Midtown Manhattan: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Main article: New York City

Midtown is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to such world-famous commercial buildings as Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, and the Empire State Building.

Midtown, along with "Uptown" and "Downtown", is one of the three major subdivisions of Manhattan (though "Uptown" and "Downtown" can also be used as adverbs and can take on completely different meanings in the other boroughs, whereas the term "Midtown" does not) and can be understood as those parts of Manhattan in neither of these two other regions - that is, all areas between 14th Street and 59th Street, from the Hudson River to the East River. The core of Midtown Manhattan is from about 31st Street to 59th Street between Third and Ninth avenues (this is the area most commonly referred to as "Midtown.")

Midtown encompasses many neighborhoods including Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea on the West Side, and Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Turtle Bay, and Gramercy on the East Side. It is also sometimes broken into "Midtown East" and "Midtown West", and often "Midtown South."

Midtown Manhattan is indisputably the busiest single commercial district in the United States. The great majority of the city's skyscrapers, including most of its hotels and many apartment towers, lie within Midtown. More than 700,000 commuters work in its offices, hotels, and retail establishments; the area also hosts many tourists, visiting residents, and students. Some areas, especially Times Square and Fifth Avenue, have massive clusters of retail establishments.

A simplistic and by no means comprehensive but general list of the neighborhoods in the greater Midtown Manhattan is as follows:

• Between 59th Street to the north and 42nd Street to the south, from west to east:
  • Hell's Kitchen from the Hudson River to 8th Avenue, including
    • Theatre Row on West 42nd Street between 11th Avenue and 9th Avenue.
    • where Hell's Kitchen meets Central Park and the Upper West Side at West 59th Street and 8th Avenue, Columbus Circle
  • Times Square and the Theatre District from West 42nd Street to around West 53rd Street (according to some until Central Park at Central Park South/59th Street), and from 8th Avenue to Sixth Avenue
  • Midtown East from around 6th Avenue to the East River, including (going from west to east, and north to south):
    • The Diamond District on West 47th Street between 6th Avenue and 5th Avenue
    • Sutton Place near the East River between East 53rd Street and East 59th Street
    • Turtle Bay from 53rd Street to 42nd Street and from Lexington Avenue to the East River
    • Tudor City from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue and East 40th Street to East 43rd Street
• Between 42nd Street north and around 34th Street, from west to east, and north to south:
  • Hell's Kitchen from the Hudson River to 8th Avenue
  • The Garment District from West 42nd Street and West 34th Street and 9th Avenue to 5th Avenue
  • Herald Square around the intersection of Broadway, 6th Avenue and West 34th Street
  • Murray Hill from East 42nd Street to East 34th Street and 5th Avenue to 2nd Avenue
• Between 34th Street and 23rd Street, from west to east:
  • Chelsea between the Hudson River and anywehere between 8th Avenue and Broadway
  • Koreatown from 36th Street to 31st Street and 5th and 6th Avenues, centered around Korea Way on 32nd Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway
  • Rose Hill or Curry Hill between Madison Avenue and 1st Avenue, neighboring
  • Kips Bay from 3rd Avenue to the East River
• Between 23rd Street and 14th Street, going west to east and north to south:
  • Chelsea between the Hudson River and anywehere between 8th Avenue and Broadway
  • The Meatpacking District in the southwesternmost corner of Midtown, to the south of West 15th Street
  • Madison Square and the Flatiron District, the area surround the intersection of Broadway, 5th Avenue and 23rd Street
  • Union Square, to the northeast of the intersection of Broadway, East 14th Street and Park Avenue South
  • Gramercy from East 23rd Street to East 14th Street and Broadway to 1st Avenue
  • Peter Cooper Village from East 23rd Street to East 20th Street and 1st Avenue to Avenue C (parallel the East River)
  • Stuyvesant Town from East 20th street to East 14th Street and 1st Avenue to Avenue C

Midtown also contains a historical but defunct neighborhood, the Tenderloin, from 23rd Street to 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue.

Other important sights in Midtown:

• Museum of Modern Art
• St. Patrick's Cathedral
• Grand Central Terminal
• New York Public Library
• Chrysler Building
• Time Warner Center
• United Nations Headquarters
• Carnegie Hall
• Madison Square Garden
• Manhattan Center
• James Farley Post Office
• Pennsylvania Station
• Plaza Hotel
• Bryant Park
• Trump Tower
• Times Square
• Flagship stores of retailers such as:
  • Bergdorf Goodman
  • Bloomingdale's
  • F.A.O. Schwarz
  • Macy's
  • Nat Sherman
  • Tiffany & Co.

Important streets and thoroughfares in Midtown:

• Madison Avenue
• Fifth Avenue
• Broadway
• Park Avenue
• 34th Street
• 42nd Street