Eleventh Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare on the far West Side of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, located near the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

. Eleventh Avenue originates in the

Meatpacking District The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. The Meatpacking Business Improvement District alo ...

in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

and

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

neighborhoods at

Gansevoort Street Gansevoort may refer to any one of the following: __NOTOC__ People * Guert Gansevoort (1812–1868), US Navy officer * Harmen Harmense Gansevoort (ca. 1634–1709), early American settler, landowner and beer brewer * Leonard Gansevoort (1751–1810 ...

, where Eleventh Avenue, Tenth Avenue, and West Street intersect. It is considered part of the

West Side Highway The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from 72nd Street (Manhattan), West 72nd Street along the Hudso ...

between 22nd and Gansevoort Streets. Between 59th and 107th Streets, the avenue is known as West End Avenue. Both West End Avenue and Eleventh Avenue are considered to be part of the same road.

Description

Between

and West 22nd Street on the far West Side of

, near the

, Eleventh Avenue is part of the

, a wide boulevard. At a split with Twelfth Avenue/West Side Highway at West 22nd Street, Eleventh Avenue continues as a

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

-width avenue. Following the split, Eleventh Avenue is two-way traffic for access to 23rd Street, as well as for 24th Street to access

Chelsea Piers Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located to the west of the West Side Highway ( Eleventh Avenue) and Hudson River Park and to the east of the Hudson River, they were originally ...

. North of 24th Street, Eleventh Avenue is one-way southbound from 24th to 34th Streets, where two-way traffic resumes for access to the

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and the unsigned N ...

. The segment between approximately 39th and

59th Street 59th Street station may refer to: *59th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line) in Brooklyn, New York; serving the trains * 59th Street (IRT Third Avenue Line) a demolished elevated station in Manhattan * 59th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line) a demolished e ...

s is home to the largest concentration of auto dealerships in Manhattan. Eleventh Avenue again becomes one-way southbound between 40th and 57th Streets; two-way traffic resumes north of 57th Street. The portion north of 59th Street is called West End Avenue, which has mixed commercial and residential use. The northern are a sedate

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

residential street ending at

Straus Park __NOTOC__ Straus Park is a small landscaped park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at the intersection of Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, West End Avenue, and 106th Street (Manhattan), 106th Street. The most notable feature is a bronze 1913 ...

, 107th Street, and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

. Traffic is bidirectional, except for the northernmost block, north of 106th Street.

History

The

West Side Line The West Side Line, also called the West Side Freight Line, is a railroad line on the west side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Penn Station, from 34th Street, the line is currently used by Amtrak passenger service heading n ...

of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

once had

on-street running A street running train is a train which runs on a track built on public streets. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with other users, such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists, thus often being referred to as ru ...

along part of Eleventh Avenue, which, along with Tenth Avenue, become known as "

Death Avenue "Death Avenue" was a nickname given to both Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on the west side of Manhattan, New York City in the 19th century. In 1847, the City of New York authorized the construction of railroad tracks along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues ...

" because of the large number of deaths that occurred due to train–pedestrian collisions. In 1929, the city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, conceived by

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

, and allocated funds for an elevated railway that would eliminate the grade crossings and alleviate the problems along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues; it also included construction of the

West Side Elevated Highway The West Side Elevated Highway (West Side Highway or Miller Highway, named for Julius Miller, Manhattan borough president from 1922 to 1930) was an elevated section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A) running along the Hudson River in the New Y ...

. Meanwhile, the avenue's West End Avenue section was originally created in the 1880s as the northern extension of Eleventh Avenue, and was intended to be a commercial street serving the residents of the mansions to be constructed along Riverside Drive. When West End Avenue was named in the 1880s, the

was fairly sparsely populated, and that upper portion of the avenue, subsequently, was called the "West End" because of its separation from the core of the city. Seeking to distinguish the area from the factories and tenements below 59th Street, a group of real estate developers renamed the northern portions of the West Side's avenues. Portions of both West End Avenue and Eleventh Avenue were run down in the mid-20th century, with

single room occupancy Single-room occupancy (SRO) is a type of low-cost housing typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes, or single adults who like a minimalist lifestyle, who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a smal ...

hotels, prostitutes and drug addicts a common sight. The city's economic comeback in the 1980s brought recovery and

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

. The upper portion of the avenue retains stretches of late nineteenth-century town houses and several handsome churches and synagogues, but is almost entirely made up of handsome residential buildings about twelve stories tall built in the first decades of the twentieth century. The near total absence of retail on that part of the street marks its quiet, residential character, as opposed to the high-traffic, noisy character of Eleventh Avenue.

