Manhattan, New York

Everything Manhattan is known for

5 songs mention this city 4 artists from here

Manhattan, New York, is a global epicenter of musical innovation, performance, and commerce, known for its fast pace and continuous urban energy. The borough has been a thriving home for popular genres like jazz, rock, soul music, R&B, funk, and the urban blues, and is the birthplace of hip-hop, disco, and punk rock. Artists such as Carole King, known for pop music, call Manhattan home, and the borough is mentioned in songs like "Nightclub" by Old 97s.

Manhattan's musical prominence began in the late 19th century with Tin Pan Alley, a district that served as the cradle of the U.S. music industry. The borough also hosts iconic venues like Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater, and its Broadway theaters continue to shape New York City's cultural identity.

Music in Manhattan

Songs About Manhattan

Nightclub
Old 97s
82%
"Eighteen-hundred miles from Manhattan"
wolves of new york
luke callen
24%
1970 Somethin’
The Notorious B.I.G.
7%
"Catch a cab to Manhattan"
What’s Happenin’
Method Man
4%
"Manhattan (Come on)"
P.I.M.P. Remix
Snoop Dogg
4%
"I got my business in Manhattan"

Artists From Manhattan

P
Paloma Mami
chilean trap, reggaeton chileno Pop: 65
C
Carole King
pop Pop: 62
L
Lil Man
other Pop: 15
T
The Tune Twisters
rock Pop: 1

Rivers & Roads in Song near Manhattan

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Manhattan.

Interstate 95 13 songs Hudson River 8 songs New Jersey Turnpike 4 songs

Musical Heritage

CBGB — Birthplace of American Punk RoadyGoat

1973

The narrow storefront at 315 Bowery was CBGB, the grimy club where American punk and new wave were essentially born. Hilly Kristal opened it in December 1973, and the name is one of music's great ironies: CBGB & OMFUG stood for 'Country, BlueGrass, Blues, and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers' (Kristal meant a 'voracious eater' — of music). Almost no country or bluegrass ever played there. Instead the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Television cut their teeth on its tiny stage through the 1970s. CBGB closed on October 15, 2006 over a lease dispute, and Kristal died of lung cancer the following year. The space later became a John Varvatos clothing boutique (opened April 2008), which kept some of the club's graffiti and posters; 'CBGB 73' is still etched in the cement at the entrance.

Holsten's — The Sopranos' Cut-to-Black Diner RoadyGoat

1939

Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery sits at 1063 Broad Street in Bloomfield, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and candy shop that has been making its own chocolate and ice cream since 1939 (and is still open). It earned a permanent place in TV history on June 10, 2007, when 'Made in America,' the series finale of HBO's 'The Sopranos,' filmed its last scene in one of Holsten's vinyl booths. Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, ordered onion rings and punched up Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' on the jukebox before the screen abruptly cut to black for roughly ten seconds — an ending so sudden many viewers thought their cable had failed. The original booth became a fan shrine, but it was actually sold at auction in March 2024 for about 82,600 dollars; the shop welcomes fans to sit in its place today.

11.0 mi away

History of Manhattan

Lombardi's Pizza RoadyGoat

Gennaro Lombardi opened America's first licensed pizzeria on Spring Street in Manhattan in 1905. The coal-fired oven produces a charred, blistered crust that set the template for New York-style pizza. Every pizza dynasty in New York — Patsy's, John's, Totonno's — traces its lineage back to Lombardi's. The original location closed in 1984 but reopened around the corner in 1994, and the coal oven has been burning ever since.

McSorley's Old Ale House RoadyGoat

McSorley's has been pouring in the East Village since 1854, making it New York City's oldest bar. Abraham Lincoln drank here. Woody Guthrie drank here. The menu is light ale or dark ale — that's it. Sawdust covers the floor. Wishbones hang from the gas lamp, left by soldiers heading to World War I who never came back. Women weren't allowed until a 1970 court order.

Ellis Island - The Border Runs Through the Building RoadyGoat

1892

For over a century, everyone assumed Ellis Island was in New York. It appeared on New York maps, New York politicians claimed it, and twelve million immigrants who passed through between 1892 and 1954 were told they had arrived in New York. But the original Ellis Island was just three acres of mud and oyster shells. An 1834 compact between the two states placed this tiny island under New York's jurisdiction, even though it sits clearly on New Jersey's side of the harbor. Here is the twist. Between 1891 and 1934, the federal government massively expanded the island with landfill, growing it to over twenty-seven acres. All that new land was built in waters that the 1834 compact had explicitly granted to New Jersey. In 1997, New Jersey sued. The Supreme Court ruled six to three in 1998 that the original island remains New York territory, but all the landfill belongs to New Jersey. The border between the two states now runs through the middle of buildings on Ellis Island, following the ghost of the original shoreline. Roughly eighty-three percent of Ellis Island is in New Jersey. The main building where millions of immigrants were processed sits mostly in New Jersey. The gift shop where you buy the Statue of Liberty magnet that says New York is in New Jersey.

World Trade Center / Ground Zero

2001

Site of the September 11, 2001 attacks that destroyed the Twin Towers and killed 2,977 people.

Ellis Island Immigration Station

1892

From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

Brooklyn Bridge

1869

The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and the longest suspension bridge in the world for twenty years.

CBGB

1973

CBGB at 315 Bowery was the birthplace of American punk rock, launching the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Television.

Ellis Island (New Jersey Side)

1892

In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that most of Ellis Island's landmass belongs to New Jersey, not New York.

Tin Pan Alley

1885

The stretch of West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue where the American popular music publishing industry was born.

Things to Do in Manhattan

historical 2.7 mi away
Statue of Liberty

Give me your tired your poor. 305 feet of copper freedom since 1886.
food 0.7 mi away
Lombardi's Pizza

America's first pizzeria opened in 1905 on Spring Street in Manhattan. Coal-fired oven. The original New York slice started here.
food 1.1 mi away
Katz's Delicatessen

I'll have what she's having. NYC's legendary pastrami since 1888.
food 1.3 mi away
McSorley's Old Ale House

NYC's oldest bar since 1854. Lincoln drank here. You get light or dark — that's it. Sawdust floors and wishbones on the gas lamp.
food 2.3 mi away
Peter Luger Steak House

Brooklyn's legendary porterhouse palace since 1887. Cash only. The steak sauce is iconic. Zagat's top steakhouse for 30 straight years.
food 6.6 mi away
Di Fara Pizza

One man hand-cutting basil and drizzling olive oil on every pizza since 1965 in Brooklyn.
historical 7.2 mi away
Apollo Theater

Amateur Night launched Ella James Brown and a young Michael Jackson. Harlem's crown jewel.
food 9.7 mi away
Nathan's Famous (Original)

The Coney Island hot dog stand that started it all in 1916. Home of the July 4th eating contest. Mustard not ketchup.

Everything Near Manhattan

377 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Manhattan on the Map
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