very simple

Continuing on the 1/2/3 line for now, 34th Street advertises itself as connecting to Penn Station, but I’ve always found the A/C/E train over on 8th Avenue to be the more convenient station. Despite the signage here, you’ll be trekking underground for some ways to get into the station itself. Of course, convenience is a matter of degree, and if your coming from somewhere that is along this train line, this station does provide that connection.

There’s a lot of nice tiled sign work in this station, mostly emphasizing the Penn station connection, as well as some raven-related pure artwork. The art itself is part of a collection called “A Bird’s Life” by Elizabeth Grajales, and the description I could find only indicates that it depicts birds nurturing their young. Yet again, I feel like there is something distinctly lacking in the explanation for why these particular panels were chosen for this particular station.

Station opened: June 3, 1917
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source: Wikipedia

Times Square is a major transfer station. Rather than trying to capture everything at once, I thought I would capture the particular areas on several trips through, which would inevitably happen as I was traveling along various lines anyway. So this set of pics is largely the area around the 1/2/3 platform, although there are a few shots that veer toward the shuttle and the n/r lines, given their proximity. Above ground, Times Square is sometimes referred to as the “Crossroads of the World”, and the subway station beneath is no different. In addition to the lines that are part of this station “proper”, the MTA has built connecting tunnels to additional trains that are actually under the Port Authority, so that you can transfer for free (buy hiking through some very long tunnels) between what were actually different, competing subway systems before the integration of the IRT (Interboro Rapid Transit), BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit) and IND (the city-owned Independent) by the MTA. For a good explanation of the history of the IRT, BMT and IND, see nycsubway.org. (That site also catalogs a significant amount of subway art, including the artists where known, but I will not be deterred from my own project!).

The artwork here brings in several themes that are fairly obvious – there is the theater district, new years eve revelers, and the general tourist-centrism of the area. I particularly like the little light boxes which each have a different aspect of times square (theater, burlesque, restaurants, etc.) in tiny caricature. Probably the most well-known artist to contribute here is Roy Lichtenstein, who created the pop art work near the shuttle platform. One of the many things that 99% of the people streaming through the station don’t stop to notice on their way through the station on a daily basis (including me!).

Station opened: June 3, 1917
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source: Wikipedia

The West 50th Street 1 train station appears to be half renovated. Half of the station has what looks like the original tiling, along with the companion water damage and staining, and the other half of the station has shiny new tiling, which is somewhat decorative but nowhere near as intrinsically beautiful as the original. Although as we’ll see in some stations down the line, this is still miles better than any renovations performed in the 1970s, in that they at least attempted to inject some decorative elements into the design work. According to Wikipedia, this was actually the first west side station constructed under the original contract with the city.

The other feature of this station are some large mosaics depicting scenes from Alice in Wonderland. I tried to do some research to find out why there was an Alice in Wonderland theme to this station in particular, and the only thing I could find were some references on Forgotten NY and Wikipedia to the fact that it somehow ties to the fact that this station is near the theater district. Which still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, as I don’t recall any major Alice in Wonderland Broadway productions. Maybe more research is in order – feel free to add knowledge in the comments!

Station opened: October 27, 1904 (Alice in Wonderland mosaics installed in 1994)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

Columbus Circle is a major transfer point between a variety of different lines, but for this trip I stayed mostly near the 1 train platform, so I will probably visit again to capture the AC/BD platform, which is in another area of the station. Given that this is in Columbus Circle, and essentially sits below the very large statue of Christopher Columbus, there is a bit of related iconography. But it’s really the same ship-tile over and over again, as far as I can tell. Some other interesting features include some of the original carved signs for the mens’ and womens’ restrooms, but which don’t appear to lead to restrooms anymore (the mens’ room seems to indicate that it’s actually some sort of electrical room now).

In addition, the northbound local track was shut this weekend due to construction/repair work. You can see some MTA workers over on the northbound track. Lest it seem that they’re not doing much, from what I could tell, the standing guy appeared to be giving instructions to the others – something that doesn’t really translate well to a still photograph!

Station opened: October 27, 1904
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

The West 66th Street subway station is a bit of an odd duck. It’s somewhat unnecessary, being so close to both Columbus Circle and West 72nd Street, but it is clearly seen as a priority because of its proximity to Lincoln Center. Forgotten NY has a good rundown of the renovations in this station as part of it’s “Original 28” series – a look at the original 28 stations on the IRT line, of which this (and the 72nd Street Station posted yesterday are both a part.

According to FNY, almost nothing in this station is original, but this is perhaps the best restored station of the original 28. I would hazard a guess that this is also due to the Lincoln Center crowd. The mosaics here show dancers, opera singers, and other theater related scenes. All photos here are from the southbound platform. There’s another, entirely different set of mosaics on the northbound platform (trains were not stopping on the northbound platform this weekend due to construction).

Station opened: October 27, 1904 (renovated, including mosaics, in 2004)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia

I had mentioned a few weeks ago a long simmering thought for a photography project, involving shooting all of the stations in the new york city subway system. it’s a daunting task, as there are over 400 stations and hundreds of miles of tracks. But I would not be daunted. I decided to start mapping out a plan, involving doing very small pieces at a time, and only at my leisure. The first bit of business was to switch from a pay-per-ride to an unlimited metrocard, which I was able to do the other day. Today, I picked a train and a direction, taking the 1 train from my neighborhood down to the end of the line at South Ferry, hopping off at every stop to take pictures of the platform, the mosaics, the tracks, and whatever else was of interest. There were a few stations I had to skip thanks to the vagaries of “weekend work” by the MTA (the train was running express from 14th to Chambers today), but it was a good start. I’m going to be posting separate entries for each station, and I’m going to be doing it relatively slowly so that there’s no great influx of posts, but I thought I’d start with where I started, at the West 72nd Street 1/2/3 station.

It’s your typical Saturday holiday weekend tourist crowd, with buskers, idiots pretending to jump on the tracks, and people who don’t understand how to wait for others to get off the train first before they try to board. I’ve always thought the mosaics in this station were relatively abstract, and everything I can find online about them simply refers to them as “mosaic tapestries”, but as I look at them, they start to remind me of the 91st street garden in Riverside Park, with it’s squared off garden in the middle surrounded by a walkway. In any event, that could all be in my head.

Station opened: October 27, 1904 (renovated, including new control house, 2002)
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1/2/3
Source: Wikipedia

april appears to have largely been about meals. But I have also been inspired to finally start a project that I had been thinking about for a while. I want to photograph every subway station in the new york city subway system. It requires some planning in order to not end up repeating myself over and over again, and also switching to an unlimited metrocard. I’ve been organizing myself, putting together a comprehensive list of all of the stations in the system (which there doesn’t seem to be a good one available anywhere?!) and the trains that run through them, and once I start I’m going to try to be methodological and target small sections at a time so that I’m not biting off more than I can chew – I figure If I pick a section of a line to tackle on any particular day when i’ve got no other plans, that’s probably the most sensible way to do it. I like the idea of this project in particular because it’s something that I can choose to do on a day here or there when I’ve got no other plans, and I can put it down and pick it up again depending on how busy I am with other things. But I’m determined to start.