March 28, 2008
All The News
(West 4 St-Washington Sq Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 11:45 PM
Filed under: Subways
March 27, 2008
Beneath Broadway Junction
(Broadway Junction Subway Station, Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 11:59 PM
Filed under: Subways
February 28, 2008
Keep Away From The Platform Edge
(161 St-Yankee Stadium Station, The Bronx)
Posted by jpchan at 9:02 PM
Filed under: Subways
February 7, 2008
What If You're The Sick Passenger?
My first day back outside. After spending 40 of the last 48 hours flat on my back (or spewing Monday's lunch), it's good to be on my own two feet, even if I'm not exactly 100%. DeKalb Avenue never looked so good.
(DeKalb Av Station, Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 8:42 PM
Filed under: Subways
February 3, 2008
Police Booth
This just cannot be a fun place to sit for an entire shift.
(Grand Central Subway Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 6:11 PM
Filed under: Subways
January 15, 2008
Grand Street Bee
(Grand St Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 7:17 PM
Filed under: Subways
December 27, 2007
On Course, Over The Landing Threshold
Sadly, trains where passengers can look out the front are becoming a thing of the past, so it's important to savor the experience when the opportunity arises.
(J train, Broad St, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 8:25 PM
Filed under: Subways
December 13, 2007
Don't Give Up
Hope not only has feathers, it's also got wheels and goes from Bay Ridge to Forest Hills.
(R Train, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 3:04 PM
Filed under: Subways
October 4, 2007
Meet Me On The Train
I'm a big proponent of meeting on the train. When it works, it's perfect: your train pulls into the station, the person you're meeting steps on the car, and the two of you go about your way in the most efficient manner possible.
It takes some planning, though: you and the person you're meeting have to know which car you're in, where that car stops on the platform, and also (just in case) what to do if you don't see the other person after a specified amount of time. It's also helpful to know what enroute cell phone access will be. But when it works, you can't help but grin and feel smarter than the average bear.
Sometimes, however, you're slightly off and the person winds up in the next car over. That's when you realize that most days, you're just an average bear.
(Q Train, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
September 17, 2007
American R143 Idol
(L train, Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 7:04 PM
Filed under: Subways
August 13, 2007
Edison Meter
(Spring St Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
May 14, 2007
Downtown to Uptown
(Fulton St Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 7:09 PM
Filed under: Subways
October 7, 2006
From The $2 Seats
Those in the know wait for the 7 train to Manhattan on the western end of the station.
(Willets Point-Shea Stadium Subway Station, Queens)
Posted by jpchan at 10:15 AM
Filed under: Subways
August 17, 2006
Lost
(34 St-8 Av Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 8:07 PM
Filed under: Subways
June 9, 2006
Balloon Man: Part 2
If you're going to bring something this big onto a subway, you better be polite about it -- and this delivery guy certainly was. The riders loved it.
(Uptown 2 train, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 9:35 AM
Filed under: Subways
June 8, 2006
Balloon Man: Part 1
I may be a seen-it-all jaded New Yorker most days, but there are just some things you can't resist. Like taking out your camera when you see something like this.
(Chambers St Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 7:30 PM
Filed under: Subways
April 28, 2006
Lame Duck Quacking
A lame duck quacking
From the corner of my eye
Am I being rude?
(4 Train, Manhattan)
Related post:
Rush Hour Reading Room
Posted by jpchan at 7:44 AM
Filed under: Subways
April 18, 2006
Subway Furniture
(59 St-Lexington Av Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 10:18 PM
Filed under: Subways
February 25, 2006
You Shall Be Inconvenienced
Will we overcome this? Or shall we?
(Times Sq Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 4:44 PM
Filed under: Subways
January 31, 2006
Atlantic=Mosaic
(Atlantic Av Station, Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 3:58 PM
Filed under: Subways
January 21, 2006
iCommentary
(Spring St Station, Manhattan)
More iPod:
The Things You Own End Up Owning You
Three Questions for Jackson
Monday is Cat Week: White, Black, Trendy
Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Posted by jpchan at 10:17 PM
Filed under: Subways
January 15, 2006
Into The Red
This couldn't possibly be the same guy, but in my mind I like to think that it was -- and that he wears a different color each day. And, as before, I was envious.
