Talk:Midtown Manhattan

Columbus Circle subway station is one of the city's busiest.
Shouldn't the caption for the image of the subway station be more specific? Just "Columbus Circle subway station is one of the city's busiest" doesn't sound right. I assume, though, that they mean busiest stations. Blackmanor1000

Comma
Why is there a comma in the title? Should it not be Midtown Manhattan? As a word "midtown" functions much like "downtown" or "uptown". Nelson Ricardo 03:01, Sep 9, 2004 (UTC)

I agree. It's really known as Midtown Manhattan on maps. This really pisses me off! Pacific Coast Highway 02:28, Jun 27, 2005 (UTC) (10:28PM EST)
 * Fixed. &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) Seen this already? 11:08, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

More than 3 million commuters?
It said in the article that "more than 3 million commuters work in midtown", I find this doubtful being that manhattans entire daytime population is around 2.8 million (1.5 million residents + 1.3 million commuters). Not to mention that at around 3 square miles that would mean midtown would is 1/million people square mile during the day. That said, some of those 2.8 million people must work in the other districts of manhattan not least of the downtown area, I read in a travel book midtown has 700,000 workers, people need to cite things not just generalize "more than 3 million", I have changed the page to reflect this and will add a citation next time im in a bookstore and get the book that said that, however I can already back the 2.8 million up with this http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/19395/, being as that its daytime population is 2.8 million, 1/4 of that would be 700,000 which would be a more reasonable number for midtown during work hours.

There isn't a good image on this page. In fact, on the entirety of Wikipedia there isn't a single decent image of the midtown skyline, or even one I'd contemplate posting on a message board. Truly shameful for the most readily identifiable skyline in the world!


 * Dear anonymous contributor: Please sign your posts using four tildes (~).  Also, why not add an image yourself, instead of criticizing everybody else?  -- Ssilvers 20:39, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * This number doesn't suprise me, given that the New York Times recently listed Manhattan's daytime population at 3.9 Million. Quodfui (talk) 11:51, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 05:56, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Photos
Too many, it seems to me, and the ones on the left side are forced to somewhat above default size. The layout is okay with wide screen, high resolution and small font, but with older hardware it looks crowded. Better I think to run all or most the pictures down the right side, at unforced size. This calls for deleting a few pictures as well, and since the ones of the Waldorf and Bryant Park are surprizingly poor, I propose eliminating them in favor of more prominent links to their articles. If better pictures are found of those rather photogenic subjects, they can go to those articles. Jim.henderson (talk) 13:43, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

history - how, why, when?
Just as ideas for the article - maybe it could use some information on how Midtown came to be. Why did it grow and become dominate over the Lower Manhattan financial district? When did it happen? What was Midtown like before skyscrapers were built? 74.72.228.158 (talk) 16:02, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Original research?
I just noticed that this article describes Chelsea and the Meatpacking District as part of Midtown. That's news to me. This and numerous other statements strike me as original research. They need to be either sourced or removed. ScottyBerg (talk) 12:03, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

I share your concerns. There's a difference between midtown the place descriptor, which can be used analogously to "uptown" or "downtown" and Midtown the neighborhood, ie America's largest central business district: in more ways than one caput mundi mercantiae. I've inserted a stopgap, but I hope someone can do a more substantive writeup given that this entire article conflates the two. Quodfui (talk) 21:16, 16 December 2012 (UTC)


 * I've been bothered by this conflation in this article for a while, along with its poor treatment of Midtown's boundaries, and I've been thinking about overhauling it a bit. Trouble is there are no good references for this kind of thing. If anyone has any suggestions for references I'm all ears. Jeferman (talk) 04:50, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Airline ticketoffice
States "American Airlines recently opened a storefront in Midtown Manhattan, two blocks away from its old office where it recently lost its lease after 35 years. "We could easily have closed it," says American executive John Lisiewski. "But there's a very large segment of the population that still likes to be face to face with a travel agent."" WhisperToMe (talk) 22:00, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
 * De Lollis, Barbara. "Airlines' city ticket offices still popular." USA Today. April 2, 2007.

