The thoroughfares and grid system of Manhattan are iconic.

City streets take on a life of their own, with particularly famous roads such as Wall Street, Park Avenue, and Broadway conjuring images of specific subcultures in the minds of those who have never even visited the city. People who live in New York often pride themselves on loyalty to their specific block, much in the way others feel loyal to their hometown, or even home zip code. To have one of these streets named after you is perhaps the greatest honor the city can bestow on a longtime resident.

Honorary ways pepper the city with the names and legacies of cultural and political figures, ranging from former mayors to baseball giants. These “ways” are side streets off of main roads, with honorary titles usually being bestowed on the passageway for the length of one block. Think of it like a subtitle to the full title of the street; you may be walking down East 3rd Street, but if you’re between Avenue B and Avenue C, you’re also on Reverend Pedro Pietri Way!

Countless theatrical figures have been honored in this fashion, but we here at Playbill have gathered 13 of these honorary passageways that can be visited while you walking to or from your next performance. 

Don’t forget to pay your respect to the legends of yesteryear!

Upper Manhattan Passageways

Cecily Tyson Way: East 101st Street, between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue

Humphrey Bogart Place: West 103rd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue

Paul Robeson Boulevard: Edgecombe Avenue, between West 155th Street and West 171st Street

Midtown Passageways

Katharine Hepburn Place: East 49th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue

Gershwin Way: West 50th Street between 8th Avenue and Broadway

Jerry Orbach Way: Northwest corner of West 53rd Street and 8th Avenue

West Village Passageways

Jerome Robbins Place: The intersection of West 62nd Street and Columbus Avenue

Jacques d’Amboise Way: Northwest corner of West 64th Street and Columbus Avenue

Leonard Bernstein Place: West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

Lower Manhattan Passageways

Terrence McNally Way: The northeast corner of University Place and East 9th Street

Joseph Papp Way: The intersection of Astor Place and Lafayette Street

Lee Strasberg Way: East 15th Street, between Union Square East and Irving Place

Tin Pan Alley: West 28th Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway