East 86th Street was once nicknamed the ‘German Broadway’.
Until the years after World War II, Yorkville on the East Side was a predominantly German community, and East 86th Street was known as the German Broadway. Since the late 1980s nearly all the distinctly German shops have disappeared. The 1811 grid plan made 86th Street one of 15 crosstown streets 100 feet wide; ordinary streets were 60 feet.