Southern boundary
There's been a lot of commotion over the souther boundary in the second paragraph. A while back I changed it to a somewhat vague statement that didn't include a specific street. Anonymous users have continuously changed this, changing it to 14th Street or other streets. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any sources to cite for a southern boundary (big surprise there). So I just changed it to say that it's somewhere between 14th and 30th, which seems to be the best and most truthful solution at the moment. Any suggestions on how to better deal with this are welcome. Jeferman (talk) 05:01, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Whatever you do, I would suggest you source it. To one or more sources, such as this one and this one and this one.--Epeefleche (talk) 05:05, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
 * OK, good finds. I hadn't thought to try Google books. Of course none of the boundaries on the page have citations, but while 59th Street as the northern boundary is pretty well agreed upon, the southern boundary is much more controversial. Which is exactly why I changed it a while back to not name a specific street, especially in absence of any sources. I will admit that I'm particularly adamant that Midtown does not extend down to 14th Street, but I recognize that opinions differ on this. So ideally I'd like to find a source that acknowledges that this boundary is nebulous. I'll see if I can turn up something to that effect. Jeferman (talk) 05:20, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Here's a bizarre one that serves as example of how fragmented opinions are on this issue. I'm tempted to cite a handful of these that offer differing opinions to substantiate a statement that opinions differ. But really to state on Wikipedia that opinions differ requires a source that explicitly states that opinions differ, rather than various conflicting sources. Therein lies the rub. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeferman (talk • contribs) 05:36, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I think that's a little bit extreme, but it's not an uncommon viewpoint. My mother, for example, considers anything south of Bryant Park to be outside of Midtown. One thing I think we need to source is the western boundary of Midtown. I have never, EVER, heard anyone call Hell's Kitchen part of Midtown, with the exception of a few real estate brokers trying to avoid calling it Hell's Kitchen, and even then they called it "Midtown West" to distinguish it from the area most people consider to be Midtown. While you could make a good argument that it is in Midtown based on it being in a region between areas considered uptown and downtown, for historical reasons that I suspect have to do with the area's former status as an indigent immigrant community and its isolation from the subway system it has always been viewed as in some way distinct and in fact to this day, despite extensive gentrification and its location next to some of the most expensive real estate in the world, the area between 42nd and 51st, 8th and 12th, is still zoned at low density (although that area is fast shrinking - I initially wanted to say 42nd to 51st until I looked at Google Earth just now and realized the City must have rezoned since I looked at the zoning map last). If I have time, I'll do a writeup on the traditional exclusion of Hell's Kitchen from Midtown? I'm sure I'll be able to find some reference to it somewhere. Quodfui (talk) 20:28, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Photos (2)
I agree with User:Jim.henderson who mentioned above that there are too many photos in this article. I'm particularly concerned about the cluster of 800 pixel wide pictures in. These five images disrupt reading even on a computer monitor; on a phone it's worse. Even images which don't impede much on a computer screen squash text badly on a phone, here at 450×960 pixels, sometimes down to a single letter: the heading "Corporate headquarters" is reduced to a perfect vertical column of one letter at the left edge of the screen here. On a phone, the article opens with three pictures before the opening line. The section "Neighborhoods" shows eight pictures before the text appears. The effect can be seen at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midtown_Manhattan when the browser window is narrowed; the reading experience is slightly better when using the Wikipedia app. On a computer monitor, the picture at the end of the article at "Diplomatic missions" has no relation to the surrounding text and creates white space between "See also" and "References" sections. There's almost 1/2 screen white space before "Cityscape".

I suggest that the article would be better if half the images and the whole section "Cityscape" were removed. Alternatively, there could be a  section at the end, or such a gallery could be made on Commons. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 05:51, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

I've whittled it down to two Cityscape images. One more would be reasonable, as long as it's updated, constructive, well-taken, and well-sized. User:Jleon has traditionally done a great job with taking NYC pictures. Castncoot (talk) 02:09, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

What makes Manhattan important
Is it the buildings? Is it the streets and avenues? Why do Madison/Park/Lex break the pattern of numbered avenues?

The listing is to show what makes Midtown different from places with a predominance of named streets and blocks of "interesting" shapes and configurations.

I've also added references to the Wiki articles Dad7 (talk) 21:26, 24 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Park was called 4th Avenue. Lexington and Madison were added because those blocks were too long. Then 4th Avenue was called Park Avenue. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 02:26, 25 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks. If "location, location, location" are the three most important . . ., then knowing where these not-a-number avenues are located has value.  The article mentions "Plaza District" - what's what and where it is relative to other things/places has value (with lots of zeroes after the leading non-zero digits).  In short, it's not just a simple list, it's an explanation regarding Real Estate. Dad7 (talk) 20:47, 27 July 2017 (UTC)

Does Silicon Alley really belong in the article here?
The article clearly states that Midtown Manhattan is considered between 34th street and 59th street. Silicon Alley, in Flatiron District is between 14th street and 23rd street. I don't think the Silicon Alley section belong to this article and would like to remove it. Let me know any thoughts and objections. --Btcgeek (talk) 17:05, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
 * 34th Street is not universally regarded as the southern boundary. List of Manhattan neighborhoods places the Flatiron District "between Midtown and Downtown", but the Template:Manhattan follows the boundaries of CB5 and places it in Midtown. However, because we have the article Silicon Alley, I suggest to trim that section substantially, similar to the treatment of Broadway theatre. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 10:20, 16 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've trimmed down the section. Btcgeek (talk) 17:20, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

In favor of a gallery
I am in favor of a gallery to display most of the images, especially those of specific buildings or locations. I think the cityscape photos can flow with the articles, but the rest should go in a gallery at the bottom. The current images break the flow of the article. There is also not much space left for future expansion and adding more photos - Manhattan and Midtown Manhattan are ever changing. Consolidating the images in a gallery will benefit the article as it currently stands and expand further for the future. Thoughts? --Btcgeek (talk) 21:14, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Have you read the section WP:GALLERY at Image use policy? I agree with the sentiments expressed there and suggest that every second image here could be removed because the subject is better illustrated in their articles. A gallery page would be a good addition to c:Category:Midtown Manhattan. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 10:11, 16 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Ok, fair point. The gallery is probably an overkill for this article, but the images still need cleaning up and their count reduced. Btcgeek (talk) 17:20, 16 January 2019 (UTC)