Misplaced Pages

#195804

67-638: Great Jones Street is a street in New York City 's NoHo district in Manhattan , essentially another name for 3rd Street between Broadway and the Bowery . The street was named for Samuel Jones , a lawyer who became known as "The Father of The New York Bar " due to his work on revising New York State's statutes in 1789 along with Richard Varick , who had a street in SoHo named after him. Jones

134-399: A New York Times writer lets casually slip the observation that automobile-laden Houston Street , in lower Manhattan , is "a street that can hardly be called 'street' anymore, transformed years ago into an eight-lane raceway that alternately resembles a Nascar event and a parking lot." Published in the paper's Metro section, the article evidently presumes an audience with an innate grasp of

201-432: A housing development feeding directly into individual driveways . In the last half of the 20th century planners of suburban streets often abandoned the tradition of a rigid, rectangular grid , and instead designed systems to discourage through-traffic. This and other traffic calming methods provided quiet for families and play space for children within a streetscape . Adolescent suburbanites find, in attenuated form,

268-612: A paved road ( Latin : via strata ). The word street is still sometimes used informally as a synonym for road , for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street , but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets , alleys , and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets. The word street has its origins in

335-594: A village , town or small city in many parts of the world. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in the central business district , and is most often used in reference to retailing, socializing, and the place to go to find "common" concerns. The term is commonly used in Ireland, Scotland, the United States, and Canada, and less often in Australia and New Zealand. In the non-Scottish regions of

402-768: A charter member of the Greenwood Garden Club. In 1950, Gwin received a citation from the National Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution in recognition of her work in the conservation of trees. Streets also tend to aggregate establishments of similar nature and character. East 9th Street in Manhattan , for example, offers a cluster of Japanese restaurants, clothing stores, and cultural venues. In Washington, D.C., 17th Street and P Street are well known as epicenters of

469-545: A city. For example, Yonge Street divides Toronto into east and west sides, and East Capitol Street divides Washington, D.C. into north and south. Some streets are associated with the beautification of a town or city. Greenwood, Mississippi 's Grand Boulevard was once named one of America's ten most beautiful streets by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce and the Garden Clubs of America. The 1,000 oak trees lining Grand Boulevard were planted in 1916 by Sally Humphreys Gwin,

536-560: A combination of tram lanes or separate alignments are used, sometimes on a segregated right of way . Signalling and effective braking reduce the risk of a tram accident . Often, a curb ( British English : Kerb ) is used to separate the vehicle traffic lanes from the adjacent pavement area and where people on bicycles are considered properly are used to separate cycling from traffic as well. Street signs , parking meters , bicycle stands , benches , traffic signals , and street lights are often found adjacent to streets. They may be behind

603-614: A community appear more attractive for tourism or to stem a flow of commerce out of the city into suburbs with shopping malls and cookie-cutter big box stores . In the United States federal funds are allocated specifically for restoration of historic properties on the former U.S. Route 66 , the main street of many roadside towns; this funding is administered by the US National Park Service . Main Street

670-487: A dialectical meaning of "straggling village", which were often laid out on the verges of Roman roads and these settlements often became named Stretton . In the Middle Ages , a road was a way people travelled, with street applied specifically to paved ways. The street is a public easement , one of the few shared between all sorts of people. As a component of the built environment as ancient as human habitation,

737-412: A feature of main streets, and for example are beneficial in terms of tourism and 'Tidy Towns' efforts. TV celebrity gardener and presenter Diarmuid Gavin hosted two series of programmes called 'Dirty Old Towns' from 2011-13 on the national broadcaster RTE1 that often highlighted the poor physical state of main streets in some well known towns in Ireland and showcased improvements to buildings or gardens in

SECTION 10

#1732786655196

804-469: A few hours or a day, in order to make it possible for the inhabitants to use their street for recreational activities. Cities implementing this initiative include Kolkata Madurai , Visakhapatnam and Bangalore . In the United States, "open street" events have been arranged in Detroit and New York City . Main street Main Street is a metonym used to denote a primary retail street of

