4. There is a Broadway Alley in Kips Bay
New Yorkers and tourists alike are familiar with Manhattan’s famous Broadway, which runs from the bottom tip of Manhattan up through the Bronx and into Westchester. However, most may not know that there are a handful of other roadways named Broadway scattered across New York City. There is a mostly forgotten Old Broadway in Manhattanville. An avenue in Brooklyn called Broadway extends from Williamsburg to Ocean Hill. Queens has two Broadways, one extending from the Astoria area to Elmhurst, the other a one-block road in Springfield Gardens. Staten Island even has its own Broadway.
Chances are, most New Yorkers probably have never come across Broadway Alley in Kips Bay. The roadway sits between 26th and 27th Streets and between Lexington and Third Avenues. The alley, which is now open to pedestrians, was named by the street’s owners so it would be associated with the nearby Theater District.
For much of its early existence, however, it was associated with anything but wealth and the arts. The alley was home to tightly packed tenements and was a path plagued with gambling, drinking, and crime. Broadway Alley was considered one of the last unpaved roads in Manhattan and was also supposedly where the Ringling Brothers kept their circus elephants, according to Ephemeral New York.