Manhattan's Grid, Explained 

The way New York (one of the biggest cities on earth) was planned like a school group project where everyone procrastinated until last minute before the deadline is incredibly funny

It was immediately apparent this plan was thought up the night before their homework was due. Some of the best work is done this way...

Something also interesting to mention: Broadway isn't just in Manhattan! It runs from Bowling Green through Manhattan for 13 miles/20.9 km, goes for two miles/3.2 km through the Bronx, and then 18 miles/29 km through Westchester County where it finally ends at Sleepy Hollow! It is the oldest north-south main thoroughfare in New York City, with much of the current street beginning as the Wickquasgeck trail before the arrival of Europeans. This then formed the basis for one of the primary thoroughfares of New Amsterdam, which of course continued under British rule, although most of it did not bear its current name until the late 19th century. Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the Wickquasgeck trail was widened, and soon became the main road through the island. The Dutch called it the Heeren Wegh or Heeren Straat, meaning "Gentlemen's Way" or "Gentlemen's Street". After the British took over, the part of Broadway in what is now Lower Manhattan was initially known as Great George Street, but the name Broadway was eventually given to its entire length because of its unusual width.

I really don't understand why anyone hates the grid. It makes it so simple, especially for such a heavily populated city. It's simplicity is it's magic. You know based on the number of the street and avenue where you are geographically. I can't even imagine what a disaster it would be without it.

Growing up in New York, my father told me that in Manhattan, you can never be lost...but you can be in the wrong place. Provided you were north of 14th Street and south of 125th Street. I'd figured out how that was possible...and now I know why.

While talking about the origins of NYC streets, the origin of why Canal Street is called such is interesting! Ding ding ding, it's called such because there was once a canal! But there's more than that. The area was once home to Collect Pond, one of the city's few sources of freshwater. In the 18th century, the pond was used as a picnic area during summer and a skating rink during the winter. Beginning in the early 18th century, various commercial enterprises were built along the shores of the pond in order to use the water. For the first two centuries of European settlement in Manhattan, it was the main New York City water supply system for the growing city. It became polluted because of everyone doing their business there, as well as run-off from tanneries. So it was drained via a canal so they could eventually put landfill there. This area is where the Irish first moved to in NYC (because it was all they could afford), which eventually became known as the most dangerous neighborhood in the world, Five Points, because of the area's Irish gangs

As someone from Ireland this is so surreal to me. I live surrounded by green fields, hills, ancient sites, and weird roads that were made to go around the existing landscape. It's quite fascinating to see just how tightly packed and neatly laid out this city is. I've never been to New York, so I only really see snapshots and small areas in films & on TV. This was a great video.

Excellent presentation! I grew up in Chelsea in the 1960s, but went to school in the Village. Chelsea was built on the 1811 grid system; the Village, as you point out, was not. From the time I was old enough to comprehend it, I was struck by that strange transition from the Manhattan grid to the ordered but self-contained planning of the Village. Then there was 7th Avenue South. Even though 7th Avenue South had been driven through the Village some decades before my time, it pushed through the neighborhood rather rudely, with surviving buildings just sliced off at strange angles and some streets, like Bleeker, Barrow, and 7th Avenue South, meeting at strange, extremely acute angles. It really looked like an interloper, and it still does. I think it was one of Robert Moses's early projects, As an aside, many of the landowners were made extremely wealthy by the street grid. In Chelsea, Clement Clarke Moore, who owned the Chelsea estate, was already very well-to-do when the streets and avenues were cut through, but the street grid increased the value of his land exponentially. He brought in an estate manager, James N Wells, to oversee the development of Chelsea beginning in the 1820s. Moore was initially opposed to the 1811 street grid. It required the demolition of his own house, which he loved, to make way for 23rd Street. I am sure all the income from the lots he sold to real estate developers lessened the pain of the bitter pill he had to swallow. Most of the Greek Revival and Italianate row houses in Chelsea were built while Moore was still alive, and most are still there today.

I’m a lifelong NYC lover from CT. Part of my love is the ability to find yourself easily, vs. random street names like in Boston.

If this video was an hour and a half. I’d watch it all

This reminds me of the sophisticated urban planning of Barcelona. Heck, they PIONEERED it! Barcelona's Ildefons Cerdà was the guy who coined the term urbanization and changed the way we think about cities! Constricted by its medieval walls, Barcelona was suffocating as its population overflowed and couldn't handle the density with high mortality rates, until the then unknown Ildefons came up with a radical expansion plan. His plan consisted of a grid of streets that would unite the old city with seven peripheral villages (which later became integral Barcelona neighborhoods such as Gràcia and Sarrià). The united area was almost four times the size of the old city and would come to be known as Eixample. Cerdà decided to avoid repeating past errors by undertaking a comprehensive study of how the working classes lived in the old city. He concluded that, among other things, the narrower the city’s streets, the more deaths occurred. He added gardens in each block, made sure access to services for the rich and poor were equal, and made room for smooth-flowing traffic. The octagonal blocks, chamfered in the corners, were his unique idea to deal with traffic, allowing drivers to see more easily what was happening to the left and right. Cars of course didn't exist then, but when he learned about trains, he figured there would be some sort of thing powered by steam that would use the streets. His gravestone, fittingly, is a model of the Eixample.

