Of course, no one calls Sixth Avenue by its official moniker: Avenue of the Americas. The street got this formal and cumbersome name in 1945. But why—and whose bright idea was it?
The blame starts with Sixth Avenue business owners. In the 1940s, they argued that the then-dingy avenue (the El had recently been dismantled above it) needed some sprucing up.
One way to do that would be to get Central and South American countries to build consulates and company HQs on the avenue. Real-estate bigwig Leonard Spear took credit for that idea.
In 1945, city council members were convinced, and Mayor La Guardia signed the name change into law. In the 1950s, signs representing different countries in the Americas went up all along the avenue.
The signs never helped the name catch on. Most were taken down for good in the early 1990s, when city lampposts were replaced. But a few rusted ones remain. One still hangs on at Sixth and Grand Street.
Tags: Avenue of the Americas, Avenue of the Americas signs, Fiorello La Guardia, Leonard Spear, New York City street name origins, Sixth Avenue, sixth avenue el
Ephemeral New York 
January 3, 2010 at 10:34 am |
You know, I’ve lived in NYC my entire life and no one has ever been able to tell me how or why Sixth Ave. became Ave. of the Americas. Thanks for putting me in the know.
January 3, 2010 at 6:06 pm |
You’d be surprised how many people refer to it as Avenue of the Americas. I am always surprised anyway. Particularly businesses along the street like to use that name.
LaGuardia did more than just that of course too. 6th Avenue was extended south too. Slicing through parts of the Village in his plan to make this a grand street that would extend all the way to the Southern tip of Manhattan.
I suppose for arguments sake you could say that other names for 6th Avenue are Lenox and Malcom X Blvd.
It’s really one of our most schizophrenic streets in a city of schizophrenic streets.
January 3, 2010 at 8:32 pm |
That’s a good point–Sixth Avenue becomes Lenox, which was renamed Malcolm X Blvd. Does anyone call it that?
May 29, 2010 at 10:27 am |
Yes as a long time resident of the area I am aware that some residents do call it Malcolm X Blvd., particularly younger residents who want to keep the Malcolm X name alive. Older residents out of habit will use the name Lenox Ave. A lot of times residents in the area also use both names interchangeably. Tourists who have never been to the area are usually the people who may be confused.
March 31, 2012 at 5:38 pm |
[…] a combination vegetarian Indian restaurant, candy store and pizza parlor on Avenue of the Americas (also known as Sixth Avenue), between 37th and 38th Streets. It is called Bombay Fast Food/6 Ave. […]
March 31, 2012 at 9:33 pm |
[…] Indian restaurant, candy store аnԁ pizza parlor οn Chance οf thе Americas (аƖѕο famous аѕ Sixth Chance), joining 37th аnԁ 38th Streets. It іѕ called Bombay Qυісk Food/6 […]
April 1, 2012 at 6:34 am |
[…] is a multiple vegetarian Indian restaurant, candy store and pizza parlor on Avenue of a Americas (also famous as Sixth Avenue), between 37th and 38th Streets. It is called Bombay Fast Food/6 Ave. […]
January 19, 2016 at 1:06 pm |
[…] place of prominence and affluence. So in 1945, Mayor La Guardia changed the avenue’s name to the Avenue of the Americas, a place for Central and South America to build their consulates. These structures would certainly […]
March 31, 2016 at 4:05 pm |
[…] the renaming feeling that it obscured the historic nature of the park and mindful that the 1945 renaming of Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue as Avenue of the Americas did not catch on with the public. The ballfield retained the name Linden Park Ballfield, according […]
July 1, 2016 at 3:03 pm |
good memories for me when I lived in NY
May 29, 2019 at 1:45 am |
[…] the official name of which has still not caught on with New Yorkers in the 74 years since it was signed into law by Mayor La Guardia. The Fifth Avenue, Park, Lexington, and Madison corridors also help fill in the […]