La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
I rode the subway a few times while I was in New York, not as often as I usually do. The train was fairly busy when I met Cesar and Daisy at Grand Central Station, but I did get to sit. The train to Coney Island to meet The Kid Brother was empty and pleasant.
I would have enjoyed having the time and energy to get on and off the subway throughout the city to take pictures of the stations. Many stations have been improved in recent years and some of the new murals and tile work are stunning.
I don’t know New York’s subway system very well, the buses not at all. The Kid Brother knows it by heart and obsesses over subway maps. Big sister Dale knew how to get everywhere in the city by bus or train and she was always on the go. I knew the two trains in our neighborhood, the F train and the D train. The F train station was a 4-minute walk and the D-train was 10 minutes. That’s not taking into account waiting for the elevator on the 16th floor and finally reaching the ground.
I took the F train to work for about a year when I worked for an ad agency in midtown, first on Park Avenue and 56th Street, and then on 6th Avenue and 49th (that was across the street from Radio City Music Hall, and minutes from Rockefeller Center and Saks Fifth Avenue. I spent my measly paycheck on designer clothes at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Many of the lines and stations have different names now, so I don’t even know as much as I used to. The D train that I would catch at Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach Avenue is now the Q train. Our old station for the F train, 4 minutes from home, was called Van Sicklen and opened in 1920. The station is now called Neptune Avenue, which makes sense because that’s where it stops, having been changed in 1995.
I finally learned why it was called Van Sicklen in the first place. It was the name of the family that owned the property through which the original surface right-of-way passed. They operated the popular Van Sicklen Hotel right there. Another Van Sicklen family member had a farm there. The hotel was demolished in 1929. The Van Sicklens were a prominent Dutch family. I was born on Van Siclen (no “k”) Avenue in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, 10 miles (a 30-minute drive or about 1-1/2 hours by train) from where we later lived, after our return from 8 years in the suburbs.
This is what’s known as stream of consciousness. What was I talking about? Oh, yes, the subway! The photo above is of the old Atlantic Avenue station in downtown Brooklyn. Built in 1908 and known as the Atlantic Avenue Control House, it’s no longer in use, and the entrance doors have been removed and repurposed as skylights in the roof—providing natural light for the station below. The final photo shows what it used to be attached to before the train was taken underground. OK, I’m really done streaming my consciousness, for the moment. Get out while you still can.
Viajé en metro varias veces durante mi estancia en Nueva York, no tan a menudo como de costumbre. El tren iba bastante lleno cuando me encontré con Cesar y Daisy en la Grand Central Station, pero pude sentarme. El tren a Coney Island para encontrarme con el Hermanito iba vacío y era agradable.
Me habría gustado tener tiempo y energía para subir y bajar del metro por toda la ciudad y tomar fotos de las estaciones. Muchas estaciones han mejorado en los últimos años y algunos de los nuevos murales y azulejos son impresionantes.
No conozco muy bien el sistema de transporte público de Nueva York. El Hermanito se lo sabe de memoria y está obsesionado con los mapas del metro. Mi hermana mayor, Dale, sabía cómo llegar a todas partes de la ciudad en autobús o tren y siempre estaba en movimiento. Conocía los dos trenes de nuestro barrio, el F y el D. La estación del F estaba a 4 minutos a pie y el D a 10 minutos. Eso sin contar la espera del ascensor en el piso 16 y finalmente llegar al sótano.
Tomé el tren F para ir a trabajar durante aproximadamente un año cuando trabajaba para una agencia de publicidad en el centro, primero en Park Avenue y la calle 56, y luego en la 6.ª Avenida y la calle 49 (que estaba al otro lado de la calle del Radio City Music Hall y a minutos del Rockefeller Center y Saks Fifth Avenue. Gastaba mi miserable sueldo en ropa de diseñador en Saks Fifth Avenue.
Muchas de las líneas y estaciones tienen nombres diferentes ahora, así que ni siquiera sé tanto como antes. El tren D que tomaba en Ocean Parkway y Brighton Beach Avenue ahora es el tren Q. Nuestra antigua estación para el tren F, a 4 minutos de casa, se llamaba Van Sicklen y se inauguró en 1920. La estación ahora se llama Neptune Avenue, lo cual tiene sentido porque ahí es donde para, ya que se cambió en 1995.