Do Chicago next! I’ve done a crap ton of research on it here and I can show you around.

He just doesn’t miss

If New York city stayed Neoclassical and Art Deco it would have been one of the most beautiful cities in the world and will definitely rivals ancient cities like Rome, Paris and London when it comes to beauty and architecture. Love the Flat iron building, Chrystler and Empire state building.

You are absolutely killing it Daniel! First with the Boston map video, and now this. I immediately subscribed, and am sharing this with everyone I know 👏

Another example of a grid city is the capital of Malta: Valletta. It's tiny (fewer than 6000 people live there), but it's an extremely impressive piece of baroque architecture, replete with churches, palaces, and massive fortifications.

Even as a lifelong Nee Yorker (Manhattanite) whose life essentially revolves around the grid, I’ve learnt a thing or two from this video. Good work!

I didn’t realize how small of a youtuber you were until I finished the video. I thought you’d have hundreds of thousands of subs. Great video! I’d love to see more about New Yorks human created geography and even the natural geography, especially with Long Island

I own both the books used for this video and for the Boston video but I've never really read them so pretty cool to see these two vids with author interviews. Look forward to more.

As a visitor I absolutely loved the grid with the easy logical numbered names. When my phone battery died I could walk back to my hostel without asking anyone for directions

As a person who spent their wonder years (5-22) in NYC this stirred up the nostalgia. The benefit of the grid is that it is really easy to learn. The semi-irregular rhythm of the wider cross streets makes for neighborhood edges. I would advise reading Kevin Lynch's "The Image of the City" to understand how people understand their urban environment.

The landscape along what is now the Park’s perimeter from West 82nd to West 89th Street was the site of Seneca Village, a community of predominantly African-Americans, many of whom owned property. By 1855, the village consisted of approximately 225 residents, made up of roughly two-thirds African-Americans, one-third Irish immigrants, and a small number of individuals of German descent. One of few African-American enclaves at the time, Seneca Village allowed residents to live away from the more built-up sections of downtown Manhattan and escape the unhealthy conditions and racial discrimination they faced there.

daniel dropping banger after banger

Damn I hope you find a way to put out more content these videos are incredible

Keep the videos up! Find it absolutely fascinating learning about the urban geography of these unique cities.

Omg I asked for a NYC map video after watching your Boston video, and here it is!!! Thank you 🎁

another really awesome video man, you’re absolutely killing it

I absolutely love this! Looking forward to watching your other videos, especially the one re. Boston.

Daniel, those map animations are fantastic. I'd love a tutorial if you're ever up to it. Thanks for putting these videos together!

Keep up the good work. I am excited to see your channel grow to over 1M subs-just stick with it! 💪

So informative! Could listen to more and more!

Excellent video and very well presented. Maps and animations works so good. Thumbs up, well done 👍

Amazing map video I can't wait to watch the rest of your videos!

Casimir Goerck is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He thanks you from the beyond

love this channel, love what you're putting out...exquisite production values for a small operation...high end infotainment!

Great work! Super interesting and nicely tied up at the end.

SLAYED i love learning

Such cool series! Glad I ran into you. definitely subscribed!

This is the start of a great channel!

Another great video, fantastic work.

Great job on this one!

amazing editing! awesome pace! great video!

Editing and everything just hits

Would absolutely love a video like this about Toronto, Ontario, or Buffalo, New York!! Love this format!

Best video on Manhattan's development, thanks so much!!

Just got yourself a new subscriber! I would love to see a similar video for Athens, Greece. The city was supposed to house 100,000 residents, and yet there are more than 5 million of them today. It had 3 big rivers and now has none. They were turned into avenues... The newest neighborhoods are grids, the oldest have just a random formation of streets around wherever people build their houses, steep roads that only a goat could climb. There's a neighborhood built for the wealthy that is not crossable or connected to the rest of the city, similar to Back Bay in Boston but in the form of a circular labyrinth. There's a village with sheep and chickens on top of a hill, surrounded by the city, where you feel like you're in a rural area a hundred years ago and yet you're in the middle of the city. The old airport is turning into a park, residential area and business area. The center kind of preserves the way of ancient arteries of the city.

This is a remarkably well-produced channel and other videos. Keep up the great work.

Thanks Danny. Great info.

New RU-vid star in the making

What a wonderful watch.

I wish you talked more about the Common Lands and the people who lived there before being displaced for the construction of Central Park. I'm sure it'll make a great video.

This is fantastic content keep up the good work

Love these explainers

Oooo I like this kind of content! Awesome vid man great job!

Great research! Great video!

I love your city design videos!

I have just discovered this channel. The short about Manhattan came up on my feed this morning, and it was so interesting that I looked up the longer version. I love what you're doing here, and I have subscribed.

wow what a great video, I can't believe you haven't been doing this style of video for years!

these videos are just so entertaining

Really interesting thank you for the information, excellent writing and clear story structure

Video was amazing...love old NYC history keep it up

Nice content. I have lived here in Manhattan most of my life and never knew about it.

