Lexington Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along its 5.5 mile (8.9 km), 110-block route, Lexington Avenue runs through Harlem, Carnegie Hill, the Upper East Side, Midtown, and Murray Hill to a point of origin that is centered on Gramercy Park. South of Gramercy Park, the axis continues as Irving Place to East 14th Street.

Parallel to Lexington Avenue lie Park Avenue to its west and Third Avenue to its east. New Yorkers often abbreviate Lexington Avenue as "Lex." The avenue is largely commercial at ground level, with offices above. There are clusters of hotels on Lexington Avenue in the "30s" and "40s" (from Lexington's intersection with 30th Street through to its intersection with 49th Street, roughly) and apartment buildings further north.

Lexington Avenue is named for the 1775 Battle of Lexington, the first battle of the American Revolutionary War.

Public Transportation

Above Ground

General cab service is availble for hailing. The following buses use Lexington Avenue:

• M101: To East 6th Street via Limited
• M102: To East 6th Street
• M103: To City Hall

Underground

The IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway runs under Lexington Avenue north of 42nd Street (at Grand Central Terminal); south of Grand Central this subway line runs under Park Avenue until 14th Street.

External link

• A short history of Lexington Avenue