Finalmente aprendí por qué se llamaba Van Sicklen en primer lugar. Era el nombre de la familia propietaria de la propiedad por la que pasaba el derecho de paso original. Operaban el popular hotel de Coney Island, el Van Sicklen. Sicklen, justo ahí. Otro miembro de la familia Van Sicklen tenía una granja allí. El hotel fue demolido en 1929. Los Van Sicklen eran una prominente familia holandesa. Nací en la avenida Van Sicklen (sin “k”), en el barrio de East New York, en Brooklyn, a 16 kilómetros (30 minutos en coche o aproximadamente una hora y media en tren) de donde vivimos después, tras nuestro regreso de ocho años en las afueras.
Esto es lo que se conoce como flujo de conciencia. ¿De qué hablaba? ¡Ah, sí, del metro! La foto de arriba es de la antigua estación de Atlantic Avenue en el centro de Brooklyn. Construida en 1908 y conocida como la Casa de Control de Atlantic Avenue, ya no se usa, y las puertas de entrada se han retirado y reutilizado como tragaluces en el techo, proporcionando luz natural a la estación. La foto final muestra cómo estaba fijado antes de que el tren fuera llevado bajo tierra. Vale, ya he terminado el flujo de mi conciencia, por el momento. Sal mientras aún puedas.
• Al lado del parque Bryant y la biblioteca publica de Nueva York.
• Estación de tren de Stillwell Avenue/Coney Island. Vista desde Surf Avenue.
• El tren en el que viajé a Coney Island.
• Múltiples niveles dentro de la estación de Coney Island Stillwell Avenue.
• Dentro de la estación de Coney Island.
• A pesar de la pared de ladrillos de cristal, un espacio lúgubre y anticuado.
• Estación de metro de la calle 42.
• Jack y Jill subieron la colina para ir a buscar un cubo de agua. Jack se cayó y se rompió la corona y Jill vino cayendo tras
• La cita completa de Carl Jung: «La naturaleza no debe ganar el juego, pero no puede perder. Y siempre que la mente consciente se aferra a conceptos rígidos y se deja atrapar por sus propias reglas y normas —como es inevitable y propio de la conciencia civilizada, la naturaleza emerge con sus ineludibles exigencias».
Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Haz clic en las miniaturas para ampliar.
Pretty profound Jungian quotation for a subway station!
Debra,
I thought so, too. And like most Jungian quotations, it was clear as mud.
Some of these stations are an existential experience. The psychedelic flower carriage would be quite an experience after a night of partying. Boud.
Boud,
It was being a contestant on the Dating Game.
I need to spend enough time there to find my way around. The most comprehensive system in the country.
David,
It IS pretty amazing.
I know I will be calling Chuck to assist with this system should I/we ever return to NYC.
Amazing mosaics and LOVE the Coney Island train colours!!
‘Stream away anytime….’
Jim,
It might be time to retell the story of Chuck giving me directions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Jim,
Chuck is truly a wonder.
I would love to visit NYC, but I’d be so intimidated by having to manage to get around! If I ever get to go maybe I should ask Chuck to be my tour guide! 🙂 I’ll bet he’d be great at it.
Jennifer
Jennifer,
I’ll find the link to my blog post when Chuck told us how to get the metropolitan museum of art.
The Coney Island train certainly screams Coney Island. And I love the mosaic artwork; it’s nice that these utilitarian spaces have some form of artwork in them.
And I like the history lessons and the stream on consciousness.
Bob,
The art in some stations exceptional and some shows humor as well.
My stream of consciousness these days alternated between inundation and a dried-up creek bed. Jack & Gill were actually a gay couple, but the name was changed in an act of heterofascism.
WickedHamster,
But what were Jack and Gill really going up the hill for?
Stream of consciousness is quite appropriate when writing about the NYC subway system, I think. Little stops here and there and then back to movement towards wherever it is you may be going.
It amazes me how many people are employed to maintain the systems for all of those who live in the city including themselves. It’s sort of a never-ending system in itself.
Ms. Moon
Ms. Moon,
It is an impressive system. When not so mobbed you can’t breathe, it can actually be a pleasant experience.
Far different from the pictures of NY’s subway trains covered in graffiti from the past. I like the mosaic of the tree roots descending down.
ellen abbot:
The trains and stations don’t look like they did when I lived there. I love those mosaics at 42nd Street.
I did not know Jill was Gill. I’ve been to NYC a number of times but have never taken the subway. I’m sure I’d get lost. Your photos are gorgeous. They make the subway look inviting and very different from the way it looks in movies and TV shows.
Love,
Janie
janiejunebug,
I just learned that about Gill when writing this post. The subway experience can be very much what you see in the movies.