871-520: A main street, these lanes may be separated by intermittent lane lines , marked on the street pavement. Side streets often do not have centre lines or lane lines. Many streets, especially side streets in residential areas, have an extra lane's width on one or both sides for parallel parking . Most minor side streets allowing free parallel parking do not have pavement markings designating the parking lane. Main streets more often have parking lanes marked. Some streets are too busy or narrow for parking on

938-864: A more urbane, 'ideal-typical' Progressive. In North American media of later decades, "Main Street" represents the interests of everyday people and small business owners, in contrast with " Wall Street " (in the United States) or " Bay Street " (in Canada), symbolizing the interests of large national corporations. Thus, in the 1949 movie adaptation of On The Town , the song "When You Walk Down Main Street With Me" refers to small-town values and social life. Main Street Republicans , for example, see themselves as supporting those values as against urbane or "Wall Street" tendencies. "Main Street"

1005-598: A social function, allowing neighbors to meet and interact on their walks. They also can foster economic activity, such as window shopping and sidewalk cafes . Some studies have found that shops on streets with sidewalks get more customers than similar shops without sidewalks. An important element of sidewalk design is accessibility for persons with disabilities. Features that make sidewalks more accessible include curb ramps , tactile paving and accessible traffic signals. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires accessibility improvement on new and reconstructed streets within

1072-530: A street, despite its name, and locals are more apt to refer to the "street" outside than the "road". A desolate road in rural Montana , on the other hand, may bear a sign proclaiming it "Davidson Street", but this does not make it a "street" except in the original sense of a paved road. In the United Kingdom the inhabitants of many towns will refer to their main thoroughfare as the High Street (in

1139-427: A street, is often paved and used for travel . However, a street is characterized by the degree and quality of the street life which it facilitates, whereas a road serves primarily as a through-passage for road vehicles or (less frequently) for pedestrians . Buskers , beggars , boulevardiers , patrons of pavement cafés , peoplewatchers , streetwalkers , and a diversity of other characters are habitual users of

1206-408: A street; the same people would not typically be found on a road. A stroad is a thoroughfare that mixes - often unhappily - the characteristics of a street and a road. In rural and suburban environments where street life is rarer, people frequently use the terms "street" and "road" interchangeably. Still, even here, what is called a "street" is usually a smaller thoroughfare, such as a road within

1273-703: Is a community revitalization program begun by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the late 1970s. The core of the Main Street Approach is the revitalization of commercial districts via economic development and historic preservation . The Main Street Approach is a holistic approach to downtown and neighborhood commercial district revitalization based on the 4-point approach of design, promotion, economic vitality, and organization. Originally targeted at small, traditional downtowns,

1340-628: Is also used to refer to a town's main street. Two Walt Disney Company theme parks , Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, both have " Main Street, U.S.A. " sections immediately at their front. These areas, which are designed to look like the main street of a small town, house gift shops, restaurants and various services, along with park offices on

1407-585: Is part of the iconography of American life. For example, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service , the outfit that operates the PX and BX stores on military bases, chose the name "Main Street USA" for its food courts. Main Street was a popular term during the economic crises in 2008 and 2009: the proposed bailout of U.S. financial system , the 2008 US presidential campaign , and debates . One widely reviewed book

SECTION 20

#1732786655196

1474-399: Is perhaps a street's most visible use, and certainly among the most important. The unrestricted movement of people and goods within a city is essential to its commerce and vitality, and streets provide the physical space for this activity. In the interest of order and efficiency, an effort may be made to segregate different types of traffic. This is usually done by carving a road through

1541-727: Is the place/road name used in many suburbs, towns, and villages in Ireland . For example, the OSI North Leinster Town Maps book lists sixteen Main Streets and only two High Streets in its thirty-town index of street names. Similarly, the OSI Dublin Street Guide, which covers all of Dublin City and County Dublin , lists twenty Main Streets and only two High Streets. Killarney and Galway are two of

1608-555: The United States and Canada it would be called the Main Street —however, occasionally "Main Street" in a city or town is a street other than the de facto main thoroughfare), and many of the ways leading off it will be named "Road" despite the urban setting. Thus the town's so-called "Roads" will actually be more like streets than like road. Some streets may even be called "highways", even though they may carry no highway designation at all: This may arise when an historic road that

