Understanding NYC addresses

As mentioned above, SI has 1st-10th Streets in a very small area of New Dorp. Only runs for a few blocks. Almost every other street name on island is a name.
 
A European friend of mine couldn't understand why address numbers in the U.S. are so high, often 3-5 digits. I had to explain the grid system to them. They said that each street there starts with 1.
 
LaurenSkye said:
A European friend of mine couldn't understand why address numbers in the U.S. are so high, often 3-5 digits. I had to explain the grid system to them. They said that each street there starts with 1.
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In some other states like the southwest and Florida the addresses go as high as 5-digit #s. No dash in middle either.
 
gym said:
To add to the confusion:
Manhattan street addresses follow an algorithm that allows anyone with rudimentary math skills and the following charts to find the nearest cross street for a house number on an avenue.
Take the number of the street address, drop the last digit, divide by two (essentially dividing the address by 20 but accounting for odd numbers), and add or subtract the number in the chart. For example, 945 Madison Avenue (Whitney Museum of American Art, by the way) would yield the following equation:

945 / 2 = 47 + 27 (from the chart below) = 74th Street.
*The entrance is actually closer to 75th Street, but the museum takes up the whole block so it is just as close to 74th Street.

Avenues A, B, C, D: add 3
1st Avenue: add 3
2nd Avenue: add 3
3rd Avenue: add 10
4th Avenue: add 8
5th Avenue

63 - 108: add 11
109 - 200: add 13
201 - 400: add 16
401 - 600: add 18
601 - 775: add 20
776 - 1286: divide by 10 (instead of 20), subtract 18
1287-1500: add 45
1501 - 2000: add 24
Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue): subtract 12
7th Avenue
1 - 1800: add 12
1801 and up: add 20
8th Avenue: add 9
9th Avenue: add 13
10th Avenue: add 14
11th Avenue: add 15
Amsterdam Avenue: add 59
Audubon Avenue: add 165
Broadway
1-754: unnumbered streets, south of 8th Street
756 - 846: subtract 29
847 - 953: subtract 25
above 953: subtract 31
Central Park West: divide by 10 (not 20), add 60
Columbus Avenue: add 60
Lenox Avenue: add 110
Lexington Avenue: add 22
Madison Avenue: add 27
Manhattan Avenue: add 100
Park Avenue: add 35
Park Avenue South: add 8
Pleasant Avenue: add 101
St. Nicholas Avenue: add 110
Riverside Drive
1 - 567: divide by 10 (not 20), add 72
above 567: divide by 10 (not 20), add 78
Wadsworth Avenue add 173
West End Avenue: add 60
York Avenue: add 4
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Stop - Stop. Please stop I’m getting a headache 🤕
 
johnd248 said:
Brooklyyn is pretty easy as long as you remember there is a 7th Street, North 7th Street, East 7th Street, South 7th Street, West 7th Street, Bay 7th Street, Brighton 7th Street, Flatlands 7th street, Kinsborough 7th Walk, and Paerdegat 7th Street.
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'Brooklyn is pretty easy...'

Also: Streets That Run North/South [Named E./W. - E.1st, 2nd, etc...]
Generally Correspond w/ Letter of Alphabet: 100= Ave.A,/Albemarle Rd. 200=Ave.B/ Beverly Rd. 300 = Ave,C/ Church Ave...
800= Ave.H, 900 Ave.I... ... 2400= Ave,Z Excluding Named Avenues - Flatbush, Bedford, Rogers. Nostrand, etc..
 
Many thanx for all who contributed to answering this thread, there were many informative answers as well as a class in math. And thanx to Gym for his very informative answer. I think I had better luck in SEA trying to read a map while flying in a spotter aircraft and trying to get a set of co-ordinates for an air strike than deciphering some of these answers! Again thanks!
 
FDNYSTATENISLAND said:
In some other states like the southwest and Florida the addresses go as high as 5-digit #s. No dash in middle either.
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My little town of 1400 has a normal numbering system for the small number of streets we have. But outside of town we have the county system for example 1700N2246E. Reminds me of map reading in Vietnam!
 
