Always thought Houston was pronounced Houston. Now I know Houston is pronounced Houston and not Houston.

A New Yorker of 43 years, great job, simple and to the point.

Union Square: Am I a joke to you?

I refuse to live in NOHO, can't live without 'em 'hos.

New Yorker here! This is a really helpful and concise video for those who don’t know the city. The one thing I would point out is that you referred to everything south of midtown at one point as the financial district, which I think could be a bit misleading as it is only the bottom tip of the island. Otherwise great video

A helpful hint from a local: within the grid there are 20 streets to a mile. This means you can cover about a block per minute. An avenue block is the length of *three* street blocks, so it'll take you about three minutes per avenue. That means (for instance) a trip from the Flatiron Building at 23rd & 5th to Times Square at 42nd & 7th will take you: - 19 streets = 19 minutes - plus 2 avenues = 2x3 or 6 minutes So you'll be in Times Square in 25 minutes if you hike it. I used this all the time before map apps took all the adventure out of life. PS - why isn't it pronounced SowHow?

Manhattan's grid is amazing. About 30 years ago, my boyfriend and I were driving from Boston to a convention in NYC, held at a hotel near Madison Square Garden. We set off in the general direction of NY without a map, just following the signs. We figured that when we got closer to NYC, we'd stop and buy a map of the city. We ended up driving right into Manhattan from the highway, like, oh crap, there's nowhere to stop, we're in it now. We navigated right to the hotel using just the address. The street numbers were counting down to the street that our hotel was on, then we just found the cross street and we were there. I was astonished, as this is very much not possible to do in gridless Boston. We never did buy a map. We had our weekend at the convention and just drove out the same way we drove in. I loved it.

I couldn't believe how well designed NYC was when I visited before google map was a thing in the 2000s. It was impossible to get lost as long as you knew the street and the avenue of your destination

I'm not from Manhattan but I live in Brooklyn and everytime I look out my apartment window I see our beautiful Manhattan Skyline. Proud New Yorker here 😘

Just came across this...a KZfaq recommendation. A few points: for orientation and navigation purposes, it's good for visitors to know that streets are pretty close to each other but avenues are pretty far apart. So, it someone tells you to walk from 28th to 29th Streets on 5th Ave, that will take you at the most a minute, but walking from 28th and 5th to 28th and 6th is a longer trek. I agree with other posters about your over-simplification of the neighborhoods. I realize you were just trying to not clutter the map, but everything north of Central Park is NOT Harlem, and there are tons of very unique and distinct neighborhoods below Midtown. It's not all just the financial district! It also would have been helpful to explain why Broadway doesn't follow the grid pattern (it was an original trail used by the indigenous population prior to the arrival of the Europeans).

I have been to New York City numerous times and I can say I know my way around Manhattan. Yet, getting out of a subway station and walking in the opposite direction to where I'm going still happens to me. Don't get me wrong, getting lost in NYC can be a magical experience since you get to "find" gems along the way that otherwise you'll never get to know, but learning that even streets runs East would be a time-saver on my next visits. Thank you for a very informative video!

I lived in NYC my whole life and never connected the dots that even streets go east and odd streets go west. Wow.

the trick about orienting yourself out of the subway is much more useful when thinking about the avenues because of exactly what you said - the main streets that the subway stops stop at are two-way, like 23rd, 34th, 42nd, etc. Even avenues go north and odds go south - much more helpful when orienting yourself than 2-way streets!

It's funny that Broadway in this video is "the little exception I have to mention at the end" - when in reality it's literally the oldest of all the roads they talk about :D It follows the path of the old trail native americans carved into the manhattan brush, later made wider by the dutch (which is where it gets it's name from: when the british took over New Amsterdam, they saw the unusually wide path through the brush and called it: "the broad way")

And I thought I knew NYC. Wow, so informative.

