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One thing I had to force myself to memorize as a youngster was Lex-Park-Mad, meaning: From east to west the order is: Lexington, then Park, then Madison. To this day I still say 3rd-Lex-Park-Mad-5th in my head to not walk in a wrong direction and waste time.
Good tip! I've got it memorized now. My only trouble is memorizing lower Manhattan and all of those streets that run diagonally across Manhattan.
It gets easier, but I think everyone (yes, even if you've lived here your whole life) is a little confused coming out of a station that they don't regularly use. I typically just pause for a second to look at the street signs and reorient. If you know which way the avenues run (grimace's trick is handy), and know where you are in relation to some of the "landmark" buildings, it's easier.
Of course, for all of my regular stops, I know exactly where I am the moment I pop up.
(FYI, if you have a smartphone, you can use your phone's GPS. It works off the cell phone data service so it's not affected by the buildings.)
That's good to know. If I can see the Hudson or East River, I can tell exactly where I am, but the other landmarks I still have to memorize.
No smartphone here, but maybe it's time I get one!
Do New Yorkers memorize streets? Because when I exit the subway station, I never know which side I'm coming out of and usually end up walking in the wrong direction until I check the upcoming streets against a map. I've gotten lost so many times I think I could really use a GPS....Although, I've heard GPS doesn't work when you're around tall buildings, so that's ruled out...
Many subway station exits will note whether they exit to the Northwest (NW), Southwest (SW), Northeast (NE), or Southeast (SE) corner of the street.*
Given that the street numbers ascend as you travel further north (125th St. is "above", or north of, 42nd St.), and the avenue numbers ascend as you go further west (11th Avenue is on the West Side, while 1st avenue is on the East Side, with 5th avenue dividing E/W), you can figure out what side of the street you are on and which direction to travel in.
* Note that the Grid is slightly off true polar coordinates.
And the Avenue Address location formula:NYC Info - Manhattan Address Locator
I actually know a few people who have this Avenue address formula memorized
Just wondering if there is a grid system in NYC, for example in chicago, roads have numbers to determine how many blocks they are away from the heart of the city. Is there a number system in NYC?
I think I not only told him that there is a numbered grid, but also that a certain number of blocks is a certain distance.
Well yea if you see Grace Church that leads you to broadway,
I usually look for that awful telecom building you know the large one downtown without windows?
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Ms