Architecture

The architecture of buildings on Eleventh and West End Avenues differs significantly. West End Avenue is noteworthy for its almost unbroken street wall of handsome apartment buildings punctuated by brief stretches of nineteenth-century townhouses and several handsome churches and synagogues. Notable architecturally

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

houses of worship include: * Ansche Chesed, in

Byzantine Revival Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Or ...

style * Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church in

English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

revival style *

West End Collegiate Church The West End Collegiate Church is a church on West End Avenue at 77th Street (Manhattan), 77th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It is part of The Collegiate Reformed Church in America, Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in the City of New ...

in Dutch Colonial, a subset of

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style * Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Among the more notable apartment buildings are: * The Apthorp * Cleburne Building at 105th Street * 520 West End Avenue, the former Leech mansion, which is now landmarked *

Lincoln Towers Lincoln Towers is an apartment complex on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, consisting of six buildings with eight addresses on a campus. Location and description It is bounded on the south by West 66th Street, on the west ...

, six-building residential complex on between 66th and 70th streets, built in the 1960s Eleventh Avenue, meanwhile, is lined with new-age residential buildings – such as 100 Eleventh Avenue – adjacent to

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s and

car dealership A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive maintena ...

s. Between 34th and 59th Streets there are a number of new car dealerships including:

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

Manhattan,

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

of Manhattan,

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

of Manhattan,

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

Manhattan,

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

Manhattan,

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

of Manhattan, Manhattan Motorcars,

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Manhattan,

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

of Manhattan, Open Road

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

of Manhattan, and

Volvo Cars Volvo Car AB, trading as Volvo Cars (, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Sweden, Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles. Volvo is headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and ...

Manhattan. Additionally, numerous vehicle service stations, car washes, and car rental lots are found along this stretch. 381-389 WE Av 78 Collegiate Hist Dist jeh

381-389 WE Av 78 Collegiate Hist Dist jeh

This area has served the transport trade for more than a hundred years; most of the stables for New York's remaining horse cabs are located on its side streets, though many now store taxis and

pedicab The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport. It is a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers on a for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, be ...

s. It is not uncommon to hear the clip clop of horses in the vicinity, as a result. The carriage horses live in historic stables originally built in the 19th century, but today boast the latest in barn design, such as fans, misting systems, box stalls, and state-of-the-art sprinkler systems. As horses always have in densely populated urban areas, the carriage horses live upstairs in their stables while the carriages are parked below on the ground floor.

Historic districts

One historic district lies on Eleventh Avenue, the West Chelsea Historic District, designated in 2008. Two segments of West End Avenue lie within designated New York City historic districts: both sides of the avenue from 87th to 94th Street can be found in the Riverside-West End Historic District. The west side of the avenue from 75th Street through mid-block between 78th and 79th streets, and the east side between 76th and 77th streets are contained within the West End-Collegiate Historic District. Concern over building demolition filings for the demolition of three

row houses A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

and a six-story elevator apartment building at the southwest corner of West End Avenue and 86th Street spurred a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

effort to seek historic district designation for the entire stretch north of

from 70th to 107th Street. On March 18, 2009, the West End Avenue Preservation Society formally submitted a request for evaluation to the chair of the city's

Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

along with a 260-page survey prepared by Andrew Dolkart. Starrett-Lehigh 601 W26 jeh

Points of interest

Points of interest on or within one block of Eleventh Avenue include: * 3 Hudson Boulevard at 34th/35th Streets * 15 Hudson Yards and attached Culture Shed (at 30th Street) * 35 Hudson Yards (at 33rd Street) * 55 Hudson Yards (between 33rd and 34th Streets) * 100 Eleventh Avenue, designed by

Jean Nouvel Jean Nouvel (; born 12 August 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of ''Mars 1976'' and ''Syndicat de l'Architecture'', France’s first labor union for architects. He has ob ...

*200 Eleventh Avenue, corner of West 24th Street, designed by

Annabelle Selldorf Annabelle Selldorf (born July 5, 1960) is a German-born architect and founding principal of Selldorf Architects, a New York City-based architecture practice. She is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and the recipient of the 2 ...

, includes apartments with a "Sky Garage", allowing cars to be parked directly outside the apartment. *

Chelsea Market Chelsea Market is a food hall, shopping mall, office building and television production facility located in the Chelsea neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, in New York City. The Chelsea Market complex occupies an entire city block with a ...

(between 9th and 10th Avenues and 15th and 16th Streets, one block east of 11th Avenue) *

(from 18th to 23rd Streets along the

segment of Eleventh Avenue) *

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

**Former studios of ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

'' (at 54th Street) **Studios of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' (at 51st Street) *Former site of the Copacabana nightclub (at

34th Street 34th Street most commonly refers to 34th Street (Manhattan) 34th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs the width of Manhattan Island from the West Side Highway on the West Side to FDR Drive on t ...