A different kind of address:

In the mid 1970's my friend Billy Ray O., a San Antonio FD paramedic, talked me into riding with him at Station 22, about seven miles south of downtown. It was actually a crash station for Stinson Field adjacent to now closed Brooks Air Force Base. South of there was not much but underbrush, rattlesnakes, cattle ranches (oh, also oil wells) until you got to Corpus Christi. Plus, it was winter and real foggy.
Around midnight we got the only call of the evening for an injured party. The Alarm Office gave us an address consisting of a numbered county road (gravel, 1 1/2 lanes) and a power pole number.
Getting underway, we realized we had no idea what a power pole number meant in terms of an address. Along the way we stopped, and in the fog with a flashlight, Billy got the numbers off two adjoining poles to give us an idea if the numbers were going up or down.
Luckily, we had no difficulty finding our boy lying in a ditch with a broken tibia. The closest house had to have been at least a mile away. Like a POW, he would give us only his name and told us he had no other injuries. As the saying goes "If you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you know it didn't get there by accident".
 
Back in Binghamton, my EMS Ambulance Squad covered many miles of Rural Broome County, NY.
Late one, slow, 3rd Shift, where I managed to some Serious Snoozing Time, about 3 A or so, we get a Run
for a Cardiac Case, (50+ Yr. Old Male-Chest Pain, Diff. Breathing etc...), on a sparse section of a rural road
NY State Rte. 11 - somewhere between Kirkwood, NY & the PA Border...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/U...8c70ede0a3a5f9!8m2!3d42.0989753!4d-75.9175475
Naturally, It's Pitch Black Dark, my Driver & I still a bit sleepy, and. as described in the previous Story,
we're out there w/a spotlight on the Rig, trying to catch an Address off some widely-spaced, small, hard to spot,
country houses, in Search of a Guy who is probably on the verge of Cardiac Arrest.

I call-in on the Radio for Help in locating the Address for our Cardiac Pt., and the Dispatcher says (I Swear).
'It's by the site where the Old Bowling Alley used to be...' [!]
This Dispatcher is talking about where a Bowling Alley, (that neither My Partner or I had ever been to),
that Burned to the Ground 5 Yr.s Previous, and he's thinkin' that somehow we are going to locate some Vacant Lot
in the Middle of the Night on a Dark Country Road.

Despite all the Difficulty and Low-Quality Help, we managed to locate the Address & get Our Man.
It was 'One of Those Nights', where a Greater than Human Power was at Work....
Despite all the Difficulty & Delay, we were able to find our Patient, get him stabilized and Transport
him back to Binghamton General ER, without Arrest.
 
The City of Houston covers 665 square miles and reportedly has more street names than any other city in the US. In Houston there are 547 streets that begin with the letter A and 68 that begin with the word Oak. There are less than 100 numbered streets.
There are still some old-timers on the job that did territory tests back in the day. Each station had a still alarm district map that was subdivided into 5-10 smaller maps. Every work day the captain gave everybody a blank piece of paper. They would then draw out a specified smaller map. This would include all streets, block numbers, hydrants, target hazards, and the location of standpipes and sprinkler headers. Then, each February Captain Kent came out from downtown and gave each fireman a map with only major thoroughfares on it. They would then fill out the entire station district.
The territory tests are long gone. Now, the youngsters race to boot up the route instructions on their cell phones off the MDT. Best of all, everyone gets a participation medal.
 
Another NYC street name factor - renamed streets for individuals which have replaced long time street numbers and names. This can be confusing if you are following numbered streets. Also, honorary street names and plazas exist - many honoring FDNY heroes.
 
A few more NYC direction challenges:

Most cities simply use numbered interstate and highway signs. NYC like names. I have always had to give a warning about highway signage - like what "BQE" means.

NYC has parkways (whch restrict trucks and commercial vehicles) and highways.

NYC has countless one-way streets.

NYC renames parks and squares and bridges which can confuse traditional directions.

NYC has countless bus lanes.

NYC has or had "Fire Lanes" which became ignored by most drivers when apparatus responds.

NYC has expensive toll bridges and tunnels and free bridges.
 
mack said:
A few more NYC direction challenges:

Most cities simply use numbered interstate and highway signs. NYC like names. I have always had to give a warning about highway signage - like what "BQE" means.

NYC has parkways (whch restrict trucks and commercial vehicles) and highways.

NYC has countless one-way streets.

NYC renames parks and squares and bridges which can confuse traditional directions.

NYC has countless bus lanes.

NYC has or had "Fire Lanes" which became ignored by most drivers when apparatus responds.

NYC has expensive toll bridges and tunnels and free bridges.
Click to expand...
Don’t forget the potholes and decade-long construction projects
 
SI used to have the same address "Drumgoole Blvd and Arthur Kill Road " which were miles apart for busy brush boxes. Relocating companies from other boros would frequently go to Annadale intstead of Tottenville if they were not warned by dispatchers during busy brush fire days.
 
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