The 2.8 km avenue running east–west along the ridge at the heart of São Paulo is the closest thing the city has to a Champs-Élysées — and the spine that the surrounding districts hang off. Originally laid out in 1891 as a boulevard of coffee-baron mansions, it is now the financial artery, lined with skyscrapers and the city's densest run of cultural institutions: MASP, the Japan House, the Instituto Moreira Salles, the Itaú Cultural, and the Casa das Rosas, one of the last surviving mansions.
On Sundays the whole avenue is closed to cars and given over to cyclists, joggers, skateboarders, and live music, and it turns into the city's great democratic promenade. It is also where São Paulo comes to protest and to celebrate — the New Year's countdown and the Pride parade, one of the largest in the world, both fill it end to end. Walk it from MASP toward Consolação for the museums, or just come on a Sunday for the crowd.