Strange Maps

February 7, 2007

72 - The World As Seen From New York’s 9th Avenue

Filed under: Uncategorized — strangemaps @

newyorker2.JPG  Many New Yorkers feel their city is more than just the (self-proclaimed) capital of the world. They think it actually is most of the world, the rest of the planet merely being the unavoidable orchard in which their Big Apple grows.

Several cartoons illustrate this metropolitan hubris, and they do it so well – and with self-irony rather than sarcasm – that they can’t but have been made by New Yorkers. A nice one is Daniel K. Wallingford’s US map skewed to give NYC prominence over the rest of the country, which is mislabeled as a sign of New York arrogance and ignorance. That map dates from the nineteen thirties. I’m still looking for an image with sufficient resolution for me to post it here.

Another one is already on this blog (see post #37): a cover of the New Yorker magazine in the aftermath of 9/11 depicting the city as  ‘Newyorkistan’: its neighbourhoods renamed after far-off places and lesser-known tribes. Which is another way to ‘think the world’ of New York.

The map in this post is another, earlier cover of the New Yorker. In 1976, artist Saul Steinberg drew up this depiction of the world as seen from New York’s 9th Avenue. Not being a New Yorker myself, I don’t know why this Avenue was chosen as the Centre of the World. Some observations:

  • The map looks west, over 10th Avenue and the Hudson into the rest of the US.
  • The US is presented as a rectangle, bounded by Mexico to the left, Canada to the right and the Pacific Ocean on the far side.
  • Right across the Hudson lies Jersey – in nondescript terrain but owing to its proximity to NYC still in bigger type than the rest.
  • Washington DC is already much smaller (and almost in Mexico).
  • Some rocks and a single bush (funnily enough near Las Vegas, where there’s not much vegetation) form the only distinguishing features.
  • The only places that are mentioned in further away than DC and Jersey are Texas and Utah (as states) and Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles (as cities).
  • The US ends at the Pacific, across which are visible Japan (as a single island), which divides the land mass further away into China (to the left of Japan) and Russia (to her right).

Was this cover construed only to convey the fact that New York is rather self-centered? Or does the orientation also have some significance? Because it does seem strange that NYC, on the East Coast, has its back turned to Europe, which is completely absent in this map…

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

35 Comments »

  1. I don’t know the reason for the map other than it puts NYC in perspective with the rest of the country.

    However this shows an attitude that New Jersey was the strip of dirt between us and the rest of the counrty. This attitude was prevelent in the 80’s when I was growing up in Brooklyn. Which is makes some sense when you look at the coast of New Jersey facing NYC back then, heavily indutrialized. Which isn’t true when you go inland and see it’s beautiful countryside.

    Ah well stereotyping and such.

    Comment by David Schwartz — February 7, 2007 @

  2. I suspect its orientation is just about looking across the US, with Asia added as an afterthought. Its not oriented eastward only because NYC is on the east coast.

    I also suspect 9th avenue was chosen for aesthetic reasons. 8th avenue (and east) would perhaps make NYC too busy and small, and 10th avenue would make NYC too sparse.

    Comment by Rendall — February 7, 2007 @

  3. Reminds me of My Society’s travel-time maps:

    http://www.mysociety.org/2006/travel-time-maps/

    Comment by linksandanchors — February 7, 2007 @

  4. Also notice that features such as the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes have absolutely no place in the NYer’s consciousness. They may as well not even exist.

    Very embarassing story to relate. I grew up in Manhattan. I’m sure I was outside the city as a kid but it must not have made much of an impression on me. I was embarassingly old - into my teens - before it occurred to me that the natural state of the world was dirt and grass and trees with concrete (sometimes) laid over it, rather than, as I thought, that in order to get dirt and grass and tress that you first had to jackhammer up the concrete. That’s really how I thought was the natural way of things and maybe one reason why food was expensive - because they had to jackhammer up all that concrete in order to make a farm.

    Comment by Andy — February 8, 2007 @

  5. I have seen an equivalent “View from Philadelphia” hanging in a local Philly Sandwich shop. I will try to get a picture or more info.

    Comment by Stuart — February 8, 2007 @

  6. I’ve seen a “view from NY” map looking eastward, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were north and south versions of said map.

    Comment by Don H. — February 8, 2007 @

  7. Just wanted say as a HUGE map fan, you have really tickled my fancy with this blog. I’ll be back!

    Comment by geeksinger — February 8, 2007 @

  8. I recall somewhat indistinctly that in the 1980s there was a rash of local variants on this poster for other cities. So you’d get someone who could kinda draw like Steinberg and do the view from Wichita or Miami. The cleverer ones kept the same mountainy things dotting the landscape.

