| Lincoln Highway (west ofBroadway) New 42nd Street (8th to 7th Avenues) | |
 Thepace, extensivetransit connectivity, andtheatrical tradition of 42nd Street betweenSeventh andEighth Avenues have made this one of the best-known streets in theTimes Square neighborhood and theBroadway TheaterDistrict inMidtown Manhattan. | |
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| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
|---|---|
| Length | 2.0 mi (3.2 km)[1] |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| Postal code | 10036, 10018, 10017, 10168 |
| West end |  NY 9A /West Side Highway inHell's Kitchen |
| East end |  FDR Drive inMurray Hill /Midtown East |
| North | 43rd Street (west of 1st Avenue) 48th Street (east of 1st Avenue) |
| South | 41st Street (west of 6th Avenue) 40th Street (6th to 5th Avenues) 41st Street (east of 5th Avenue) |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | March 1811 |
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in theNew York Cityborough ofManhattan, spanning the entire breadth ofMidtown Manhattan, fromTurtle Bay at theEast River, toHell's Kitchen at theHudson River on theWest Side. The street has several major landmarks, including (fromeast to west) theheadquarters of the United Nations, theChrysler Building,Grand Central Terminal, theNew York Public Library Main Branch,Times Square, and thePort Authority Bus Terminal.
The street is known for itstheaters, especially near the intersection withBroadway atTimes Square, and as such is also the name of the region of thetheater district (and, at times, thered-light district) near that intersection. The street also has a section ofoff-Broadway theaters known asTheatre Row.
During theAmerican Revolutionary War, a cornfield near 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue was where GeneralGeorge Washington angrily attempted to rally his troops after the Britishlanding at Kip's Bay, which scattered many of the American militiamen. Washington's attempt put him in danger of being captured, and his officers had to persuade him to leave. The rout eventually subsided into an orderly retreat.[2]
John Jacob Astor purchased a 70-acre (28 ha) farm in 1803 that ran from 42nd Street to 46th Street west of Broadway to theHudson River.[3]
The street was designated by theCommissioners' Plan of 1811 that established theManhattanstreet grid as one of 15 crosstown (east-west) streets that would be 100 feet (30 m) in width, while other streets were designated as 60 feet (18 m) in width.[4]
In 1835, the city's Street Committee, after receiving numerous complaints about lack of access for development above 14th Street, decided to open up all lots which had already been plotted on the city grid up to 42nd Street, which thus became – for a time – the northern boundary of the city.[5]
Cornelius Vanderbilt began the construction ofGrand Central Depot in 1869 on 42nd Street at Fourth Avenue as the terminal for his Central,Hudson,Harlem andNew Haven commuter rail lines, because city regulations required that trains be pulled by horse below 42nd Street.[6] The Depot, which opened in 1871, was replaced byGrand Central Terminal in 1913.[7]
Between the 1870s and 1890s, 42nd Street became the uptown boundary of themainstream theater district, which started around 23rd Street, as the entertainment district of theTenderloin gradually moved northward.[8]
42nd Street was developed relatively late compared to other crosstown thoroughfares such as14th Street and23rd Street, which had grown during theAmerican Civil War, and57th Street, which became prominent in the 1890s. It was only after the beginning of the 20th century that the street saw entertainment venues being developed aroundTimes Square and upscale office space around Grand Central Terminal.[9] In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven venues forlegitimate theater were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.[10]
The corner of 42nd Street andBroadway, at the southeast corner of Times Square, is the eastern terminus of theLincoln Highway, the first road across theUnited States, which was conceived and mapped in 1913.
Anelevated railroad line, running above East 42nd Street fromThird Avenue to theGrand Central station, was closed in 1923,[11] leading to the development of such structures as theChanin Building and110 East 42nd Street west ofLexington Avenue. The street east of Lexington Avenue continued to be made up of mostly low-rise buildings; these blocks were adjacent to the elevatedIRT Second Avenue Line andIRT Third Avenue Line, and accordingly, initially considered unattractive for major development.[12] By the 1920s,The New York Times reported that several high-rise developments were "radically changing the old-time conditions" along East 42nd Street,[13] including the Chanin,Lincoln,Chrysler, andDaily News Buildings, as well asTudor City.[14]
The block of 42nd Street betweenSecond andFirst Avenues was originally only 40 feet (12 m) wide, passing through a steep bluff known as Prospect Hill.[15][16] On either side of the street, 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) service roads ascended to Tudor City Place, which crossed over 42nd Street.[16] To improve access to the newly developedUnited Nations headquarters, in 1948, the city government proposed widening that block of 42nd Street, eliminating the service roads, and constructing a viaduct to carry Tudor City Place over 42nd Street.[15][17] Despite opposition from Tudor City residents,[18] city officials said the street widening was necessary because 42nd Street already carried high amounts of vehicular traffic to and from the nearbyFDR Drive.[15] TheNew York City Planning Commission approved the plans in September 1948,[19][20] and the Board of Estimate approved $1.848 million for the project that December.[16][21] The board provisionally authorized the street widening in June 1949, and Manhattan's borough president announced in December 1949 that work would commence shortly.[22][15] The neighboring stretch of 42nd Street was temporarily closed from February 1951 to October 1952 while the widening was underway.[23]
West 42nd Street, meanwhile, prospered as a theater and entertainment district untilWorld War II. According to historianRobert A. M. Stern, West 42nd Street's decline started in 1946, when the streetcars on 42nd Street were replaced by less efficient buses.[9]
Lloyd Bacon andBusby Berkeley's 1933 film musical42nd Street, starring 30s heartthrobsDick Powell andRuby Keeler, displays the bawdy and colorful mixture ofBroadway denizens and lowlifes in Manhattan during theDepression. In 1980, it was turned into a successfulBroadway musical which ran until 1989, and which was revived for a four-year run in 2001.[24] In the words of theAl Dubin andHarry Warrentitle song, on 42nd Street one could find:
Little nifties from the Fifties, innocent and sweet,
Sexy ladies from the Eighties who are indiscreet,
They're side by side, they're glorified,
Where the underworld can meet the elite
Naughty, gawdy, bawdy, sporty, Forty-second Street!
