3. Park Avenue

Park Avenue, originally known as Fourth Avenue, carried the New York and Harlem Railroads in the 1830s. Today, it’s one of New York’s ritziest boulevards. It has also been featured in many songs over the years.

The infamous composer Irving Berlin wrote “Slumming on Park Avenue” in 1937 for his musical “On the Avenue.” Lou Johnson’ 1965 song “Park Avenue” is written from the point of view of a taxi driver carting around a Wall Street businessman while nursing his own dreams of glory.

There’s also the swing number “Park Avenue Blues” by Steve D’Angelo and David Chesky’s “Park Avenue Rag,” part of a larger composition by Chesky of 18 different songs all about different parts of New York. The beautiful “Park Avenue Petite” by Blue Mitchell is another can’t-miss number.

It seems that there are few contemporary songs about Park Avenue, perhaps because of the fact that nowadays it is virtually impossible for an artist to live there. The average small apartment would cost you from $1.5 to $3.5 million, and the most expensive places could cost $15 million or more.

Right next to Park Avenue, Central Park also has a fair number of songs to its name, including Nina Simone’s “Central Park Blues.” Nina Simone famously blended blues, jazz, R&B to create a varied and emotive sound. This instrumental track is from her debut “Little Girl Blue,” which was recorded in New York City in 1957.