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PBK

Bill,
I hear ya. I have a friend who grew up on Mercer Street, and pretty much the only thing in the area was Fanelli's on the corner. She'd throw her keys down to you, stuffed inside of a mitten.

As for the calling out of names, for a while at 47-50th Street, the conductors were saying "Top of the Rock". I presume the MTA was getting paid. Thankfully, they've stopped that.

Bill

NB: As I got off (in Soho where I do live), I heard: "Next Stop: Canal Street Discount district/Chinatown Center"

Bill

OH! You wanna hear something really f'd up? (Almost related to this thread): I was on the N train, and it was heading downtown; it passed 14th (the operator announced, "14th st. Union Square"), then passed 8th st. ("Greenwich Village"..ok) but then I heard the following: "Next stop, Prince Street: SoHo Shopping Center!" I heard these girls giggle and get excited- one wondered aloud if it was "near Broadway?". I died a little in that moment. I resented so much the implication that there's nothing in SoHo but shopping, as if nobody works there, nobody lives there- that it's not a neighborhood, but that that subway stop was planned and installed for the sole purpose of depositing tourists so they could go to H&M. What I want to know is, was that one operators improvised flourish, or did the MTA tell him to say that?

PBK

I don't really mind the 'honorary' titles, as they don't confuse anyone - and can serve as reminders of history (e.g., West 84th - Edgar Allan Poe).

As for your friend who said meet you at "Fashion Avenue" - they should not be your friend. Even if they gave you a kidney :)

Bill

Honorary street subtitles are really the worst. No New Yorker calls that stretch of 7th Avnue, Fashion Avenue- a friend of mine from out of town asked me to meet her at the corner of "Fashion Ave" once and refused to understand why saying that was ridiculous. The same is true of Avenue of The Americas- although, they are all well-deserved (part of 52nd Street is "WC Handy Way", part of East 76th was re-named after Bobby Short), I just will never understand why people wouldn't rather say 6th Avenue than Avenue of the Americas?

pbk

Z.,
237 Park is also known as 466 Lexington. It's between 45th and 46th, and is also known as the "Park Avenue Atrium".

Wall Street Plaza's real address is 88 Pine Street, and I think also has an entrance on Water.

pbk

J.,
You should always call "Ave. of the Americas", "Sixth Avenue", and for 1BP, just say 'Sixth and forty-second'.

It's funny too, how a stranger to these shores sees things. Even though the Hyatt at is only half-a-mile or so from 42nd street, I don't think most New Yorkers would consider the two proximate. I suppose it's because they are in different sub-neighborhoods.

zoe

Where are these places?

"...37 Park Avenue doesn't even touch Park Avenue. One Wall Street Plaza..."


Jerome Jahnke

You know I had wondered about that. There are at least 2 Hiltons in NYC one across from the WTC site. And the other is near 1 Bryant Park. Which is on Avenue of the Americas. And when I get into the cab at the airport and ask for the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas the driver asks me if it is at the corner of two cross streets with numbers and I always say "yes that one." I figure even if there are 3 Hiltons in Manhattan I can find ANOTHER cab driver who can get me to the one I actually want.

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