New York City’s Most Inconspicuous and Amusingly Named Avenue

Tucked away in midtown Manhattan is a very special thoroughfare.

I was recently walking down West 53rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Manhattan. I’m rarely in that part of town, so I forgot that I was about to encounter one of my favorite inconspicuous New York details. Can you spot it in the photo shown above?

You might be thinking that I’m referring to the pedestrian walkway — essentially a fancy alley — that’s running between those two big buildings in the middle of the block. That’s not a bad guess, because alleys are pretty rare in New York.

But the kicker, and the point of this article, is the street sign marking the walkway. It’s hard to see in the header photo, so let’s zoom in a bit for a closer look:

That’s right: The pedestrian passage is officially known as 6½ Avenue! If you walk south through the corridor, as those two fellows are doing in the header photo, you’ll find a similar sign waiting for you at the other end: