Any and every American city is built up out of Avenues and Streets, most of them numbered. A much nicer way to describe a city is by mapping its neighbourhoods. As in this map of Manhattan.
http://www.cominganarchy.com/archives/2006/06/29/the-neighborhoods/
Great map, if only they hadn’t squished the northern half of Manhattan to make it represent about 5% of the picture. Why does 145th-181st represent the same length as 34th to 42nd? It’s a great area up there.
Comment by Tim — October 19, 2006 @ 2:50 pm
I checked it on a satellite image, and you’re right: they did shrink the tail of Manhattan. The shape like that doesn’t appear unusual to me, though. Is it possible this is done often?
Comment by strangemaps — October 22, 2006 @ 5:27 pm
yep, that truncation of upper manhattan is common on maps. the nyc subway map looks the same way.
Comment by joshua — November 6, 2006 @ 11:29 pm
Excellent map, but as a new yorker for my entire life, who lives in the “Fort George” part of your map… I actually live in Washington heights, in a sub section of the area sometimes referred to as Hudson Heights. Washington Heights borders on inwood. Also, I’ve never never heard of Yorkville. That is just a continuation of the upper east side.
Comment by cameron — November 7, 2006 @ 4:40 am
Yorkville used to be a more distinct neighborhood, but most of its German inhabitants have moved or died. Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkville,_Manhattan.
I have more troulbe with the southern part of the map. Chinatown essentially surrounds Little Italy now on three sides. The “Bowery” is really either Chinatown or the Lower East Side. I don’t think anyone refers to the projects below the Lower East Side as “Two Bridges,” although it’s a nice thought. And I think Battery Park would be more accurate than White Hall or Southern Tip.
Comment by danieleagan — November 7, 2006 @ 9:36 pm
[...] The Manhattan Neighbourhoods map and general feel of the site made me think of Maira Kalman’s New Yorkistan cover, (which I was pointed at recently, but can’t remember by who). [...]
Pingback by Mark Beveridge » Strange Maps — November 7, 2006 @ 11:01 pm
I like this map very much.
Comment by Solomon2 — November 9, 2006 @ 3:55 am
Oh! I did a map very similar to this. Many neighborhoods had vague boundries, some names have fallen out of use, and I wound up using Wikipedia a great deal.
http://www.alexandercheek.com/images/manhattan.png
By the way, I’m a first time visitor and think this is a great blog. Keep up the excellent work.
Comment by Alexander Cheek — November 10, 2006 @ 6:24 am
I have just moved to Manhattan, and looking to buy a place to live, this is a great map to help me locate the neighbourhoods!
Comment by Dave — November 11, 2006 @ 6:16 pm
[...] 9.) Via Kottke, I’ve learned about a cool blog devoted to, well, Strange Maps. Some recently featured maps: Ten Regions of American Politics, Sri Lanka on Top, and Manhattan Neighborhoods. I’m adding Strange Maps to the blogroll. [...]
Pingback by Slinky Links « Rivers Are Damp — November 12, 2006 @ 5:03 am
I’m a geography student and am therefore very interested in your site. Looking forward to reading/seeing more. I like this map a lot; I may try to concoct one of my own for my city. Thanks…and keep up the good work.
Comment by guinness74 — November 13, 2006 @ 9:23 pm
[...] A variation on post #10 in this blog, done by Alexander Cheek and to be found on this page of his website. [...]
Pingback by 39 - Manhattan Neighbourhoods (2.0) « strange maps — November 23, 2006 @ 3:22 am
very, very few people living in the section you refer to as “Fort George” consider it as such. Either the real estate people call the south or Fort Tryon part Hudson Heights (along with the people who bought from those real estate people) or the normal human beings call is Washington Heights
Comment by Lee — February 12, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
This map sucks. I was born and raised in the ‘tail’ of Manhattan and I spent 22 years there b4 joining the military and I’ll tell you that I’ve never heard of any ‘Fort George’ or and ‘Hamilton Heights’ for that matter. Also, when I was growing up maps showed Washington Heights’ southern border as 155th Street. Since when are Real Estate professionals allowed to rearrange and rename entire geographical areas.
Comment by Juliet Victor — February 20, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
Amazing, how were you able to copile so many maps and information? The Smithsonian probably has a grab of the same and more. Thanks for the effort.
Comment by rydlp15 — March 28, 2007 @ 11:50 am
This map, like most maps, forgets the northern most neighborhood of Manhattan: Marble Hill. It is in what is now the Bronx; it was once a part of the island proper but a civil engineering project diverted the Harlem River south, cutting it’s ties to the island. You can see it on the official subway map, marked out with a dotted line from the Bronx (check the 1 line). You can also see the old path of the River on Google Earth.