1675-477: The street name for such a street is actually "Main Street", though even where it isn't the actual name, "Main street" is still used to describe the main thoroughfare of the central business district. The "Main Street of America" branding was used to promote U.S. Route 66 in its heyday. In the general sense, the term "Main Street" refers to a place of small-town traditional values, usually in contrast to big-city modernity. Social realists from 1870 to 1930 used

1742-471: The Ōtemachi subway station, the elevated pedestrian skyway networks of Minneapolis and Calgary , the underground cities of Atlanta and Montreal , and the multilevel streets in Chicago . Transportation is often misunderstood to be the defining characteristic, or even the sole purpose, of a street. This has not been the case since the word "street" came to be limited to urban situations, and even in

1809-602: The "Shopfront Design Guide, 2001" and "Shopfront Design Guidelines for the O'Connell Street Area, 2003" of Dublin City Council, and the "Guide to Good Shopfronts." There are also for further examples; the "Guidelines for Shopfront Design in Bray, 2007" (and its earlier, shorter iteration of c.2000) of Bray Town Council, and the 2014 "Shopfront Design Guide" of South Dublin County Council. Kerry County Council also issued

1876-462: The "destination" districts, when the volume of activity outgrows the capacity of private passenger vehicles to support it. A feature universal to all streets is a human-scale design that gives its users the space and security to feel engaged in their surroundings, whatever through traffic may pass. Despite this, the operator of a motor vehicle may (incompletely) regard a street as merely a thoroughfare for vehicular travel or parking . As far as concerns

1943-666: The LDA (Land Development Agency), and local Architects/ County Councils, or Heritage Council/ OPW (Office of Public Works), etc. The Urban Institute of Ireland (based in UCD), and the School of Environment and Planning (in DIT) could also help in terms of academic basis, research and development. A similar voluntary 'townscape' society or similar (like the Georgian Society and Tidy Towns), for

2010-558: The Latin strata (meaning "paved road" – an abbreviation from via strata ); it is thus related to stratum and stratification . The first recorded use of word stratæ referring to the road has been made by Eutropius . Ancient Greek stratos means army: Greeks originally built roads to move their armies. Old English applied the word to Roman roads in Britain such as Ermine Street , Watling Street , etc. Later it acquired

2077-587: The US. In most jurisdictions, bicycles are legally allowed to use streets, and required to follow the same traffic laws as motor vehicle traffic. Where the volume of bicycle traffic warrants and available right-of-way allows, provisions may be made to separate cyclists from motor vehicle traffic. Wider lanes may be provided next to the curb, or shoulders may be provided. Bicycle lanes may be used on busy streets to provide some separation between bicycle traffic and motor vehicle traffic. The bicycle lane may be placed between

Great Jones Street - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-496: The United Kingdom, the common description is High Street , though "Fore Street" or "Front Street" is commonplace in some parts. In Jamaica the term is Front Street. In the 1950s awareness about the 'main street' as a concept of its own importance emerged in the urban studies field, attaining the attention in the theoretical discussions of postmodern urban design, neo-traditional planning and meta-urbanism. In many places,

2211-412: The amenities of street life in shopping malls where vehicles are forbidden. A town square or plaza is a little more like a street, but a town square is rarely paved with asphalt and may not make any concessions for through-traffic at all. There is a haphazard relationship, at best, between a thoroughfare's function and its name. For example, London's Abbey Road serves all the vital functions of

2278-478: The area is named "Mickey Ave," but also has the same style as Main Street. Disney's design copied visual elements of small-town America seen in films by Frank Capra and others, in a deliberate attempt to capture the iconic symbolism of small-town America. Disney wanted to embed the values and memories associated with life in small towns into an entertainment experience for tourists. Main Street America

2345-400: The automobile age, is still demonstrably false. A street may be temporarily blocked to all through traffic in order to secure the space for other uses, such as a street fair , a flea market , children at play, filming a movie, or construction work. Many streets are bracketed by bollards or Jersey barriers so as to keep out vehicles. These measures are often taken in a city's busiest areas,

