As Broadway marches north and west across Manhattan it forms a series of squares beginning with Union Square at 14th Street. The Union Square neighborhood is a thriving cultural, business, educational and health care hub. Throughout Manhattan and beyond, the vibrant community is known as the Heart of Off-Broadway and is celebrated for its top-notch restaurants, diverse retailers, excellent universities and hospitals, and one of the city's most popular parks.

Union Square Park, the staging ground for numerous historic rallies, demonstrations and gatherings hosts a popular Greenmarket that brings fresh produce to the city's inhabitants. During the holiday season, the southern end of the Park becomes the Union Square Holiday Market. One of the best places in the City to people-watch year round; you can review the never-ending parade of people AND surf the net! Bring your computer to Union Square and log onto the Internet (for free!) through the wireless node.

Did You Know?
The triangular shape of the Flatiron Building (an early skyscraper on 23rd Street) produced wind currents that made women's skirts billow and caused police to create the term "23 skiddoo" to shoo gapers from the area.

In this neighborhood are some of the city's trendiest restaurants lining Park Avenue South up to 23rd Street. Madison Square, the site of the original Madison Square Garden, is dominated by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower and the Flatiron Building (20-stories and triangular). It was once the end of "ladies mile," the city's most fashionable shopping district along Broadway and Sixth Avenue; this area still has great shopping. To its east is Gramercy Park, a small, fenced park acessible only to residents of its surrounding townhouses. Theodore Roosevelt was born in this neighborhood.

New York's fourth busiest subway stop makes this 24-hour community easily accessible by the N, R, 4, 5, 6, and L lines.

More Information on Union Square
The Union Square Partnership can be reached at 212-460-1200. A free tour of Union Square is given every Saturday at 2pm; the tour starts at the Lincoln Statue located off the 16th street park transverse.

Map © David Lindroth Inc., dlindmap@bellatlantic.net
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