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Pingback by 196 - UFO Hotspots Map by stickycabin — November 6, 2007 @ 7:25 pm
Maps like these would be more helpful in a sense. The lines between different neighborhoods or general areas are clearly defined and so when describing general areas to others, maps like these can be used.
Comment by trademark registration — December 21, 2007 @ 4:00 am
Just wanted to state, get rid of FT. George area and call it Washington Heights.
South border of the Heights is 155th street.
Also, don’t call “midtown west” – “clinton”……it was and will always be Hell’s Kitchen.
Finally, Yorkville & Lenox Hill can just be absorbed by Upper East Side.
Comment by NYNATIVE — January 14, 2008 @ 1:03 pm
Interestly, NYNative (#20) takes the position of many who are unfamiliar with NYC history (from the Manhatta to the 1970s) wants to make changes in two directions at once.
While he wants to get rid of the historically significant Fort George (the neighborhood isn’t abbreviated), he wants to maintain Hell’s Kitchen, which is also historically significant. Why let Yorkville and Lenox Hill get “absorbed” by the UES but keep Hell’s Kitchen separate from Midtown West?
Of course, there are arguments for all of these points. But what I’ve noticed is that “nice” neighborhoods — i.e. where pale people with decent incomes buy apartments (I’m one of them) — tend to get unique identities.
But “bad” neighborhoods, where poor people of color rent (and which, honestly, bear a striking resemblance to most of Manhattan in the 1970s), aren’t allowed to keep their identities. I figure it’s because they’re dismissed by the middle class as places unsafe to visit. Therefore, if the masses don’t visit them, how could they know that a little neighborhood is any different from the one next to it?
Ask an old-time Yorkviller about her neighborhood and how it’s different from those 10 blocks away. Or read “Here Is New York” by E. B. White.
(Wash Heights is huge, btw, bigger than LES, Alphabet City, Chinatown, Little Italy, NoLiTa combined. So why can’t Wash Heights have different neighborhoods? Fort George, Sherman Creek and Hudson Heights are real places, and they’re all different from one another.)
Sorry for going on so long — but why not let people decide for themselves what they want to call their homes?
Comment by steve — January 16, 2008 @ 10:32 pm
[...] indeed…an amazing collection of maps of all kinds. From Manhattan Neighborhoods to Real Maps Reassembled Into Non-Existent Places, this is a site worth [...]
Pingback by SouloftheWeb.com » Blog Archive » Strange Maps — January 26, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
[...] I also like this map of Manhattan neighborhoods. Filed under: Place, Politics — dB @ 3:17 [...]
Pingback by Burnin’ » I Love Maps — February 9, 2008 @ 12:23 am
Check out this map of Manhattan. You can buy virtual rooftops on top of Satellite images and place ads on them. Pretty cool.
Comment by Shay Sharon — March 3, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Check out this map of Manhattan. You can buy virtual rooftops on top of Satellite images and place ads on them. Pretty cool.
Comment by Shay Sharon — March 3, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
If I told people that I live in Fort George, nobody would know where that is at all. But I like it because my building is near Dyckman, at a very low elevation, so it makes no sense to say that I’m in Washington Heights.
Comment by John Mark van Rozendaal — May 22, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
Who could possibly care about that monstrosity known as NYC unless one was so unfortunate to be stuck in the midst of the deplorable dump?
Comment by obbop — August 24, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
#27 either has nothing better to do than read/post negative comments on subjects they don’t care about or secretly is jealous of all of us who are supposedly “unfortunate” to be “stuck in the midst of the deplorable dump”. Apparently enough people care that an average of 40 million visit the city each year and another 8 million live here. I, in fact, found this map while doing a search for a group of 20 friends in the UK, France & Spain who are coming to visit and wanted some info on the various neighborhoods.
Comment by Lily — September 17, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
thanks
Comment by hero — October 15, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
Clinton and Hell’s Kitchen are the same neighborhood… theyt shouldn’t be split into two
Comment by aspicco — November 17, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
:)
Comment by Yesim — January 6, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
Sorry. There is NO neighborhood called Clinton. That is someone’s fantasy. Clinton is also Hell’s Kitchen. I know. I have lived here for 30 years.
Comment by Tony Picco — January 7, 2009 @ 1:33 am
А не затруднит ли маленько поподробнее?
Comment by UnwillaStooto — March 31, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
thanks alot
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 2:16 am
thanks for this map
thank
alot
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 7:01 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 4:43 am
شكرا جزيلا
Comment by yory — June 12, 2009 @ 8:03 pm
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 3:46 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 6:22 am