2412-544: The center of the city's French Quarter . Similarly, the Bowery has at various times been New York City 's theater district , red-light district , skid row , restaurant supply district, and the center of the nation 's underground punk scene . Madison Avenue and Fleet Street are so strongly identified with their respective most famous types of commerce, that their names are sometimes applied to firms located elsewhere. Other streets mark divisions between neighborhoods of

2479-507: The city's (relatively small) gay culture. Many cities have a Radio Row or Restaurant Row . Like in Philadelphia there is a small street called Jewelers' row giving the identity of a "Diamond district". This phenomenon is the subject of urban location theory in economics . In Cleveland, Ohio , East 4th Street has become restaurant row for Cleveland. On East 4th is Michael Symon 's Lola Bistro and other restaurants. A road , like

2546-422: The driver, a street can be one-way or two-way : vehicles on one-way streets may travel in only one direction, while those on two-way streets may travel both ways. One way streets typically have signs reading "ONE WAY" and an arrow showing the direction of allowed travel. Most two-way streets are wide enough for at least two lanes of traffic. Which lane is for which direction of traffic depends on what country

2613-496: The few Irish towns in which the term High Street is used instead of Main Street. Recent and upcoming tranches of funding for Local Authority-led projects seek to help regenerate Main Streets, and town and city centres around Ireland under the URDF (Urban Regeneration Development Fund) and RRDF (Rural Regeneration Development Fund). There were also earlier, 1990s to early 2000s, tax-incentive based initiatives, for private interests, for

2680-613: The general public in returning to town and village centre living in the modern era. These efforts specifically included the 'Town and Village Renewal Schemes' (financial grants of up to €100,000) and previous Town Renewal Scheme, 1999 and Urban Renewal Scheme. There is also a recent pilot project(s) of funding for town centre improvements in (six) different rural Irish towns dispersed around the country, and for example, noting including various town/village rejuvenation projects in County Monaghan. The Town Renewal scheme, for example,

2747-524: The main shopping precinct is located around Queen Street and Karangahape Road . Streets have existed for as long as humans have lived in permanent settlements (see civilization ). However, the development of modern civilization in much of the New World was driven by transportation provided by motor vehicles. In some parts of the English-speaking world, such as North America, many think of

Great Jones Street - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-526: The majority elsewhere (though not in Japan; see Japanese addressing system ) are given a street or road name , or at least a number, to identify them and any addresses located along the streets. Alleys , in some places, do not have names. The length of a lot of land along a street is referred to as the frontage of the lot. A street may assume the role of a town square for its regulars. Jane Jacobs , an economist and prominent urbanist, wrote extensively on

2881-859: The middle for motorists, reserving pavements on either side for pedestrians; other arrangements allow for streetcars , trolleys , and even wastewater and rainfall runoff ditches (common in Japan and India ). In the mid-20th century, as the automobile threatened to overwhelm city streets with pollution and ghastly accidents, many urban theorists came to see this segregation as not only helpful but necessary in order to maintain mobility. Le Corbusier , for one, perceived an ever-stricter segregation of traffic as an essential affirmation of social order—a desirable, and ultimately inevitable, expression of modernity. To this end, proposals were advanced to build "vertical streets" where road vehicles, pedestrians, and trains would each occupy their own levels. Such an arrangement, it

2948-665: The modern urban role of the street. To the readers of the Metro section, vehicular traffic does not reinforce, but rather detracts from, the essential "street-ness" of a street. At least one map has been made to illustrate the geography of naming conventions for thoroughfares - comparing and contrasting "avenue", "boulevard", "circle", "road", "street", and other labels. Streets may be used as cultural spaces, for socializing and street parties , or for public festivals. In India, some cities have designated one or more streets as "happy street" or "fun street", closing them for motor traffic for

3015-515: The name as a symbol of stifling conformity. Sherwood Anderson , for example, wrote Winesburg, Ohio : A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life in 1919. The best-selling 1920 novel Main Street was a critique of small-town life by the American writer Sinclair Lewis . The locale was "Gopher Prairie," presented as an 'ideal type' of the Midwestern town, and the heroine, Carol Kennicott, was