); the nightclub is now at 47th Street in Midtown; site occupied by the 34th Street–Hudson Yards subway entrance *

DeWitt Clinton Park DeWitt Clinton Park is a New York City public park in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, between West 52nd and 54th Streets, and Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues. The park, which was one of the first New York City pa ...

(between 52nd and 54th Streets) *The

High Line The High Line is a elevated linear park, greenway, and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Op ...

(roughly parallel to Eleventh Avenue from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street) *The

Hudson River Park Hudson River Park is a waterfront park on the North River (Hudson River) that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park, a component of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, stretches and ...

(parallel to the West Side Highway segment of Eleventh Avenue from 11th Street to 22nd Street; also manages the

Chelsea Waterside Park Chelsea Waterside Park, formerly Thomas F. Smith Park, is a public park located at 23rd Street (Manhattan), West 23rd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues along the West Side Highway in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City. It was originally operat ...

on the west side of Eleventh Avenue between 22nd and 24th Streets) *

IAC Building __NOTOC__ The IAC Building is the headquarters of the media company IAC (company), IAC at 555 18th Street (Manhattan), West 18th Street on the northeast corner of Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan), Eleventh Avenue in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neig ...

(at 19th Street) *The

Javits Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James In ...

(between 34th and 39th Streets) * Michael J. Quill Bus Depot of the MTA (at 41st Street) *

Pier 57 Pier 57 is a long pier located in the Hudson River on the West Side (Manhattan), West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in December 1954, it sits at the end of West 15th Street (Manhattan), 15th Street on Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan), ...

(at 15th Street) *

Silver Towers The Silver Towers are twin residential buildings in the Hell's Kitchen (formerly also known as Clinton) neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The 60-story buildings stand on the west side of Eleventh Avenue between 41st Street and 42nd S ...

(at 41st/ 42nd Streets) * Starrett-Lehigh Building (at 26th/27th Streets) *The

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

(at

) Points of interest on or within one block of West End Avenue include: * Abraham Joshua Heschel School's high school division (at 60th Street) *

Calhoun School The Calhoun School is a Progressivism, progressive, co-educational, independent school on New York City's Upper West Side, serving students from Pre-K through 12th grade. Founded in 1896, the school currently has approximately 600 students, h ...

(between 80th and 81st Streets) * Collegiate School (between 77th and 78th Streets) *

(between 66th and 70th Streets, with all buildings having West End Avenue addresses) * Pomander Walk (between 95th and 96th Streets) * Riverside Park (one block west of West End Avenue north of 72nd Street) *

(between 106th and 107th Streets)

Mass transit

Eleventh Avenue has been served by the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

's , built as part of the

7 Subway Extension The 7 Subway Extension is a subway extension of the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line, which is served by the local and express services. The extension stretches southwest from its previous terminus at Times Square, at Seventh Avenu ...

, at a station under the avenue at

, since September 2015. The

New York City Bus MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the bus operations division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The MTA operates local, limited-stop, express, and Select Bus Service ( bus rapid transit) services across the city ...

's route serves the portion of 11th Avenue from West 15th to West 24th Streets (uptown) and from West 57th to West 18th Streets (downtown). Plans for the bus route were formulated in early 2014. Where 11th Avenue is one-way downtown, uptown buses use 12th Avenue. Other bus routes include the following: * The M57 crosstown bus route serves 11th Avenue north of West 57th Street and West End Avenue south of West 72nd Street in both directions, with the north of West 70th Street. * The runs in both directions between West 23rd and West 24th Streets. * Several crosstown bus routes use the road to loop around and change directions: ** The westbound M14D+ Select Bus runs from West 15th to West 18th Streets. Eastbound buses use 9th Avenue. ** The westbound M31 runs from West 57th to West 54th Streets. Eastbound buses use 10th Avenue. ** The westbound M34+ Select Bus runs from West 34th to West 33rd Streets. Eastbound buses use 12th Avenue. ** The M66 begins eastbound service running from West 66th to West 65th Streets. ** The M86+ Select Bus terminates at West 87th Street westbound, then runs out of service to West 86th Street. ** The M96 and M106 run from West 97th to West 96th Streets, where they terminate.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents include: *

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

(1927-2023),

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, actor, and activist lived in a 6-bedroom, 21-room apartment at 300 West End Avenue for 48 years. Because he had been turned away from other apartment buildings, he had his white publicist rent an apartment at 300 WEA for him. When he moved in, and the owner realized that he was an African American, he was asked to leave. Belafonte not only refused, he used three dummy real estate companies to buy the building and converted it into a co-op, inviting his friends, both white and black, to buy apartments. Belafonte, Harry with Shnayerson, Michael (2012) ''My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance'
pp.192-193
New York: Knopf Doubleday. At Belafonte's invitation, the apartment became the New York City base of operations for Martin Luther King, Jr. *

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades. An Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning rec ...

