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86th Street is a major two-way street in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.
Until the years following World War II, Yorkville on the East Side was a predominantly German community, and East 86th Street was nicknamed the German Broadway. The early settlement originally clustered around the 86th Street stop of the New York and Harlem Railroad. Since the late 1980s, nearly all distinctly German shops have disappeared, apart from a few restaurants on Second Avenue. The street was commonly considered a boundary for public utilities. For example, different telephone exchanges at East 79th and 97th Streets served the north and south sides of the street. Local number portability in the early 21st century allowed transferring phone numbers to either side.
A sunken street through Central Park, often called the 86th Street Transverse or Transverse Road #3, connects to the east side on 84th (eastbound) and 85th (westbound) streets [1]. Miners Gate provides pedestrian access to the park at East 86th, and Mariners Gate at West 86th.
Before the subway opened on Lexington Avenue in 1917, a railroad station existed on Park Avenue, currently a right-of-way for the Metro North Railroad between 125th Street and Grand Central Terminal. Only an emergency exit exists currently.
On the Upper West Side, the street is entirely within the boundaries of ZIP Code 10024; on the east side, it is 10028, though it is bounded immediately northwards by ZIP Code 10128.
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Transportation
It is served by three subway lines, on Lexington Avenue See: 86th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line station), Central Park West, and Broadway. The M86 bus serves a majority of the street. Until the 1950s, the Second Avenue El and Third Avenue El lines served the East Side.
The Second Avenue Subway has a planned stop on 86th Street. Construction has not yet begun, but is scheduled to begin service in 2013.
Construction
In mid-2006, 12 brownstones on the eastern side of Lexington Avenue between 85th and 86th Streets were torn down to make way for a highrise building with the address 150 East 86th St., that will contain both apartments and over 100,000 ft² of retail space. While not nearly as large or tall, its facade will resemble that of the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan. Its estimated completion is late-2008. As of July 31, 2006, 150 East 86th St. has signed leases for H&M to occupy 30,000 ft²; Barnes and Noble, which currently operates two stores on East 86th Street and within 1,000 feet (300 m) of each other, will consolidate into one store on the site, occupying 50,000 ft².[1]
A similar project, designed by architect Robert A. M. Stern, with roughly half the floor space of the project on Lexington Avenue is underway on Third Avenue.
Croton Aqueduct Receiving Reservoir
86th Street was the north end of the Receiving Reservoir, which stored water piped down via the Croton Aqueduct from Westchester County that passed over the Harlem River and down the west side to the Receiving Reservoir, located between 79th and 86th Streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues in an area then known as Yorkville. The Receiving Reservoir was a fortress-like structure 1,826 feet (557 m) long and 836 feet (255 m) wide, and held up to 180 million gallons of water. Thirty-five million gallons flowed into it daily from northern Westchester. The original reservoir was filled in to create the Great Lawn, but the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir is a part of Central Park, with its southern border near 86th Street.
Notable residents
- Robert Redford (former)
- Isaac Bashevis Singer (deceased)
See also
External links
References
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