Today I walked Madison Avenue, which runs 6 miles from 23rd Street at Madison Square Park to 148th St. in Harlem.

Madison Avenue, which lies in between 5th Avenue and Park Avenue (originally 4th Avenue), was a bit of an afterthought. It did not exist on the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 (the master plan the laid out the grid of Manhattan north of 14th St.), but was created by lawyer and real estate developer, Samuel Ruggles. Ruggles was also responsible for the development of Lexington Avenue (Madison Avenue's counterpart between Park and 3rd), Gramercy Park, and Union Square, and in his later life served as Commissioner for the Erie Canal.

More than anything else Madison Avenue is best known for its role in the history of the American Advertising Industry. Beginning in the 1920's, Madison Avenue was ground-zero for all advertising firms in New York. But, just as many of the City's financial firms no longer have physical offices on Wall St., most ad agencies have left Madison Avenue (a trend started when Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce moved to the Time Life Building on 6th Avenue in their fourth season).

It's worth noting that Madison Square Garden is not located on Madison Avenue. Four separate buildings have carried that name, but only the first two ("MSG I" and "MSG II") were actually on Madison Square. MSG I was built as a station for the New York and Harlem railroad in the 1870's but later leased to P.T. Barnum, who converted it into an oval arena with seating for 10,000 he called "Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome." It was taken back by the owners of the railroad (the Vanderbilt family) and renamed Madison Square Garden in 1879, and continued to function as venue for sporting events and exhibitions until 1890, when it was closed and replaced by MSG II.

Perhaps the most interesting detail about MSG II is that it was built by famous architect Stanford White, who kept an apartment in the building and was later murdered there. White had been involved in an extramarital affair with actress Evelyn Nesbit, and when Nesbit's husband, millionaire Harry Thaw, found out, he shot White in the restaurant on the rooftop of MSG II. The ensuing murder trial was hyped by the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst, and was one of the first "Trials of the Century." MSG II was demolished in 1925 and replaced by the New York Life Building.

Start of walk

Madison Ave. at 138th St.

Basketball court

Madison Ave. btw 138th St. and 135th St.

Taj Mahal

Madison Ave. btw 135th St. and 132nd St.

View up Madison Ave.

Madison Ave. btw 135th St. and 132nd St.

Laundromat

Madison Ave. btw 135th St. and 132nd St.

Corner deli

Madison Ave. btw 132nd St. and 131st St.

Church windows

Madison Ave. btw 130th St. and 129th St.

Purple house

Madison Ave. btw 128th St. and 127th St.

Brownstones

Madison Ave. btw 127th St. and 126th St.

Cool building

Madison Ave. btw 125th St. and 124th St.

Pharmacy

Madison Ave. btw 125th St. and 124th St.

Marcus Garvey Park

Madison Ave. btw 123rd St. and 122nd St.

Fine Fare

Madison Ave. btw 115th St. and 112th St.

PURGE

Madison Ave. btw 111th St. and 110th St.

Empty parking lot

Madison Ave. btw 105th St. and 104th St.

Madison Avenue corner

Madison Ave. btw 98th St. and 97th St.

Mt. Sinai Hospital

Madison Ave. btw 98th St. and 97th St.

UES Castle

Madison Ave. btw 95th St. and 94th St.

Madison Ave. apartments and rowhomes

Madison Ave. btw 94th St. and 93rd St.

View down Madison Ave.

Madison Ave. btw 91st St. and 90th St.

Moving Sale

Madison Ave. btw 88th St. and 87th St.

I thought the brickwork on this one was cool

Madison Ave. btw 85th St. and 84th St.

$63 Million

Madison Ave. btw 83rd St. and 82nd St.

Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home: Famous People Die Here

Madison Ave. btw 82nd St. and 81st St.

Madison and 79th

Madison Ave. at 79th St.

Madison Avenue mansions

Madison Ave. btw 79th St. and 78th St.

Naked Silver People

Madison Ave. btw 77th St. and 76th St.

Whitney Museum

Madison Ave. btw 75th St. and 74th St.

Antiquities store

Madison Ave. btw 75th St. and 74th St.

Rhinelander Mansion (b. 1898)

Madison Ave. btw 73rd St. and 72nd St.

Rhinelander Mansion - it's the Ralph Lauren flagship store now

Madison Ave. btw 72nd St. and 71st St.

View up Madison Avenue

Madison Ave. btw 69th St. and 68th St.

View down Madison Avenue

Madison Ave. btw 69th St. and 68th St.

Boris Karloff lived here for a bit

Madison Ave. btw 66th St. and 65th St.

Those scarves cost like $400 each

Madison Ave. btw 62nd St. and 61st St.

Bonham's Auction House display

Madison Ave. btw 57th St. and 56th St.

WWII Bomber Jacket for auction

Madison Ave. btw 57th St. and 56th St.

Or if an authentic bomber jacket isn't cool enough, how about an actual space suit?

Madison Ave. btw 57th St. and 56th St.

View up Madison Avenue

Madison Ave. btw 55th St. and 54th St.

I used to work here

Madison Ave. btw 50th St. and 49th St.

Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame

Madison Ave. btw 50th St. and 49th St.

Characters that you might not have realized were invented for advertising campaigns!

Madison Ave. btw 50th St. and 49th St.

Where's the beef?

Madison Ave. btw 50th St. and 49th St.

View up Madison Avenue

Madison Ave. btw 49th St. and 48th St.

Former Bear Stearns building

Madison Ave. btw 49th St. and 48th St.

Odd angle

Madison Ave. btw 40th St. and 39th St.

Morgan Library & Museum (J. P. Morgan's stuff)

Madison Ave. btw 37th St. and 36th St.

Remsen Building

Madison Ave. btw 31st St. and 30th St.

View down Madison Avenue

Madison Ave. btw 31st St. and 30th St.

Cool building

Madison Ave. btw 30th St. and 29th St.

I think it's awesome that someone went to the trouble of making these things so ornate, even though a lot of the detail can't be seen from the street

Madison Ave. btw 30th St. and 29th St.

Statues

Madison Ave. btw 25th St. and 24th St.

Towers along Madison Square Park

Madison Ave. btw 25th St. and 24th St.

Clock

Madison Ave. btw 24th St. and 23rd St.