It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, though today the name changes twice: At 59th Street/Columbus Circle, it becomes Central Park West, where it forms the western boundary of Central Park, and north of 110th Street/Frederick Douglass Circle, it is known as Frederick Douglass Boulevard before merging onto Harlem River Drive north of 155th Street.

All routes are uptown unless specified below: The southernmost section is known solely as Eighth Avenue between Abingdon Square and Columbus Circle.

New York City's annual gay pride parade takes place along the Greenwich Village section of Eighth Avenue.

However, that section of the avenue also experienced cleanliness issues, and homeless and mentally ill people were prevalent.

In addition, due to the sidewalk-widening projects, parts of Eighth Avenue narrow to two lanes in Midtown.

Central Park West's expensive housing rivals that of Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side.

Several notable residences on Central Park West include: According to The New York Times's architecture critic Paul Goldberger, the street's buildings, both the new ones like 15 Central Park West and the old ones such as The Century, "fit together the same way the ones in that hypothetical Main Street do, and for the same reason.

Other landmarks and institutions along its length include the New-York Historical Society and the American Museum of Natural History.