The cross streets carved into tenement corners

Hiding in plain sight in the city’s tenement districts are the names of streets that intersect at certain corners.

Chiseled into a cement plate, they’re the 19th and early 20th century solution to figuring out where you were a 100 or so years before the GPS on your phone could do it for you.

Not always in the best condition, like this East Harlem example above, these corner carvings are charming and fun to come across.

The best neighborhoods to find them: the Lower East Side, East Village, Hell’s Kitchen, East Harlem, and the brownstone enclaves of Brooklyn.

Sometimes you only find one street name—Like Mott Street here at Broome Street, with a tiny T that looks like it was added by hand!