    Comment by Cambias — February 8, 2007 @

  9. [...] 3. A perfectly ego-centric, 1976 “map” of New York was posted yesterday on Strange Maps.  [...]

    Pingback by A Midgett Blog » New York, New York — February 9, 2007 @

  10. A few more “inferences” can be drawn from the perspective of this map. First, the viewer must be below 59th street, because north of that point, 9th Ave. & 10th Ave. are called Columbus Ave. and Amsterdam Ave., respectively.

    Notably, there is only one avenue shown past 10th. That means that the vantage point must be further south still, below 23rd street. (That’s the point where 11th Ave. merges with the West Side Highway/12th Ave.)

    It also has to be north of 14th street, because that’s where 10th Ave. merges into what has become of 11th Ave.

    I put “inferences” in quotes above because all of this is a bit silly. For one, there is no elevated highway south of 23rd street (as shown in this cartoon). For another, below 23rd, Manhattan narrows quite noticeably. If you truly were looking out at the Hudson from a perch on, say, 9th Ave. and 20th st., the left hand edge of Manhattan (in your field of view) would be a good bit closer to you than than the right-hand bit.

    My guess is that it’s an approximation of the view you might be able to glimpse out of the New Yorker’s offices, which are in Times Square.

    Comment by DavidNYC — February 11, 2007 @

  11. East of Manhattan lies Queens. Which is not nearly as funny as Jersey. True, there are also the Hamptons, but their presence implies that, eastward, things don’t go straight downhill as they do looking west. There is also a profound difference between the Hudson River, which separates Manhattan from the rest of the United States, and the East River, which (as noted) separates Manhattan from the Outer Boroughs.

    Comment by Jeffrey Jones — February 12, 2007 @

  12. OK, I live in New York. Let me clarify some things.

    The city ends at 9th avenue, much as “Africa begins at the Pyrenees”, as Napoleon is quoted as saying.

    As a general principle, and with a reluctant exception to Chicago, New Yorkers refer to the rest of the United States as “the fly-over area” (as in, flying to LA or SF); there is otherwise nothing there of interest thus there is nothing to draw.

    (Of course, I’m merely explaining the humor behind the cartoon; I don’t subscribe to that opinion).

    THAT is the reason why the POV faces west; the joke doesn’t apply to NY’ers opinion of Europe (which is of course FABULOUS and you ABSOLUTELY have to go to Prague this year…. etc)

    Now, can I have some more Frito pie? :-)

    Comment by Juan Molinari — February 14, 2007 @

  13. I believe Steinberg was also poking fun at the grid-system layout of the streets in Manhattan, and the map is an example of a New Yorker’s rigid view of city planning applied to the cross-country landscape.

    I saw this original drawing at the Steinberg retrospective in the J.P. Morgan Library in NYC, and it is one of his best — There is so much potential for art in maps, and it is good to see a site devoted to mappy weirdness.

    Comment by Teddy Blanks — February 14, 2007 @

  14. That map is so true.

    Comment by dailymuse — February 15, 2007 @

  15. This has got to be one of the most-parodied drawings of all time, at least in recent years. Various posters have been made showing other cities in a similar view, and Steinberg successfully sued Columbia Pictures after a parody of the drawing was used on the movie poster for “Moscow on the Hudson.”

    I love this drawing- I have a copy of it up on my wall. I don’t know what the original meaning is, but to me the drawing represents that New York has so much to offer that you can often forget there’s more out there.

    Comment by Ryan W. Mead — February 17, 2007 @

  16. Actually, regarding that lawsuit- in the decision, it was said that the drawing represents “a New Yorker’s myopic view of the centrality of his city to the world.” I’ll buy that.

    Comment by Ryan W. Mead — February 17, 2007 @

  17. Reuben Bolling (the cartoonist responsible for “Tom the Dancing Bug”) parodied this famous cover shortly after 9-11.

    Comment by Avram — February 20, 2007 @

  18. “The only places that are mentioned in further away than DC and Jersey are Texas and Utah (as states) and Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles (as cities).”

    Well, not quite, and I hope you will correct this on the site. There is also Nebraska listed as a state and Kansas City in the cities category. We Kansas Cityans seem to take some perverse pride in the prominent location of our fair home in the center of the map, despite the clearly dismissive view of “the rest of the country”. I’ve seen oversized prints of this cover in a few bars and delis here in “The City of Fountains”, and I think Kansas City’s placement on the map is a big part of its popularity within the city.

