Understanding NYC street signs...?

Hi. I was wondering, when you see a street sign like the one below, what does it mean? Does it mean that the street with two signs was renamed or that there are two streets running in the opposite directions of each other, but on the same street? And also, when you are getting a taxi ride to a building on a street with that type of sign what do you say? I hope you understand what I mean.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i276/o...

there are official signs, and honorary ones.

the only way to tell an official one vs. an honorary one is to figure out the sign placement. if the sign is placed above the street number, then it's an official sign, if it's placed below the street number, then it's honorary and should not be used in correspondence as the post office, and many people may not recognize it.

cathedral parkway is an official sign, and can be used interchangeably with W110th st.

.......also old honorary street signs were blue, but since 2000-something the signs all became green. so the only way to tell now is how they are placed on the light pole.



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examples:
tito puentes way? HONORARY (the sign is placed below the street number) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

cathedral parkway? OFFICIAL (the sign is placed above the street number) http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007...
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...

millenium way? an old blue honorary sign (notice it is placed below the street number) http://www.richard-seaman.com/USA/Cities...

big apple corner, and senor wences way? old blue honorary signs on w 54th st. http://www.barrypopik.com/images/bigappl...

joey ramone place? honorary (i think somebody made a mistake here, it should be below the street number...)
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbvi...

here's a list of 94 streets that were renamed in honor of people, they are honorary street names. there are a lot more.
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/me...

I live 30 minutes frrom ny, and i think the same thing. if you get in a taxi though they should beable to get you where you need to go whether you use the top or the bottom name.

Cathedral Parkway is a special case - it is a stretch of W110th St that has been renamed to honor the Cathedral of St John the Divine, at the corner of Amsterdam and 110th.

You would tell a taxi the address based on where you wanted to go. In this case, you would probably be fine just sticking with W110th St.

It means West 110th St between Frederick Douglass Blvd & Riverside Drive is also called
Cathedral Parkway because of Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.
110th St between 5th Av & Frederick Douglass Blvd is called Central Park North because it is north of Central Park.

There are many streets in NYC that has two name.

The reason for the double naming is because the street was originally named Cathedral Parkway, which is name after Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. However most New Yorkers just call it 110th Street.

Now, if you're taking a taxi in New York City, just tell the cab driver you would like to go to: "West 110th Street and Central Park West, please."

I hope this information is very helpful. Good luck.

It just means that the street was renamed Cathedral Parkway years after it was named 110th Street.

When you're taking a cab to a building on a street like this, I would HIGHLY suggest telling the cab driver the street NUMBER instead of the street name. I say this only because some cabbies might not know where Cathedral Parkway is, but they'll certainly know where 110th Street is even though it's the same street.

Without these honorary namings, the City Council would have nothing to do but get in the way of the city being run properly and lunch.

These days you're lucky if you get a cab driver who can even speak English, but they do this sort of thing all the time in NYC. For example, 6th Avenue has been named "Avenue of the Americas" for decades, but real New Yorkers always have and most likely always will call it 6th Avenue. A half-way decent cabbie should know most of these double-named streets.

It means West 110 street...That section of 110 street was renamed after The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine which is located at 112th Street and Amsterdam Ave. Just tell the driver the address of the location you need to get to....Pray he understands English!! Do some research on travel directions to you location IE cross streets...I have had it happen to me on more than one occasion that the cabbie had no clue as to the location so I had to give as much direction and detail as possible

There are some streets that have two names in NYC.

There are two reasons for this, and the reasons for this differ, but the result is the same.

There are commemorative streets, where the street has a real name - the name everyone knows it by and the name that you write on an envelope when you mail a letter, but the city has allowed some group or individual to re-name a small peice of the street (a corner or a city block) to commemerate some person or event. Recently there was a big debate about whether Jerry Orbach's widow could have a block renamed for him (Jerry Orbach was a long time actor on the Law and Order TV series, but had been a broadway actor for a long time before. When he died, his widow wanted to re-name a block for him, but ran into trouble with the local community board where she lived. Eventually, she had a block renamed in a nearby community board district which also held meaning for her.)

For these commemorative blocks, people use the original name - West 56th Street, or whatever.

Then there are streets that were re-named, but the name never took, or never took with some people. I think 6th Avenue is a great example: The city re-named it Avenue of the Americas back in 1945, but no New Yorker ever used that name! (New Yorkers can be stubborn about things like that!) Finally, in an effort to help tourists who were given direction to take "6th Avenue" by locals, but could only find street signs that said "Avenue of the Americs" and were confused, the City put up BOTH signs!

I am not sure, in the case of Cathedral Parkway, which name came first. I know the subway station has both signs in it as well. I looked it up and you know what? The just give each name as "alternate names" and no reference as to which came first.

Clearly the name "Cathedral Parkway" comes from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and I'm assuming that the numbered name came first.

Quick answer - use the number. It's easier than saying "Avenue of the Americas". If the signs are on top of each other like that, they're both the same street.