My dad had an ancestor who was one of the early Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York). At one point, there were some relatives who claimed that this ancestor owned the land where Manhattan is now and wanted compensation for it. I think there actually was some kind of hearing but the judge said there were too many descendants now to equitably split up the money so nothing came of it. Pity…
Descendants including the Lenape tribe which was there first….
Olivia,
Yes, I was going to say that would sure open a can of worms!
TexasTrailerParkTrash,
Your family would have to get in line behind the Lenapes. What a can of worms that would open! But what a wonderful ancestry!
Amazing pictures! When I go to New York I very sort of know over take the subway anymore. I either Uber or take taxis. I don’t think I’ve been on a subway since the clubbing days. Although I will say some of those stations have gotten very creative.
Mistress Maddie,
When I was working there, I remember getting out of cabs because the traffic was so bad and instead running to my meet-ups. I would love to do an art tour of the stations. Have you seen Delancy street?
Oh, it feels dreary and dated inside? I didn’t have that impression, just seeing the pictures of the good parts, that you shared. It’s better than yucky, dirty, grey, urine-stinky subway stations in some places, though, right?
Judy C,
You’re right. It used to be dirty and smell like urine!
You left out the song!
https://youtu.be/AE1ct5yEuVY?si=cfoKbFathN-njUZM
Erik,
Is that you on lead vocals?!?
We have gone to NYC often enough to know – take a couple of deep breaths and then venture into the hole in the ground. I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring which lines will get us from point to point, but it’s disconcerting if your not into crowds.
We’re hitting the city again over the holidays; driving down to the visit with Rob and Laura in New Rochelle and taking the commuter rail into Grand Central from there.
Rade,
I want to visit Rob and Laura!!!
Having been in London for over a quarter of a century, we know the London Underground (the world’s first!) very well indeed. With that and the bus network, one can never be completely lost in London – there’s always some way of getting home, no matter where you find yourself, or how many changes you have to make en route.
Believe me, I know: from some (embarrassing) past moments when I have woken up at “the end of the line” after a heavy evening’s socialising! (On one occasion, I awoke40 miles away from the metropolis, but that’s another story…) Jx
Jon,
I hope those 40 miles were worth it. SG once rode a Seattle bus to the end of the line because he picked up the driver. SG usually got motion sick!
I never would have expected that artwork! The only subways I’ve ever ridden are the London Underground.
Kelly,
The trains stations are worth an art tour. Delaney Street station has stunning fish mosaics. I see it from the train but have never gotten off to take pictures.
I love subways, but the NYC system always seems to confuse me a bit. Maybe it is because there are so many lines. Love your photos!
Michael,
That’s what amazes me about Chuck. He reads barely on a first grade level, but he looks at the subway maps and understands everything.
He certainly has me beat on that as the NY system always perplexes me. I guess if I lived there, it wouldn’t be so confusing. At least I hope so!
The subway stations you’ve featured are much more colourful and cleaner than I expected, though I’m sure there are still filthy, rat-infested, graffitied lines in NYC… or is Stephen Colbert wrong?!
Tundra Bunny,
Some stations can be dismal and depressing to me. But I haven’t been in a filthy, graffitied station in years I’ve never even seen rats but I know they’re prolific in the tunnels. I did see a rat in the station on the London Underground the last time we were there!
I love this! I’m a bit of a transit nerd as you probably know. Back in the day, long before the attacks,, the agency I worked for had its downstate offices in the WTC and I spent a little time there. I loved that! One of my work colleagues lived out in Brooklyn so I got to take the F train a time or two. Ditmas Av station, if I remember correctly.
Walt the Fourth,
I’ve never gotten off at Ditmas Avenue but I’ve passed it hundreds of times. When we lived in Connecticut I commuted to NYC for a while. I did enjoy that.
The New York subway system is something I never understood and felt it was too dangerous to take.
larrymuffin:
I’ve felt uncomfortable at times but have never had a problem nor witnessed one. However, the statistics are another matter.
Like the Jung quote. So true.
Kirk:
Karl Jung’s quotes sometimes lose me.
I believe those stations must have been renovated since I lived there. I don’t remember the Jungian tile work or the glass-brick wall at Coney Island. (At least not with the roller coaster on it.) But maybe I’ve just forgotten. Entirely possible.
The Van Sic(k)len history is interesting.
Steve:
I think the tile-work quotes at 42nd Street and Bryant Park were done around 2002. Long after I left New York. I saw them for the first time on when of my visits back after moving to Spain. Also, I was never in the Coney Island Station until moving to Spain. We always walked from our neighborhood. I have no idea what it looked like before but I assumed the glass brick art was relatively new. There’s a lifeguard chair set-up, as well, that you see when you come down from the train platforms.