Madison Avenue, New York

Madison Avenue, New York

Running south-north from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to Harlem River Drive (at 142nd Street), Madison Avenue passes through Midtown and further up the Upper East Side, East Harlem, and Harlem. The avenue is named after the place it arises from, Madison Square, which in turn has been named after James Madison, the fourth President of the United States.

The street's name has been metonymous with the American advertising industry since the 1920s. Thus, the term "Madison Avenue" refers specifically to the agencies and methodology of advertising ("Madison Avenue techniques" – the gimmicky, slick use of the communications media to play on emotions).

Interestingly enough, more recently, in 1984, the "Splash" movie gave rise to a new naming trend in the U.S. associated with Madison. In this film, a mermaid, who has adopted a human form, takes the name Madison after she sees it on a street sign. Ever since then, Madison, which had previously been an exclusively male name (meaning "son of Maud", Maud's son), has been used by females and become one of the most popular names for girls in the United States.

Similarly to London's Oxford Street and the neighboring Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue is known for its fashionable shops, especially in the section between 57th and 85th Streets, exhibiting timeless elegance with a contemporary flavor that is distinctively New York. This premier luxury district is a home to flagship boutiques of the finest fashion (& jewelry) designers like Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Luca Luca, Hermes, and Carolina Herrera. Numerous world class art galleries and the Whitney Museum of American Art are also found here alongside internationally renowned hotels such as the Mark, the Pierre, and the Carlyle. The exquisite local restaurants, spas and salons are geared to deliver exclusive pampering to the rich and famous.
Sight description based on Wikipedia.

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Madison Avenue on Map

Sight Name: Madison Avenue
Sight Location: New York, USA (See walking tours in New York)
Sight Type: Shopping
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Walking Tours in New York, New York

Create Your Own Walk in New York

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Creating your own self-guided walk in New York is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Times Square to Central Park

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A leisurely self-guided stroll from Times Square to Central Park will take you to some of NYC’s prominent locations, each worth visiting in their own right.

At 49th Street, Fifth Avenue lives up to its lofty reputation with the Rockefeller Center, one of the world’s biggest business and entertainment complexes, and a triumph of Art Deco architecture. Like the neighboring Times Square, the...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.2 Km or 2 Miles
NYC Greenwich Village Walking Tour

NYC Greenwich Village Walking Tour

The tree-lined streets of Greenwich Village with its cafes, bars and restaurants, jazz clubs and Off-Broadway theaters amid the brownstones will enthuse you as a visitor. Writers and poets, artists and radicals, runaway socialites, and others seeking freedom from conventional lifestyles have long flocked to this spot, lit most famously by the counterculture figures of the 1950s and '60s: Jack...  view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.2 Km or 1.4 Miles
NYC's Chinatown and Little Italy Walking Tour

NYC's Chinatown and Little Italy Walking Tour

New York's Little Italy and Chinatown were places that attracted Italian and Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s, with densely packed ethnic communities having grown around them, as they brought their customs, food and language. In the 1960s, however, right around the time that Italians stopped coming to the city in large numbers, Chinese immigrants did the opposite, hence why Little Italy...  view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 1.6 Km or 1 Miles
George Washington's New York

George Washington's New York

While not really a New York fan himself, George Washington held the city in high esteem, calling it “a post of infinite importance,” and is even credited with coining the term “New Yorker”. The scene of some of Washington’s greatest military trials and political triumphs, NYC is a home to several important sites associated with his life and career, such as Fraunces Tavern, Bowling Green,...  view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 1.6 Km or 1 Miles
Midtown Manhattan Shopping Tour

Midtown Manhattan Shopping Tour

Midtown Manhattan, alongside other things, is also the shopping hub for New York City. Attesting to this are the ever-busy Times Square and Rockefeller Center areas replete with designer goods offerings and street vendors at every corner.

The famed Fifth Avenue has long been synonymous with a shopper's paradise where you can find every kind of store imaginable, ranging from the affordable...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.0 Km or 1.9 Miles
Manhattan Architecture Walking Tour

Manhattan Architecture Walking Tour

The skyscraper, which has shaped Manhattan's distinctive skyline, has been closely associated with New York City’s identity since the end of the 19th century. Despite the Great Depression, some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers were completed in Manhattan during the 1930s, including numerous Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline – most notably the Empire...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 4.2 Km or 2.6 Miles

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