125th Street (Manhattan)
Encyclopedia
Two-way street
A two-way street is a street that allows vehicles to travel in both directions. On most two-way streets, especially main streets, a line is painted down the middle of the road to remind drivers to stay on their side of the road. Sometimes one portion of a street is two-way, the other portion one-way...
that runs east-west in the New York City borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, considered the "Main Street
Main Street
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...
" of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
; It is also called Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
Neighborhoods
Diagonal
A diagonal is a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a polygon or polyhedron. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word "diagonal" derives from the Greek διαγώνιος , from dia- and gonia ; it was used by both Strabo and Euclid to refer to a line connecting two vertices of a...
ly between the neighborhoods of Manhattanville and Morningside Heights from the north-west from an interchange with the Henry Hudson Parkway
Henry Hudson Parkway
The Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
at 130th Street. East of Morningside Avenue
Morningside Avenue (Manhattan)
Morningside Avenue is a New York City avenue in the borough of Manhattan along the east or lower side of Morningside Park near Columbia University . It divides Harlem and Morningside Heights and is the address for many of the at-grade entrances to the park...
it runs east-west through central Harlem to an interchange with F.D.R. Drive
Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive
The Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive is a freeway-standard parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
by the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
, where it becomes the Manhattan leg of the RFK-Triborough Bridge. Many sections of the street have been gentrified
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
and developed with such stores as MAC Cosmetics, Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
, H&M
H&M
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
, CVS/pharmacy, and Magic Johnson Theaters. The historic Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
is here. In collaboration with the community, the city has developed a plan for the 125th Street corridor focusing on reinforcing and building upon its strengths as an arts and cultural corridor.
West of Convent Avenue, 125th Street was re-routed onto the old Manhattan Avenue. The original 125th Street west of Convent Avenue was swallowed up to make the super-blocks where the low income housing projects now exist. What remains of the original alignment of 125th Street is called La Salle Street, which runs between Amsterdam Avenue and Claremont Avenue
Claremont Avenue
Claremont Avenue is a relatively short street in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. It begins at 116th Street and runs north for a length of eleven blocks until Tiemann Place . The eastern side of Claremont Avenue features the heavily fortified backside of the Barnard College campus...
.
A proposal to convert the street into a Trans-Harlem Expressway died when funds were diverted from the proposed 125th Street Hudson River bridge
125th Street Hudson River bridge
The 125th Street Hudson River bridge was a proposed bridge across the Hudson River between 125th Street in Manhattan, New York City and Cliffside Park or Fort Lee in New Jersey. It was never built.The bridge was proposed by a study in 1954. Othmar H...
.
Fault line
A riftRift
In geology, a rift or chasm is a place where the Earth's crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics....
in the crust
Crust (geology)
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet or natural satellite, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle...
runs along underneath this street and is known as the 125th Street Fault. The fault line
Fault line
In geology, fault line refers to the surface trace of a fault.Fault line, Fault Line, or faultline may also refer to:* "Faultline", a song from the 2008 studio album Versus by The Haunted...
creates a fault valley deep enough to require the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line to become a trestle
Trestle
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent...
bridge between 122nd and 135th Streets. The street in the 18th century was called The Hollow Way.
Public transportation
The following New York City SubwayNew York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
stations are located at 125th Street (west to east):
- 125th Street at Broadway serving the train
- 125th Street125th Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line)125th Street is an express station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 125th Street and St...
at St. Nicholas Avenue serving the trains - 125th Street125th Street (IRT Lenox Avenue Line)125th Street is a station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 125th Street 125th Street is a station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 125th Street 125th Street is a station on the IRT Lenox...
at Lenox AvenueLenox Avenue (Manhattan)Lenox Avenue / Malcolm X Boulevard is the primary north-south route through Harlem in the upper portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. This two-way street runs from Farmers' Gate at Central Park North to 147th Street. It is also considered the heartbeat of Harlem by Langston Hughes in...
serving the trains - 125th Street125th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)125th Street is an express station that has four tracks and two island platforms. It is the northernmost Manhattan station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Lexington Avenue and East 125th Street 125th Street is an express station that has four tracks and two...
at Lexington AvenueLexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
serving the trains
Metro-North Railroad
Metro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, or, more commonly, Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , an authority of New York State. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United...
's Harlem – 125th Street commuter station is also on 125th Street, at Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
.
Notable occupants
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
maintains an office on 125th Street.
- The intersection of 125th and Lexington AvenueLexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
is the location where Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
buys heroin on the Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting for the ManI'm Waiting for the Man"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by the American rock band The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed. It was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico....
from their seminal 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.