Midwood is a large neighborhood, and it has several streets known among the locals for shopping and eating. Coney Island Avenue runs the length of Midwood from north to south and is the busiest of the different commercial streets. Avenue M has a similar atmosphere and mix of businesses. Ocean Parkway, which runs parallel to Coney Island Avenue, is not a commercial thoroughfare, although the street is a historic landmark — a grand boulevard inspired by European forerunners but on an even bigger scale. Ocean Parkway was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, of Central Park and Prospect Park fame, as part of a Brooklyn parkway system and inaugurated in 1876.