110th Street (Manhattan)
Encyclopedia : 1 : 11 : 110 : 110th Street (Manhattan)
110th Street is a street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park. 110th Street is an eastbound street between 1st Avenue and Madison Avenue. The small portion between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue, where it runs into Duke Ellington Circle at the northeast corner of Central Park, is westbound. Beyond the circle the name changes to Cathedral Parkway where the road widens to accommodate two lanes. The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine is located at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 110th Street.
The street is best known from the Bobby Womack song Across 110th Street and from the 1972 movie of the same title.
A statue of Duke Ellington stands in Duke Ellington Circle, a shallow amphitheatre at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue[link], at the northeast corner of Central Park. Unveiled in 1997, the controversial statue, by sculptor Robert Graham, is 25 feet tall, and depicts the Muses—nine nude female caryatids—supporting a grand piano and Duke Ellington on their heads.
Subway stations
The elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line used to reach a great height at its 110th Street station and, according to Douglas (2004), was a popular site for suicide jumpers. In 1927, the New York Times reported that"the number of suicides from the 110th Street Station of the Sixth Avenue elevated is ruining the business of the merchants with shops below, according to [the merchants].... According to [a spokesperson] there were eleven suicides from that station in the past year, and the effect has been such that potential customers prefer to walk a little farther rather than risk seeing a person hurtle from above."
Today, there are four New York City Subway stations at 110th Street (from west to east):
- 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway (IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line)
- 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway (IND Eighth Avenue Line)
- 110th Street-Central Park North (IRT Lenox Avenue Line)
- 110th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
References
- Douglas, George H. (2004): Skyscrapers: A Social History of the Very Tall Building in America. McFarland & Company, ISBN 0786420308. (110th St station popular for suicides: p. 170).
- "Merchants Complain Suicides Hurt Business; Seek Way to Guard 110th St. Elevated Station," January 31, 1927, p. 19
External links
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