Avenue C is a north-south avenue located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, east of Avenue B and west of Avenue D. It is also known as Loisaida Avenue. It starts at South Street, proceeding north as Montgomery Street and Pitt Street, before intersecting East Houston Street and assuming its proper name. Avenue C ends at 23rd Street, running nearly underneath the

FDR Drive Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly known as the FDR Drive, is a controlled-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park Underpas ...

from 18th Street. North of 14th Street, the road forms the eastern boundary of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

History and description

The street was created by the

Commissioners' Plan of 1811 The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march upto ...

, as one of 16 north-south streets specified as in width; they include 12 numbered avenues, and four (located east of First Avenue) designated by letter. Avenue C was designated Loisaida Avenue in 1987, in recognition of the Puerto Rican heritage of the neighborhood.

Loisaida Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter names. It is bounded by Houston ...

Spanglish Spanglish (a blend of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mostly u ...

and is pronounced (

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

). The history of the neighborhood was described in the book ''Selling The Lower East Side''. Although the East Village designation of this area has received widespread acceptance, many longtime Loisaida residents still consider it part of the Lower East Side, as evidenced by the public art found on the buildings along Avenue C. A bicycle lane has existed on the avenue since 1999. It is now a buffered lane for the majority of its route and has been extended to nearly the full length of the avenue. Avenue C was converted into a two-way

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

between 18th Street and 23rd Street as part of the development of

Stuyvesant Cove Park Stuyvesant Cove Park is a public park on the East Side of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan that runs from 18th Street to 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street between the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, FDR ...

, which opened in 2002 and resulted in the shifting of the northbound service road of the FDR Drive from the east side to the west side of the elevated viaduct. On October 29 and 30, 2012,

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

caused extensive damages including this street in specific of many that were flooded out during the storm.

Landmarks

Public National Bank Building 106 Avenue C

The Public National Bank Building at 106 Avenue C at the corner of East 7th Street (also known as 231 East 7th Street) was built in 1923 as a branch bank, and was designed by Eugene Schoen, a noted advocate of modernism at the time. The Public National Bank was a New York State-based bank, and Schoen designed a number of branches for them. This building was sold in 1954, and turned into a nursing home with the addition of a third story. It was converted to residential use in the 1980s. At the corner of Loisaida and 9th Street, there are two sizable (by Manhattan standards)

community gardens A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given ge ...

that are maintained by the surrounding community. Their hours vary with the season and ability of their volunteers, but they are open to everyone and there is no admission fee. The famous

punk house The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of music, ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual ...

C-Squat C-Squat is a former squat house located at 155 Avenue C (between 9th and 10th Streets) in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that has been home to musicians, artists, and activists, among others. After a fire, it w ...

sits at another corner of 9th Street. The

Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is a not-for profit museum founded by the Times Up! Environmental Organization in 2012. It is dedicated to archiving the history of community gardens, squatting, and grassroots environmental activis ...

, which opened in 2012, is located at C-Squat.

Transportation

The M9 is the primary server of Avenue C, running the entire route. Uptown service turns left onto East 20th Street. Additional service is provided by the M14D SBS between 14th and 10th Streets, and the eastbound M23 SBS from 23rd to 20th Streets, where it terminates.

References

Notes

External links

Selling The Lower East Side

a virtual walking tour
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
{{Avenues of Manhattan *C