  A few of the
"central" avenues have names (Park, Madison, Lexington) , but the numbers
are used on the "outer" ones (3rd to 1st to the east, 6th to 11th to the
west).  And "Avenue of the Americas" for 6th was an attempt by the city to
do something multicultural or whatever, in the 60s or 70s.  I think one sees
it only in writing, on corporate addresses and such.  To my limited, non-New
Yorker knowledge, most NYers say "6th Avenue".

Sorry, I don't keep up with the Joneses.

Frank Abate