Remember, ?Even = East?: All Avenues run north (uptown) to south (downtown). Streets always run east to west (crosstown). With the exception of large cross-streets that run in both directions, even-numbered streets run one-way towards the east and odd-numbered streets run one-way towards the west.

Memorizing the NYC layout is easiest when you understand the Manhattan Grid and the "Avenue" system. Manhattan’s streets generally run East-West and use even numbers for Eastbound traffic and odd for Westbound. Avenues run North-South; a handy mnemonic for Uptown avenues is: "You can take a CAB back home if it's Late PM," representing Columbus, Amsterdam, Broadway, Lexington, Park, and Madison. For the subway, remember that colors represent the Avenue the line follows in Manhattan (e.g., the Green 4/5/6 runs under Lexington Ave). To memorize the map, don't try to learn every stop; instead, master the "hubs" like Times Square, Union Square, and Fulton Street. A "pro tip" for 2026 is to use the subway's black and white dots on the map—black dots are local stops, while white dots are express. The best way to learn is by "doing": ride the lines, look at the physical maps at every station to see where you are in relation to the street grid, and remember that "Uptown" always means heading toward higher-numbered streets (North) and "Downtown" means toward lower numbers (South).