Second Avenue begins right here, at Houston Street.
Second Avenue runs from Houston Street, where this station lies, north to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street; south of Houston it continues as Chrystie Street. In the early 20th century its downtown stretch was home to so many Yiddish theatre productions that it became known as the ‘Yiddish Broadway’ or the ‘Jewish Rialto’. From 2001 to 2010 the station was called Lower East Side–Second Avenue.