Midtown New York

Willysnout not only is using downtown to refer to below Houston, but below Canal.

What neighborhood is the West 20s above 23rd/24th street if not Chelsea?

I agree about the last paragraph, I used to live below 34th street, I certainly wouldn't be offended by people calling where I lived 'midtown'...

Thanks everyone. Excellent info and thanks to those who provided maps. Much clearer than my guide book.

Okay, I'll yield to the City of New York, which shows downtown as anything below Spring and Delancey streets. Canal is probably too far south. But the point remains the same: midtown and downtown don't border each other. The city shows midtown starting between 23rd and 34th between 5th and 9th (it appears that this is mainly for the purpose of including Penn Station and Madison Square Garden in midtown), and otherwise above 34th.

I think if you're visiting Manhattan, consider Midtown to be the area around Times Square. If you're investing in property you should do more research as to where the location is.
NYC has a bunch of neighbourhoods that are areas that have been given acronyms for names, ie TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal), NoLIta (North Little Italy), DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass (not in Manhattan but the phenomenon spreads)) etc.

So the point being is that NYC'ers seem to be more elegant than just dividing the city into Down, Mid & Uptown. Specifying where you want to go in NYC is much like choosing a Bordeaux wine. If you're not specific you will be "poo pooed" and "tisk tisked" to the scrap heap of the UnHip!!

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<hr>So the point being is that NYC'ers seem to be more elegant than just dividing the city into Down, Mid & Uptown. Specifying where you want to go in NYC is much like choosing a Bordeaux wine. If you're not specific you will be "poo pooed" and "tisk tisked" to the scrap heap of the UnHip!!<hr></blockquote>
Only on the TT. In New York itself, people tend to be pretty helpful.

>>>I do believe you're flat wrong, as is any guidebook that says midtown starts at 14th St.

Frommer's defines Midtown as beginning at 14th Street: Frommer's list of Midtown neighborhoods

The TimeOut guidebook also defines it as points north of 14th Street.

Wikipedia also defines it as beginning at 14th Street: Wikipedia link. Elsewhere, Wikipedia discusses differing perspectives on what comprises Midtown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midtown_Manhattan</a><BR><BR>There is no one answer to the question, because Midtown can be used in both a narrower descriptor and as a catch-all term that is used to describe several neighborhoods together. The latter definition, which includes areas such as Chelsea, involves using 14th Street as a dividing line, because that's the point at which the grid begins.

"I think if you're visiting Manhattan, consider Midtown to be the area around Times Square."

ok, seriously OP, do NOT listen to this. it is absolutely incorrect.

Midtown is not just "the area around Times Square". despite all our bickering about 14th street, 34th street, etc, all of the New Yorkers here would agree that midtown includes Herald Square, the Grand Central area, Columbus Circle, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the east 50's, MSG/penn station, probably the UN, etc. to be included in our definition, and none of those areas would be considered by a local to be "the area around Times Square".

if you confuse "area around Times Square" and "midtown", you could potentially get quite lost or find yourself in a major misunderstanding. it would be a recipe for assuming new yorkers are rude and give bad directions, cab drivers are out to scam you, hotel websites lie, and the like. the best way for this not to happen is to try and understand NYC geography as locals see it (even if it seems complicated and full of weird distinctions and matters of opinion), rather than thinking of it in your own terms. especially if home is a suburban or rural area. this is the major mistake i see friends and family make when they visit me here, and it prevents them from EVER understanding how the city works, no matter how often they visit.

Having re-read OP's question... <blockquote>Quote
<hr>what area defines "Midtown" in New York City<hr></blockquote>

this is any interesting question, IMHO.

My understanding is that NYC is comprised of Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Isle, Manhattan & The Bronx. So looking on a map I would suggest "Midtown" is somewhere in north Brooklyn or south Queen's.

But I'm from Canuckistan, Toronto is the universal "MIdtown"!

#24 - Downtown is defined by Spring St and Delancey? Because it's the upper limit on a map of a 'historical walk' on the city's tourism website?

Nobody would ever split Soho and the Lower East Side in half to define downtown. Stick with Canal St as your border for downtown, at least you might find a few other people who are afraid to leave the Upper East Side to agree with you.

Any demarcation that says you can travel from east to west and enter and leave midtown is clunky and confused. Don't believe everything the government tells you.

I'll reiterate #28 that midtown most definitely encompasses more than Times Square, which in itself is a rather small area. Even if you're not including the various neighborhoods adjacent to the main business district.

As far as some guidebooks and hotel and tourism websites are concerned, midtown in a broader sense will extend down to 14th street, even if residents of Chlesea or Gramercy would never tell anyone they live in midtown. People have posted before asking about 'midtown' hotels that were located below 34th street, I'd imagine Frommer's is not the only guidebook or website that will define NYC this way...