I love maps. Thank you so mich for this wonderful Video. I really enjoyed it. I must check out the rest of your channel - later.

This was wonderful 👏 thanks!!

You're very, very good at this stuff. Keep it up!!!!

Very informative, great job.

Fun fact: at the time of the commissioner's plan, the biggest landlord in Manhattan was John Jacob Astor, born in Walldorf near Heidelberg (thus Waldorf-Astoria). 25 km from Walldorf is Mannheim, founded in 1607 and originally built in a grit. Mannheim may be the blueprint for today's New York.

sick video. Love that stuyvesant detail

vox’s vid on seneca village feels like the perfect follow up to this video 😮

“Today, just taxis and assh…” would not have been wrong.

Thank you for this! Always wondered the origins of the grid.

Many years ago a friend of mine lived at a corner that is not supposed to exist in the grid plan, yet does - the intersection of two numbered streets. He lived at the intersection of 4th street and 12th street.

this is a video that I was on the fence about watching and never clicked. but I saw your short explaining a bit of it, and voila. here I am

Great content. Might be fun to dive a little deeper or possibly do another city. Keep up the great work.

Great job good stuff manito!! 👏🏽👌🏽🦾🫡🫡🇩🇴🇩🇴🇩🇴

Well researched thoughtful and ernest presentation. Well done.

I grew up in New York and attended Stuyvesant High on 15th Street. It has since moved to the far West Side, but that is another story. So I found this video quite interesting, in fact, its one of the best I've viewed on RU-vid.

This upload is 🔥🔥🔥🔥thx so much! I wishy mom was alive to see this! Blessings

Just a few days ago i'm wondering about this issue...and " voila"...Just came to me. Thank you for this Master class. Hugs from Brasil

Please do Seattle! I would love it so much. Loving your videos, really high quality content. I will keep coming back to it

Outstanding presentation

Phenomenal content, glad I found your channel. SUBSCRIBED!!

Hey, I really enjoyed this video. I grew up in Manhattan, left, and again live in Manhattan. I suspect the word convenience the commissioners used also applied to the land owners whom the plan affected. The designers probably thought about how to disrupt as few people (or dollars) as possible. So maybe there were more divisible plots on the east side than on the west side, explaining why avenues are close together there. I've been told that the close avenues ended up creating more wealth, and this makes sense to me, since what the City did -- divide into smallest practical size plots -- did create a ton of wealth. I don't think it's scandalous that some of these people built their work on previous people's works. It doesn't seem like stealing. I guess the earlier people couldn't get their work done for various reasons. Maybe they couldn't get through the bureaucracy. Or maybe the needed technology wasn't ready yet. Where can one get that map of Manhattan as it was found in 1609? It shows the small streams running across the island.

This is the kind of content I wanna see more of ❤ its great how you dont diretly assume that every viewer is from America.

Great video! 👏

It's funny that the one street at an odd angle to the grid, Stuyvesant St. is named for a Dutchman. Because in cinema when you have a shot that is at an odd angle it's known as a "Dutch angle".

This is awesome!!!

This was great!

Another street that once acted as a barrier in what's now Lower Manhattan is Wall Street! And no, I'm not talking about the stock exchange. Like how Canal Street is named such because it once had a canal, Wall Street once had a wall! And before the stock exchange, Wall Street was selected for Federal Hall which was both NYC's first City Hall and the US's first Congress when NYC was the nation's capital (hence Federal Hall). Some historians have stated that Wall Street is anglicized from the former "de Waal Straat" (which was the center of a small Walloon community), however this was proven false as "de Waal Straat" is now a section of Pearl Street rather than Wall Street. Wall Street was first known as Het Cingel or "the Belt"! The wall there was built by the Dutch during the first Anglo-Dutch War in the early 1650s because they feared an overland invasion from New England. After the Dutch gave up New Netherland and its capital New Amsterdam in 1674, the wall remained until 1699 in order to expand the city limits! And while we're talking about the Dutch's former presence in Lower Manhattan, Bowery is the English version of bouwerie or bouwerij, an old Dutch word for farm! It connected the farmland on what was then the outskirts of the City to the Wall Street area. Until 1807 it was known as Bowery Lane, but today is simply named Bowery.

The addition of 1 way streets is the real mystery of Manhattan. Just getting across the street in some places is a 45 minute trip!

Just found the channel throught instagram and I'm in love with it already!

What a great video!

Great video!

Great video dude

Criminal these vids havent blown up more, theyre fantastic. Stick with it.

Grids are tense and claustrophobic.

“Land had no purpose…” three Doritos later… “thousands of blacks and Irish people were displaced because of this” hmmmm purpose for whom?

The numbered streets continue all the way to Westchester County, so I wonder when it was decided that The Bronx was to continue the numbers from where Manhattan left off. Also, whereas 5th Avenue is the E/W divider in Manhattan, Jerome Avenue serves that role for The Bronx.

Very interesting!

Super interesting ! A city I like very much ! Regards from Argentina 🇦🇷