    Comment by Josh Black — February 21, 2007 @

  19. @ Josh Black:

    Sorry for that omission of your undoubtedly fair city… All relevant comments such as yours will in time be used to correct the main text of each post.

    Comment by strangemaps — February 21, 2007 @

  20. We have the Wallingford New York map and a couple of details on our web site at: http://www.georgeglazer.com/archives/maps/archive-nyc/nyersideasm.html

    We also have a map of Texas with the same concept called “Texas Brags.” It was drawn by an artist named Mark Storm in 1948:

    http://www.georgeglazer.com/archives/maps/archive-pictorial/texasbrags.html

    Comment by Helen Glazer — March 5, 2007 @

  21. To all the people who think this is just a parody…
    Well, just take a look at this «map»:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/

    Comment by Jorge Rosa — March 16, 2007 @

  22. Regarding the presence of the West Side Elevated Highway in the picture, keep in mind that this was published in 1976, when you will of course remember that there was indeed a rusting, closed, elevated West Side Highway looming up there.

    Regarding the choice of 9th Ave. as vantage point — really, what’s beyond 9th Ave.? Nuttin’! There ya go!

    (Yeah, ok, maybe you gotta go past 9th sometimes, but jeez, not for long I hope.)

    Comment by Pete — April 18, 2007 @

  23. Does anyone know where to find the New Yorker (I think) map of the US with mostly Berkeley in the west & Cambridge in the east, SF and NY labelled as their suburbs, and not much in between? Probably published in the 60s.

    Comment by Karen Smith — April 24, 2007 @

  24. [...] [A slice of Saul Steinberg’s endlessly riffed upon 1976 New Yorker cover, in which he depcits the westerly view through the prism of a stereotypically myopic New Yorker. Or, depending on your vantage point, through a good clear set of binocs. Nice little bit on it here on strange maps.] [...]

    Pingback by Map-maker, map-maker, make me a map at LesbianDad — April 25, 2007 @

  25. Thank You

    Comment by Alex — April 25, 2007 @

  26. [...] familiar map humorously highlights our propensity to see our immediate environment in detail and to compress [...]

    Pingback by Marc’s Musings » Blog Archive » Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution: Letters to an Atheist — May 6, 2007 @

  27. The map referred to in Karen Smith’s post #23 on April 24th, 2007, is most likely my “Humbead’s Map of the World with List of Population”, which can be found at
    http://www.humbead.com/hmbmap.html

    It preceded Steinberg’s New Yorker cover by eight years, and had no relation to the New Yorker magazine at all.

    Comment by T.G.Humbead — June 12, 2007 @

  28. Thanks for your response. I remember your map of the world, too (it’s good), but that’s not the one I’m looking for. The one I asked about is a cartoon map of just the U.S., with Cambridge and Berkeley on their respective coasts, and NY and SF (and possibly LA) appearing as their suburbs. I actually don’t think it was a New Yorker (or Steinberg) cartoon. I think I saw it in Cambridge, and it may have originated there in the late 60s or early 70s (after the FSM at Berkeley, followed by similar sit-ins at Harvard.

    Comment by Karen — June 27, 2007 @

  29. Does anyone know the artists of the maps similar to this of the other cities? Specifically, I’m looking for the Brooklyn one…I saw it at a street fair and was hoping to get a better print of it online but can’t seem to find it?

    Comment by Jason — October 9, 2007 @

  30. Looking for a ‘take-off’ on the map, of the city of Milan. Don’t know the artist. I.e. Steinberg ‘does’ Milan. Help?!

    Comment by Lisa — January 2, 2008 @

  31. Would love to find a poster of this wonderful cover. Anybody know where? Thanks

    Comment by Oliver — January 19, 2008 @

  32. I have one on eBay right now. And yes I do believe this is an accurate scale representation of the country. There are many innacurate maps that have been circulated. And I believe that Texas is another country… it has yet to be fully explored..
    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=360024900030&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

    Comment by Cliff — February 20, 2008 @

  33. I agree with the commenter who said this was from the vantage point of the New Yorker’s offices. In 1976 they would have been in their building on 43rd between 7th & 8th Aves, so this would be about the view from their highest floors.

    Comment by Kay — February 21, 2008 @

  34. [...] makes sense. It’s a not-too-far-fetched cliche that New Yorkers seldom see or go very far beyond New York, and there’s obvious disadvantages to that mental and physical isolation. Ironically, the [...]

    Pingback by Design Shrine | Book Review: Ellington Boulevard — March 15, 2008 @

  35. [...] view from Ninth Avenue has not [...]

    Pingback by NY Times: Seattle has no churches left | Seattle Metblogs — April 13, 2008 @

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