Playground of the Americas

S/s W. Houston St., Ave. of Americas

Manhattan

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

From White Street to Central Park South, Sixth Avenue is known as Avenue of the Americas. It was so named by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1945 to celebrate the unity of the Western Hemisphere. Because New York City played a critical role in fostering Pan-Americanism, lampposts along the avenue bear symbols of the different Western nations. At 59th Street, statues of Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, and José Martí, donated by the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, and Cuba, stand at the entrance to Central Park. Each statue has its own plaza, designed by Gilmore D. Clarke. There is a statue of Brazil’s revolutionary, José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, on the Avenue of the Americas near the entrance to Bryant Park, between 40th and 42nd Streets. The name was almost changed back to Sixth Avenue in 1984 to make it easier for tourists, but some New Yorkers protested the change, and Sixth Avenue remains officially Avenu…

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