Murray Hill Tunnel, Park Avenue South

Murray Hill Tunnel starts at 33rd Street and runs to 40th Street...this is shot on lower Park Avenue looking north towards Grand Central Terminal and the Met Life Building -- which some people still refer to sometimes as the Pan Am Building!(its original name).

Park Avenue and Park Avenue South have a complicated history...to make it simple: thoroughfare was originally called Fourth Avenue--which now only exists below 14th Street.

Because of plantings in median strip, upper area of Fourth Avenue became to be known as Park Avenue...which sounds a lot better to most people.

Park Avenue starts at 33rd Street..stretch below that down to 17th Street was originally Fourth Avenue but was changed to Park Avenue South in 1959 by the City Council, apparently after petitioning  by property owners who wanted a "better address."

For a long time, Park Avenue South ( below) was home to big photographic studios, Printing establishments, and other businesses-- then in the 1980's began to be gentrified...with some commercial buildings being turned into apartments. In fact, there used to be a "Photo District" which included Park Avenue South further down, and there still exists a journal called "The Photo District News". At one time half of all the professional photographers in the United States worked in New York...(don't know what the figure is now, but the City is still a photography capital).

Lower Fifth Avenue ( from 33rd to 42nd Street) has always been a mix of office buildings, apartments and hotels. Rents have risen dramatically over the years and there has been some new construction....people have always lived here because of proximity to so many places in Midtown ( which is true of Murray Hill neighborhood generally). 

More years ago than I care to remember, I visited the apartment of family friends who lived at 17 Park Avenue--it was much more affordable then.