3082-425: The pavement may designate the meter corresponding to a parking space. Some wide streets with light traffic allow angle parking or herringbone parking . Sidewalks (US usage) or pavements (UK usage) are often located alongside on one or usually both sides of the street within the public land strips beyond the curbs. Sidewalks serve a traffic purpose, by making walking easier and more attractive, but they also serve

3149-426: The program has expanded to include towns of various sizes, including neighborhood districts in several large urban centers. In many communities, a merchants' association or business improvement district serves a promotional role on behalf of the merchants of a downtown Main Street. Individual city governments also may engage in revitalization or historic preservation efforts to support a downtown core, either to make

3216-637: The promotion and restoration of town and village centres, could also have similar potential for project initiating/ leading benefits, to also help link the National Planning Framework (National Spatial Strategy replacement), and National Development Plans aims, in a similar fashion to the aim promulgated by the URDF and RRDF rationale. This is noting for example, that a report (2016 Pobal HP Deprivation Index) published in November 2007 by Pobal (an intermediary organisation for funding from

3283-498: The quite comprehensive "Shopfront Design Guidelines and Policy" document in 2010, and for Kilkenny City the "Shopfronts and Advertising Signs Kilkenny Planning Information Booklet." There have been previous concerns sometimes raised that tax incentives, or the more recent planning 'exemptions' have, or may lead to confusion regarding permissible, or recommended interventions in shopfronts, such as removal of shopfront elements or otherwise good quality, traditional shopfronts that are often

3350-596: The refurbishments of buildings, and 'Living over the Shop' (LOTS) schemes, based along specified lengths of urban streets, under Village and Urban Renewal Schemes and that overall, sought the regeneration of main street Ireland. Some of these schemes may have suffered from sufficient lack of interest or impact due to for example, business owners insurance and security issues regarding separate occupiers above for LOTS projects, and general lack of finance and familiarity with residential projects and landlordism, and depressed interest of

3417-407: The same name was broken when Samuel Jones suggested that his street be called Great Jones Street. An alternative theory suggests that the street was called "Great" because it was the wider of the two Jones Streets. Notes 40°43′37″N 73°59′34″W  /  40.72686°N 73.992759°W  / 40.72686; -73.992759 Street Originally, the word street simply meant

SECTION 50

#1732786655196

3484-476: The second floors. While the architecture of these "streets" appears to be turn-of-the-20th-century, in fact these are decorative false-fronts on industrial-style buildings. Main Street, U.S.A. is also present at Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland . At Tokyo Disneyland the area is named "World Bazaar," but has the same look as Main Street, albeit housed under a decorative glass roof for protection from Japan's unpredictable weather. At Shanghai Disneyland ,

3551-410: The side. Sometimes parking on the sides of streets is allowed only at certain times. Curbside signs often state regulations about parking. Some streets, particularly in business areas, may have parking meters into which coins must be paid to allow parking in the adjacent space for a limited time. Other parking meters work on a credit card and ticket basis or pay and display . Parking lane markings on

3618-742: The sidewalk, or between the sidewalk and the curb. There may be a road verge (a strip of grass or other vegetation) between the carriageway (North American English: Roadway) and the pavement on either side of the street on which Grass or trees are often grown there for landscaping . These are often placed for beautification but are increasingly being used to control stormwater . Although primarily used for traffic, streets are important corridors for utilities such as electric power; communications such as telephone, cable television and fiber optic lines; storm and sanitary sewers ; and natural gas lines. Practically all public streets in Western countries and

3685-404: The street as a thoroughfare for vehicular traffic first and foremost. In this view, pedestrian traffic is incidental to the street's purpose; a street consists of a thoroughfare running through the middle (in essence, a road ), and may or may not have pavements (or sidewalks ) along the sides. In an even narrower sense, some may think of a street as only the vehicle-driven and parking part of

3752-400: The street is located in. On broader two-way streets, there is often a centre line marked down the middle of the street separating those lanes on which vehicular traffic goes in one direction from other lanes in which traffic goes in the opposite direction. Occasionally, there may be a median strip separating lanes of opposing traffic. If there is more than one lane going in one direction on

