The painting portrays the small businesses and shops of Seventh Avenue in New York City shortly after sunrise.

A red and blue striped barber pole sits in front of one of the doorways on the right side of the sidewalk, and a green fire hydrant is on the left.

It is said to be "almost a literal translation of Seventh Avenue"; however, a few minor details were changed, like decreasing the size of the doorways and making the lettering on the storefronts less clear.

[3] Scholar Karal Ann Marling notes that Edward Hopper's work "is a prelude to the wakeful coffee urns and to those who tend them to defeat the night".

In the midst of the depression in America, that conservatism is as much a part of the painting’s subject as the closed shops it depicts.