Transportation:

Buses and taxi cabs dominate the tar pavement of Madison Avenue. Several blocks away lies the recently opened 2nd avenue subway which better connects this portion of Manhattan to the surrounding boroughs. Of the vehicles present on the street, the majority of them were expensive luxury cars such as Cadillacs and Lincolns. The vehicles were also surprisingly clean, especially for being on a crowded, Manhattan street. In the evenings and  nighttime, it is common to see limousines passing by the street. Additionally, there are middle-class owned vehicles and city bikes that travel through Madison Avenue throughout the day.

Presentation:

Businesses on Madison avenue carefully choose where and how to display their highly valued products. Boxes are scarce and each individual item is given its own special treatment. Displays are elegant and exemplify the key aspects of the product. The stores with elaborate displays also appear very empty on the inside, unlike many lower-end store which are very cluttered on the inside. Security guards are attentive and present right behind the doors of most of the businesses.

People:

Madison avenues clientele are well dressed. During the weekdays, men typically wore suits and women wore dresses. Some even wore fur coats. They all walked with a sense of determination, only stopping for vehicles on the road. Not much shopping went on during the week; the people on the street walked as if they had a destination to go to. Very few children were present during the week. However, during the weekend (especially during spring break), many families were present along the street along with dog walkers and joggers. On the weekends, there is a significant decrease in the formality of the street with many individuals wearing athletic wear as they went for their strolls and jogs.

Atmosphere:

Surprisingly, the atmosphere of Madison avenue was very relaxed  and genuinely carefree. People on the street were very polite, some greeted us as we walked along and kindly thanked us for simple acts of courtesy. Also, since a large number of people who shopped on the street were locals, they all seemed to have a connection with each other. Many families would see other families that they were familiar with and stop to have a quick conversation with each other. There is a strong sense of a well-knit community on Madison Avenue, particularly from 74th to 78th Street.

Food:

Madison Avenue has a few breakfast carts scattered around which sells items such as pastries and bagels. Also there are many coffee shops and bakeries along Madison Avenue. It is important to note that, along 74th Avenue to 78th Street, there are no big fast-food chains. The food businesses are mostly owned by a single person or a family and are the only restaurant of its kind.

Periodicals:

At various points throughout the street free periodicals were available. Some include: Education Update, Gotham, New York Family, and New York Open Center. The majority of these were fashion, family, and education magazines. This demonstrates the importance of fashion, family and education which can also be seen in the census data.

Social Media:

Most stores on Madison Avenue are not very active on social media. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the shoppers on Madison Avenue are older people who live locally in the area. Basically, the only stores which have somewhat of a social media presence are some of the clothing and jewelry stores which have significant amounts of younger customers.

Ethnographic Observations:

The people on Madison Avenue are mostly white with almost all of the store owners, managers, and security guards being white. The majority of the minorities on the street are working as product transporters. However, the people walking on the avenue, especially during the weekends, are somewhat diverse, although the majority of the people are white.