The area you called Financial District should have been called downtown. Same with Harlem because Harlem is uptown, The Financial District and Harlem are specific neighborhoods. Dyckman isn't in Harlem

Super cool!!! As someone who has not been to and has only known NY through movies and videos and stories and literature, this is suuuuuuuper cool to see on an actual map! More of this please! :)

Informative video but for those watching this before visiting nyc for the first time, there are a few inaccuracies that are worth pointing out: 1:30 - No one in their right mind refers to the entire area from Union Square down as the Financial District (FiDi). FiDi is essentially the southern tip of the island. If you're trying to go to union square or Houston street, etc. and ask for directions to the Financial District, you will be sent very far out of your way. Along that same vein, I would also argue that Midtown does not go nearly as far south as Union Square, but that's not as egregious. You can actually see this in the photo at 2:00. The tall buildings in the foreground are FiDi, and the tall buildings in the background are Midtown. That entire huge area of more low-lying buildings in the middle are almost entirely residential neighborhoods that are completely glossed over in this video. 2:24 - "The further uptown you get the more residential it becomes" statement isn't accurate. Yes, the neighborhoods uptown are mainly residential, but so is the massive area between Fidi and Midtown. In fact, many downtown neighborhoods are some of the most densely populated in the city. 3:03 - 4th Avenue is called Park Avenue for literally its entire length except for a small stretch between Union Square (14th Street) and Astor Place (8th Street), not because it's just in a particularly fancy part of town. 3:10 - Both Madison and Lexington Avenues span far longer than just the Upper East Side (UES). Both avenues pass through the entirety of Midtown and Harlem, as well as some downtown. 3:50 - The area circled is not all Alphabet City. Alphabet is only the upper half or so of the circled area. Lower East Side is the lower half of the circled area and is a distinct neighborhood. 4:20 - SoHo and NoHo are small neighborhoods that, yes, are located below and above Houston Street, respectively. But absolutely neither one covers the entire area below or above Houston. For example, nobody from New York would call the Lower East Side SoHo or the West Village NoHo. 4:58 - Yes, the two-way streets are exceptions to this rule, but there are also a few special case exceptions even with specifically 1-way streets. For example, both 60th and 61st streets on the east side flow West. 6:25 - Forgetting the pretty significant Union Square here on the intersection of Broadway and Park.

I love to watch such videos and understand more about this beautiful world.

for a foreigner who loves NYC this was insightful and fun!

This was amazing! As a visual learner and someone who loves understand map I'm in love with y'all and these videos!!! Thank you!

Even flows to the East, never knew that before, helpful tip.

Thank you for your video. It's very helpful.

Excellent video man! Actually the best and only one i needed to watch to understand whats going on!

Would love to see these breakdowns for more cities around the world!

every video is crafted with care and attention to detail, well done! ️

Thank you. I have been to the city several times, but this helped clear things up.

Cheers mate, looking forward to using your tips on our next visit !

That was absoluty brilliant, man! Thank you so much!!

Very well explained, thanks for sharing! 👍🏻

Fantastic video I love it I learned a lot Thank you very much Have a wonderful day

Great video. Direct and concise. Heard all these terms my whole life and now I know what they mean.

This is one of those hidden gem channels on KZfaq, akin to SmarterEveryDay and Two Minute Papers

Amazing! Can’t wait to be there! ✨

I watched a video last year about the history of settlement and growth of New York and it showed the implementation of the grid system quite well, but this gave me an education on how it actually works! Thank you!

Nicely explained for a Los Angeleno to understand…central, upper East/west, mid city, 5th, NOHO, SOHo, Broadway etc. I’ll probably watch this video again.

Great video! Thank you!

I cant see how this would ever be useful to me but you do a bloody good job of explaining thank you👏

very interesting and insightful video esp the even and east thing

Your amazing!! Love the detail orientation in your work!

Super cool! I’ve lived in Brooklyn for years and definitely just learned some things today. ☺️

Outstanding breakdown…provided me a lot of new understanding of Manhattan. Very helpful.

EXCELLENT VIDEO! I have been to NYC atleast a dozen times and learned so much! I wish I had watched this sooner!!

Brilliant video, very informative and helpful.

Great video, clear and informative

This was sooooo helpful! I dream of living in nyc and watch lord of youtubers from the city and now I’ll feel way more oriented to the locations they discuss.

An excellent concise, entertaining and informative presentation. Love the format!

that was awesome, and so helpful for someone planning to visit and/or move to NY, NY! Thank you 😎

Oh man this was so interesting! Thank you!

I love this so much! Please do this for other cities, it pleases me so much seeing people equally interested in maps as me

Super helpful, thanks! I'm debating moving there and getting this kind of layout breakdown is really great

amazing video thanks for sharing

Wowww, I learned so much in 7 minutes! Thank you so much!

Thanks! Great explanation!

One of the best videos, it was really good, I thought he’s gonna miss something (as i live here) but it was almost perfect…

Great video, so excited to see more from you all!

this is really helpful, thank you

Since you mention Broadway and the various Squares, it's interesting to point out that Madison Square Garden is not, in fact, located on Madison Square. How it came to be built above Penn Station (at West 34th Street) is a whole other story.

Great job! Easy to understand!

I live in Essex county NJ which is very close to Manhattan and my family goes there to watch Broadway shows with our Grandma or just explore and this video will be so helpful 😊

Beautiful and wonderful thank you!

I watched this 2 years ago with zero intention to visit any time soon. Now I'm in NYC and my friends are in awe as to how I know this

This was excellent. Going there next week. Hope we don't get lost but this will surely help. Thank you

Thank you for the best and most illustrative video on the NYC street grid.

Amazing video thank you so so much!!!

Thank you for orienting me re: Rent, Hamilton, Gossip Girl, hundreds of songs, etc etc etc

thank you for this great video

Another great video, nice.

I am so glad I came across this!

This little bit will take you a long way! I finally know the "Soho"&"Noho" meaning! Thanks for your great introduction

Awesome! Thank you!

Great video. Thanks! I actually think I can navigate the city the next time I visit.

Excellent 👍. I am going to NY 2 weeks from now. This video will surely help me a lot.

Great explanation

I'm a New Yorker here, but I live in Queens, and well, I have just learned new things about the city. First of all, I didn't even know that there's a roundabout in the city! and now, the MTA central park is now going to haunt me for days

This is fantastic. You are one of the reasons I started a channel myself Johnny, and i look forward to be able to make videos as flawless as yours. The level of detail to make it as best as possible is inspiring, as always. Best of vibes for your new adventure with this channel.

I love watching these map videos. Can't wait to see more.

Been living in NY for 49 years and I learned a few things from your video. Great explanation.

Thank You! Helpful.

“Orient yourself by finding Central Park”. In Jersey City we “orient” ourselves throughout the area by if we can see the financial district

Useful. Thank you.

Tremendous job. AGAIN. Thank you. So interesting, fun, and well thought out.

Soooo helpful! Thank you for the easy breakdown!!!

Thank you for breaking that down to Barney level. Awesome video.

Woah. That was so helpful! Thank you so much, I’ll definitely have to rewatch before my next visit!

This is incredible!!! My map loving heart is so grateful!

Tbh I love how Manhattan's street layout was designed, main, long avenues with smaller roads cutting them into grid sections, with the FDR Drive outlining most of the island, everything well thought out and improved for centuries, amazing

That was wonderful ♥

Thank you for this video. This is actually exactly what I was looking for. Makes sense to me now and I’ve been there several times. I should have done this video before lol.

I’m from Australia and randomly stumbled upon your video and stayed and watched the whole thing! So informative even though I probably will never visit NYC 😅

I'm not even planning to go to NY but I thought this was amazing. Fantastic job guys. I'd be interested to see New Zealand travel guides! It's a wonderful place

Excellent!

Thanks it’s really helpful.

this video is brilliant 👏🏻

the best.. love it... i am very much excited to be in new york city

Best explanation! Most helpful for my tlc exam

I was always curious about this, great explanation!

Loved it.

Brilliant video

Thank you... This was soooooo helpful. I now have a general idea of how to get around Manhattan.