3819-568: The street sustains a range of activities vital to civilization . Its roles are as numerous and diverse as its ever-changing cast of characters. Streets can be loosely categorized as main streets and side streets . Main streets are usually broad with a relatively high level of activity. Commerce and public interaction are more visible on main streets, and vehicles may use them for longer-distance travel. Side streets are quieter, often residential in use and character, and may be used for vehicular parking. Circulation, or less broadly, transportation ,

3886-461: The thoroughfare. Thus, sidewalks (pavements) and road verges would not be thought of as part of the street. A mother may tell her toddlers, "Don't go out into the street, so you don't get hit by a car." Among urban residents of the English-speaking world, the word "street" appears to carry only some of its original etymological connotations (i.e., the facilitation of traffic as a prime purpose, and "street life" as an incidental benefit). For instance,

3953-936: The town centres on or near their main street. In a similar stream, it has been noted in the past, e.g. in the UK by its national print media, that '24/7' full Pedestrianisation of town centres and main streets can lead to passive security issues and fear of use in night time hours. Noting likely economic impacts of the Covid-19 emergency (as of April 2020) on funds and economy, some refinement and redirection of URDF, and RRDF monies also towards more generalised, and labour-intensive refurbishments of main street's buildings may also have visible tangible impacts. This could be in cooperation with Local Authorities, state agencies, and private owners (e.g. subsidised external fabric refurbishments of derelict/ semi-derelict terraced buildings), and potentially project-led led by in-house expertise from for example,

4020-538: The travel lanes and the parking lanes, between the parking lanes and the curb, or for increased safety for cyclists, between curb and sidewalk. These poorer designs can lead to Dooring incidents and are unsafe for cycling. A more sensible design is found in the Netherlands with a Protected Bicycle Path totally separate from the traffic which is safe for cycling. Trams are generally considered to be environmentally friendly with tramlines running in streets with

4087-413: The ways that interaction among the people who live and work on a particular street—" eyes on the street "—can reduce crime, encourage the exchange of ideas, and generally make the world a better place. A street can often serve as the catalyst for the neighborhood 's prosperity, culture and solidarity . New Orleans ' Bourbon Street is famous not only for its active nightlife but also for its role as

SECTION 60

#1732786655196

4154-489: Was Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street (2012) by Neil Barofsky . In small towns across the United States, Main Street is not only the major road running through town but the site of all street life, a place where townspeople hang out and watch the annual parades go by. A slang term popularized in the early 20th century, " main drag ",

4221-499: Was a 10-year tax relief incentive scheme for renovations or new builds that was to improve the 'Townscape' and 'Streetscape' of smaller Irish towns, through the physical improvements of buildings e.g. views building façades on 'main streets'. The efforts of local governments (county councils, city councils, and the former town councils, until 2017) to improve 'main streets' centered around their Planning Departments and County Development Plans. These included shopfront design guides such as

4288-615: Was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1796 to 1799, and he also served as the state's first Comptroller . Jones deeded the site of the street to the city with the stipulation that any street that ran through the property had to be named for him. However, when the street was first created in 1789, the city already had a Jones Street in Greenwich Village , named after Gardner Jones, Samuel Jones's brother-in-law. The confusion between two streets with

4355-532: Was built to connect distant towns was named a "street" but originally never was in the truest sense. Some roads of this type which later became designated as numbered highways, became identified as said highway and may continue to colloquially be labelled as such from force of habit even if sections of it are subsequently urbanized and become an actual street and has its highway status decommissioned . Hurontario Street in Mississauga , Ontario , Canada (which

4422-464: Was formerly Ontario Highway 10 , but predates it), is an example of this. In some other English-speaking countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, cities are often divided by a main "Road", with "Streets" leading from this "Road", or the cities are divided by thoroughfares known as "Streets" or "Roads" with no apparent differentiation between the two. In Auckland in New Zealand, for example,

4489-438: Was said, would allow for even denser development in the future. These plans were never implemented comprehensively, a fact which today's urban theorists regard as fortunate for vitality and diversity . Rather, vertical segregation is applied on a piecemeal basis, as in sewers , utility poles , depressed highways, elevated railways, common utility ducts , the extensive complex of underground malls surrounding Tokyo Station and

#195804