From the late 1950s until the late 1980s, 42nd Street, nicknamed the "Deuce",[citation needed] was the cultural center of Americangrindhouse theaters, which spawned an entire subculture. The bookSleazoid Express, a travelogue of the 42nd Street grindhouses and the films they showed, describes the unique blend of people who made up the theater-goers:
depressives hiding from jobs, sexual obsessives, inner-city people seeking cheap diversions, teenagers skipping school, adventurous couples on dates, couples-chasers peeking on them, people getting high, homeless people sleeping, pickpockets...[25]
While the street outside the theaters was populated with:
phony drug salesman ... low-level drug dealers, chain snatchers ... [j]unkies alone in their heroin/cocaine dreamworld ... predatory chickenhawks spying on underage trade looking for pickups ... male prostitutes of all ages ... [t]ranssexuals, hustlers, and closety gays with a fetishistic homo- or heterosexual itch to scratch ... It was common to see porn stars whose films were playing at the adult houses promenade down the block. ... Were you a freak? Not when you stepped onto the Deuce. Being a freak there would get you money, attention, entertainment, a starring part in a movie. Or maybe a robbery and a beating.[25]
For much of the mid and late 20th century, the area of 42nd Street near Times Square was home to activities often considered unsavory,[26] includingpeep shows.
East 42nd Street was, for some time, spared from similar decline, especially east of Third Avenue, where the development of theUnited Nations supported a thriving business district and prompted the widening of that section of 42nd Street.[9][27] The demolition of the Second and Third Avenue elevated lines by the 1950s led to increased development on East 42nd Street, such as annexes to the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings, as well as the construction of theSocony–Mobil andFord Foundation Buildings.[28] By the 1960s, East 42nd Street between Park and Second Avenues contained more headquarters of industries than any other place in the United States except Chicago or Pittsburgh.[29][30] During this time, there was much development outside the rundown entertainment district of Times Square, somewhat offsetting the perception of that part of 42nd Street.[31]
In the early 1990s, the city government encouraged a cleanup of the Times Square area. In 1990, the city government took over six of the historic theaters on the block of 42nd Street betweenSeventh andEighth Avenues, andNew 42nd Street, anot-for-profit organization, was formed to oversee their renovation and reuse, as well as to construct new theaters and a rehearsal space. In 1993,Disney Theatrical Productions bought theNew Amsterdam Theatre, which it renovated a few years later. Since the mid-1990s, the block has again become home tomainstream theaters and several multi-screen mainstream movie theaters, along with shops, restaurants, hotels, and attractions such asMadame Tussauds wax museum andRipley's Believe It or Not that draw millions to the city every year. This area is now co-signed as "New 42nd Street" to signify this change.
In the 1990s, the renovation ofBryant Park between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, as well as the renovations of Times Square and Grand Central Terminal, led to increases in office occupancy along both sections of 42nd Street.[32]
In 2025, theNew York City Department of Transportation announced that the block of 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues would be upgraded to protect it from terrorist attacks. The project, budgeted at $57 million, would include adding steel bollards, installing sewage pipes, and widening the sidewalks and bus lanes.[33][34]
(from East to West):
EveryNew York City Subway line that crosses 42nd Street has a stop on 42nd Street:[36]
There are two subway lines under 42nd Street. The42nd Street Shuttle (S train) runs under 42nd Street between Broadway/Seventh Avenue (Times Square) andPark Avenue (Grand Central). TheIRT Flushing Line (7 and <7> trains) curves fromEleventh Avenue to 41st Street, under which it runs untilFifth Avenue; shifts to 42nd Street between Fifth andMadison Avenues; and continues under theEast River toQueens. Each line stops at Times Square and Grand Central, though theFifth Avenue station is also served by the7 and <7> trains.[36]
In the past, every former IRT elevated line had a station at 42nd Street:
Afifth station extended over 42nd Street as a western spur from the Third Avenue Line toGrand Central Depot, later Grand Central Station, and finally Grand Central Terminal.
MTA Regional Bus Operations'sM42 bus runs the length of 42nd Street between theCircle Line Sightseeing Cruises ferry terminal on theHudson River and theheadquarters of theUnited Nations on theEast River. Westbound service originates at First Avenue.[37] Its predecessor, the42nd Street Crosstown Line streetcar, had used 42nd Street until 1946.[38][39] In 2019,bus lanes were installed along the length of the street.[40] There have also been proposals for light rail on 42nd Street over the years, such as in 2005.[38]
42nd Street is also used by theSIM8,SIM22,SIM25,SIM26 andSIM30 Staten Island express buses.[41]
"Dorty-deuce" is street slang for Manhattan's former livepeep show district on 42nd Street. The 1982 filmForty Deuce and the 2017 TV seriesThe Deuce reference the phrase "forty-deuce".[42]
Notable CCP Politboro Standing Committee memberWang Huning referenced 42nd Street in his bookAmerica Against America mentioning it's "pornographic culture" as an example of the "decadence of high commodification".[43]
Notes
The new Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled was built on 42nd Street between First and Second avenue. It is currently the location of the Ford Foundation.
Bibliography
Further reading
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