(born 1939),

and

song writer A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

resides at 845 West End Avenue. *

Domenico Dolce Domenico Mario Assunto DolceBaptized as Domenico Maria Assunta Dolce; see (; born 13 August 1958) is an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur who co-founded the luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana (D&G). Since the establishment of D&G in ...

, fashion designer, at 200 Eleventh Avenue.Staff. (December 21, 2010
"Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban buy apartment with 'sky garage'"
, ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' *

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. Known for her comedic roles in sketch comedy, television and film, Fey has received List of awards and nominations received by Tina Fe ...

(born 1970), former '' SNL'' cast member and creator of NBC's ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satire, satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live' ...

'' lives on West End Avenue near 80th Street *

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel '' Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

(1923–1990), wrote ''

Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. It was his debut novel. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it ...

'' while living at 390 West End Avenue. *

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

(1917-2010), dancer, actress, singer, and activist lived in a penthouse at 300 West End Avenue in the 1960s. *

Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination ...

(born 1960), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, grew up on West End Avenue and 75th Street. *

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

and

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

live at 200 Eleventh Avenue. *

Jesse L. Lasky Jesse Louis Lasky (September 13, 1880 – January 13, 1958) was an American pioneer motion picture producer who was a key founder of what was to become Paramount Pictures, and father of screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky Jr. Early life Born in to ...

(1880–1958), the theatrical and

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

producer lived at 601 West End Avenue *

Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle (; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including ''A Wrinkle in Time'' and its sequels: '' A Wind in the Door'', '' A Swiftly Tilting Planet'' ...

(1918–2007), author, wrote ''

A Wrinkle in Time ''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-u ...

'' and its sequels while living in the Cleburne Building at 924 West End Avenue. *

Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...

(1881–1973), economist, lived at 777 West End Avenue. *

Anna Netrebko Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (; born 18 September 1971) is a Russian and Austrian operatic soprano who has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera and La Scala. Netrebko is one of the few Russian p ...

(born 1971),

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

, has an apartment on the 32nd floor of 10 West End Avenue. *

Estelle Parsons Estelle Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program '' Today'' and made her stage debut in 1961. Durin ...

, actress, lived in the Cleburne Building *

Norman Podhoretz Norman Podhoretz (; born January 16, 1930) is an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator, who identifies his views as " paleo- neoconservative", but only "because (he's) been one for so long".Midge Decter *

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

(1873–1943), composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor, lived at 505 West End Avenue *The rural mansion of Isidor Straus and

Ida Straus Rosalie Ida Straus (née Blün; February 6, 1849 – April 15, 1912) was a German-American homemaker and wife of Isidor Straus, U.S. Congressman and co-owner of the Macy's department store. She and her husband died during the sinking of the ' ...

was located between West End and Broadway at 105th on the site of the present Cleburne Building. * L'Wren Scott, model, fashion designer, and stylist, who died in early 2014, lived in 200 Eleventh Avenue up to her death. *

Charlie Smalls Charlie Smalls (October 25, 1943 – August 27, 1987) was an American composer and songwriter, best known for writing the music and lyrics for playwright William F. Brown's 1975 Broadway musical '' The Wiz'' and the 1978 film version of the sam ...

, composer of ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

'' *

Herman Wouk Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author. He published fifteen novels, many of them historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize in fiction. ...

, novelist, lived at 845 West End Avenue during his college years.

In popular culture

* ''The Prince of West End Avenue'', a novel by Alan Isler, is based on West End Avenue. * ''

The Mirror Has Two Faces ''The Mirror Has Two Faces'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Barbra Streisand, who also stars. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is loosely based on the 1958 French film ''Le Miroir à deux faces'' wri ...

'', a film starring and directed by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

, was set in an apartment at 505 West End Avenue. * "Way Out West (on West End Avenue)", a song by

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers wa ...

and

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; " The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; " Bewitched, Bo ...

introduced in the 1937 musical ''

Babes in Arms ''Babes in Arms'' is a 1937 coming-of-age musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and book by Rodgers and Hart. It concerns a group of small-town Long Island teenagers who put on a show to avoid being sent to a work ...

'', was set along West End Avenue. * The

on Eleventh Avenue is featured in the movie ''

The Other Guys ''The Other Guys'' is a 2010 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Adam McKay, who co-wrote it with Chris Henchy. It stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg with Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samu ...

'', as well as '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps''. * The opening scene in the Will Smith movie ''Hitch'' takes place with Smith exiting an 865 West End Avenue apartment building. *

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of Folk music, folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the ...

's 2007 song " Zephyr and I" features West End Avenue, and spending time with graffiti writer

Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional characters * Zephyr (comics), in the Marvel Comics univers ...

References

External links

* {{Streets of Manhattan, state=collapsed *11 Chelsea, Manhattan Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan Upper West Side Hudson Yards, Manhattan West Side Highway