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Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers〔, p.24〕 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial for much of its length. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks below Canal Street, at Franklin Street in TriBeCa, where the northbound Church Street divides into Sixth Avenue to the left and the local continuation of Church Street to the right, which then ends at Canal Street. From this beginning, Sixth Avenue traverses SoHo and Greenwich Village, roughly divides Chelsea from the Flatiron District and NoMad, passes through the Garment District and skirts the edge of the Theater District while passing through Midtown Manhattan. Sixth Avenue's northern end is at Central Park South, adjacent to the Artists Gate traffic entrance to Central Park at Center Drive. Historically, Sixth Avenue continued north of Central Park, but that segment was renamed Lenox Avenue in 1887 and co-named Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987.〔"What's in a Street Rename? Disorder", ''The New York Times'', July 20, 1987. p. B1〕 ==History== Sixth Avenue was laid out in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. As originally designed, Sixth Avenue's southern terminus was at Carmine Street in Greenwich Village. In the early and mid 1800s it passed by the popular roadhouse and tavern Old Grapevine at the corner of 11th street, which in the early 1800s was the northern edge of the city.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/03/28/village-landmarks-old-grapevine-tavern )〕 The IRT Sixth Avenue Line elevated railway (the "El") was constructed on Sixth Avenue in 1878, darkening the street and reducing its real-estate value. Proposals to extend the street south from Carmine Street, to allow easier access to lower Manhattan, were discussed by the city's Board of Aldermen as early as the mid-1860s. The southern extension was carried out in the mid-1920s, to ease traffic in the Holland Tunnel, facilitate construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line and to connect with Church Street near its northern end, forming a continuous four-lane through-route for traffic from Lower Manhattan. Construction of the extension resulted in considerable dislocation to existing residents. One historian said that "ten thousand people were displaced, most of them Italian immigrants who knew no other home in America".〔Gold, Joyce. ''From Trout Stream to Bohemia: A Walking Guide to Greenwich Village History'' (1988:49)〕 According to the ''WPA Guide to New York City'', the extension resulted in blank side walls facing the "uninspiring thoroughfare" and small leftover spaces.〔 Dozens of buildings, including the original Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, were demolished. In late 1887, the Harlem portion of what was then considered Sixth Avenue was renamed Lenox Avenue〔("Honoring the Lenox Family" ), ''The New York Times'', October 5, 1887, page 4〕 for philanthropist James Lenox; it was later co-named Malcolm X Boulevard, in honor of the slain civil rights leader, a century later.〔Gray, Christopher. ("Streetscapes/200-218 Malcolm X Boulevard, From 120th to 121st Street; A Once-Noble Row of Houses Hopes for Renewal" ), ''The New York Times'', June 15, 2003. Accessed May 25, 2007.〕〔(Malcolm X Boulevard ), New York City Department of City Planning. Accessed May 25, 2007.〕 By the mid-20th century, a coalition of commercial establishments and building owners along Sixth Avenue campaigned to have the El removed. The El was closed on December 4, 1938 and came down in stages, beginning in Greenwich Village in 1938–39; the Sixth Avenue subway replaced it a couple of years later.〔''WPA Guide to New York City'' (1939) 1984:138〕 Demolition of the Sixth Avenue elevated railway, meanwhile, resulted in accelerated commercial development of the avenue in Midtown. Beginning in the 1960s, the avenue was entirely rebuilt above 42nd Street as an all-but-uninterrupted avenue of corporate headquarters housed in glass slab towers of International Modernist style. Among the buildings constructed was the CBS Building at 52nd Street, by Eero Saarinen (1965), dubbed "Black Rock" from its dark granite piers that run from base to crown without a break; this designated landmark is Saarinen's only skyscraper. On March 10, 1957, Sixth Avenue was reconfigured to carry one-way traffic north of its intersection with Broadway in Herald Square. The rest of the avenue followed on November 10, 1963. In the mid-1970s, the city "spruced up" the street, including the addition of patterned brick crosswalks, repainting of streetlamps, and new pedestrian plazas. Special lighting, rare throughout the rest of the city, was also installed.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/deepsix/deepsix.html )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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