5th Avenue

This major thoroughfare is lined with prestigious shops and flagship stores, and those located between 49th Street and 60th Street are consistently ranked among the most expensive in the world! Listed as one of the greatest streets to visit in the USA by the American Planning Association in 2012, this historic street is not just about shopping. It is also home to some marvelous museums, parks, exclusive apartments, and historical landmarks.

Some exclusive fashion brands can be found along this street, including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Prada, and Armani to name just a few, and jewelry brands like Cartier, Omega, and Swarovski! Those who break into a sweat just reading the names might prefer shops like Tommy Hilfiger, Escada, Gap, and Diesel, also situated here. There are luxury department stores; Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, and Bergdorf Goodman, too. One of the most photographed buildings in New York is also here; the Apple Store.

The high status of Fifth Avenue originates from the stylish neighborhood of Washington Square that extended along it, and its status as such was confirmed when the prominent American socialite, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, moved there in 1862. The site of her house later became that of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and then the site of the Empire State Building. The avenue gradually lost its residential status. The very first commercial building was a department store, opened in 1906, that attracted fashionable women and other stores that wanted their custom. It was one of the few major streets in Manhattan that didn’t have streetcars, offering instead the Fifth Avenue Coach, which appealed more to its fashionable gentlefolk (despite, or possibly because of, its elevated fare!)

Fifth Avenue is littered with New York City landmarks; the 500 Fifth Avenue Building, the Aeolian Building (Elizabeth Arden Building), the George W. Vanderbilt Residence, the Goelet Building (Swiss Center Building), the Gorham Building, the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company Building, the Rizzoli Building, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Sidewalk Clock, and the St. Regis Hotel.

But it doesn’t stop there; the street is waiting to surprise you with many national historic landmarks too, like the Empire State Building, the Flatiron Building, the New York City Public Library, the Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick’s Cat­hedral!

And, oh, how this street changes on its many parade days! Fifth Avenue is the traditional street for holding celebratory parades in New York, the most famous and longest running of which is the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

It is easy to get to Fifth Avenue; you can either take subway E or M and get off at Fifth Ave/53rd Street, or take buses M1, M2, M3, M4 or M5. Or if you want to save your energy (but not your money) for shopping, why not stay in one of the nice hotels that the street has to offer!

• Wikipedia