When and how did east 96th street become a border line? (Madison: middle-class, real estate)
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East 96th street has many nicknames, such as "Berlin Wall" and "Invisible Border". The south and north have different zip codes, school zones, and police precincts. Crossing the east 96th street from south to north, the incomes drop sharply and crime rate rise. I've heard some taxi drivers refused to go north in the 70's and 80's (Don't quote me for that). I can't find any other NYC street like the E96th.
I wonder why? Is this a result of city planing in the early days?
First of all,the rule doesn't really apply to 5th ave and Madison Ave so it's not universal.
Secondly,even along and off of the other Avenues,it's nothing like it was beck in the 1970's and 1980's so the wall is becoming more and more porous.
A lot of it might might have originated because of the perceived ugliness(and lower real estate values) around the railroad tracks and former el route.Some older friends who grew up on the East Side in the 1940's and 1950's tell me that 3rd avenue(under the el) was considered very,very seedy back then and nobody of any standing would be caught dead to the East of 3rd ave.3rd,2nd and 1st Avenues even in the 60's,70's and 80's(streets,not decades) were considered slums.
Park Avenue itself was at one time considered the East/West dividing line until they covered over the tracks with the mall in the middle.Before that you only wanted to be on 5th or Madison.As soon as they covered it up the real estate values skyrocketed and the new dividing line became the 3rd ave el.
Now the trains come out at 97th Street so anything from there(97th) along Park Avenue and to the East of there is still low value real estate compared to the other parts of the East Side.
Transportation lines have always played a huge roll in the NYC real estate world.If they are visible(railroad or els) they bring values down in the immediate surrounding areas. If they are invisible(subway) they tend to bring values up the closer you get.
Watch what is happening and will continue to happen to 2nd avenue.
Transportation lines have always played a huge roll in the NYC real estate world.If they are visible(railroad or els) they bring values down in the immediate surrounding areas. If they are invisible(subway) they tend to bring values up the closer you get.
Watch what is happening and will continue to happen to 2nd avenue.
I agree. Most of the luxury apartment buildings on Park Ave were built in 1920's. They had a lot to do with the Grand Central development 100 years ago. 2nd ave below 96th is very expensive already. Property value and rent are still considerably lower, even just a few blocks above E96th. Wondering if E96th has something to do with anything.
96th is also a political dividing line, as it is a border between Community Districts 8 and 11. It's also a border of the police precincts, and I think it's the border of the steam system, which did effect development in earlier decades.
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The grand Fifth Avenue mansions (few of which remain today) were built between 59th and 96th Streets. To say someone was "north of 96th" originally meant he or she was not high-society, i.e., not an Astor or a Vanderbilt type.
Over time the super-rich moved into apartment buildings with the merely-rich and then the upper-middle class. "South of 96th" became less exclusive so "North of 96th" then meant "working class." East Harlem was then known as "Italian Harlem." It wasn't affluent, but it wasn't a slum. When the Italians left and the area became "Spanish Harlem" and also home to a lot of projects. The neighborhood went from lower-middle/working class to very poor and dangerous.
Spanish Harlem is very different from Morningside Heights. Morningside (i.e. the west side) has Columbia and Saint John the Divine and has always been middle-class, thus the line on the west side is blurrier than on the east. The west side also has Riverside Drive which has some of the most beautiful facades in the city. There's nothing on the East River that can compare.
Last edited by tpk-nyc; 08-31-2010 at 03:18 PM..
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