walk the street, walked along the street

[dcomest]

(a) He walked the street listening to music.
(b) He walked along the street listening to music.

Are both sentences grammartically correct? If so, which one is more commonly used and what's the difference?

[Marylin]

Originally Posted by dcomest

(a) He walked the street listening to music.
(b) He walked along the street listening to music.

Are both sentences grammartically correct? If so, which one is more commonly used and what's the difference?

Both are grammatically correct but the first one can have two meanings.

walk the streets means to walk from one street to another, especially when one is looking for a job (same as pounding the pavement).
If you say, young teenage girls in Vancouver are walking the streets late at night, it means they are soliciting as prostitutes.

Myself I would use #2 or else you can say "he was walking down the street.."