(across the) "block" ~= street, and the OED?

[Dan Goncharoff]

"The 300 block" phrasing is something I have never heard in NYC.
Wouldn't work on the avenues in Manhattan, and the streets are better
defined by the avenues: streets are defined as east or west of Fifth
Avenue, 100 numbers to the avenue; Park Avenue replaces Fourth Avenue
except for a few blocks south of 14th St.

There was a recent to-do in the press when it was noticed that the
street names on bus stop signs on the west side of Fifth Avenue,
adjacent to the eastern edge of Central Park, were labelled west, as
in W 72nd St., even though W 72nd St. actually exists only on the west
side of the park, the equivalent of three avenues away.

DanG

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 1:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: (across the) "block" ~= street, and the OED?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I would not reject "down the street" as possibly referring to some place on
> the same block, but I'd be less likely to say it.
>
> My impression is that in Knoxville people will almost always say "down [or
> "up"] the road."  Blocks exist but, as in most cities, they are not usually
> rectangular (more blocklike), as they so often are in NYC.  About the only
> time "block" is used seems to be in phrases like "The 300 block."

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