(Q train, Brooklyn)
Related posts:
Into The White
Mystery Train
If You Need It, You Should Show It
It's Like Rain On Your Q Train
Why Other NY Graffiti is Still Pretty Lame
Rush Hour Reading Room
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
January 12, 2006
360 Astoria
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
January 10, 2006
Ancient History?
Did we really have a transit strike a few weeks ago? It seems like ancient history now.
(Parkside Av Station, Brooklyn)
Related posts:
Unlucky Strike: Under The Bridges
Unlucky Strike: My New Commute
Unlucky Strike!
Parkside
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
November 15, 2005
28 Ways To Run For The Train
It's dangerous to run for the train. You could slip and hurt yourself really badly.
But everyone that runs for the train and makes it in just before the doors close always grins like a madman afterwards. So, maybe it's worth the risk.
(Bowling Green Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 11:02 PM
Filed under: Subways
November 13, 2005
Deep Below Times Square
I was 8 or 9 the first time I ever rode this escalator, which was the longest I'd ever seen.
I was with my Grandma who could barely speak English -- much less read it -- but somehow she knew where we were going. We were probably heading to Chinatown, where she worked for several years in a garment factory with two dozen other old Chinese ladies. While she worked, I'd run around the sweatshop, nap, read Chinese comics, and -- best of all -- eat lunch with her from the cool metal containers she brought from home.
It was the late 1970s and I can only imagine now how filthy and seedy Times Square and the subway must have been, to say nothing of a Chinatown sweatshop. But all I can remember is how fun it was to spend a day with my Grandma in New York.
(Times Sq Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
November 2, 2005
Bad News
Posted by jpchan at 5:10 PM
Filed under: Subways
October 16, 2005
On The N
(Manhattan Bridge)
Posted by jpchan at 10:07 AM
Filed under: Subways
October 15, 2005
Has Anyone Seen The Bridge?
The replacement of the Lincoln Road bridge is one of the reasons the Q has been all crazy absent on weekends this month. But hey -- cool view, huh?.
Title reference: "The Crunge" by Led Zeppelin.
Posted by jpchan at 12:27 PM
Filed under: Subways
October 5, 2005
The Bowling Green Headhouse
(Bowling Green Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 9:15 AM
Filed under: Subways
September 27, 2005
I Swear I Did Not Photoshop This
(Canal St Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 9:09 AM
Filed under: Subways
September 8, 2005
Parkside
Posted by jpchan at 9:27 AM
Filed under: Subways
August 30, 2005
On The 4
(4 Train, Nevins St Station, Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 9:22 AM
Filed under: Subways
August 21, 2005
Bowling Orange
Can anyone tell me where the geo-socio-linguistic border between OR-inge and arnge is? I only recently discovered that it exists, but I don't know where to find it.
(Bowling Green Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 10:18 AM
Filed under: Subways
August 12, 2005
Help Prevent Wrong Routes
Posted by jpchan at 8:25 AM
Filed under: Subways
August 7, 2005
Between Cars
(Union Square Station, Manhattan)
Posted by jpchan at 11:17 AM
Filed under: Subways
July 31, 2005
Into The White
I hope I come back in the next life with a bit more style or, better yet, the confidence to believe that anything I choose to wear is style.
This fellow subway rider wore an all-white tux, complete with white do-rag and white-on-white Yankees cap. It could have been comical, but he made it cool. That's confidence -- and style.
Title reference: The Pixies
Posted by jpchan at 11:22 AM
Filed under: Subways
July 18, 2005
Mystery Train
(Q Train, Bklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 7:44 AM
Filed under: Subways
June 22, 2005
Pay/Phone/Call
I'm sure they're good to have around, but boy am I glad I don't have to use public pay phones anymore.
More Canal St Station Posts (it may be smelly, but it's an inspirational kind of smelly):
Rodenticide
Gratitude
Red Coat
Posted by jpchan at 8:13 AM
Filed under: Subways
June 5, 2005
Subwayward
Posted by jpchan at 8:47 AM
Filed under: Subways
May 26, 2005
It's Like Rain On Your Q Train
This is not the beautiful late May weather I asked for.
I hope this isn't a sign that the universe is utterly indifferent to my needs, because I also need to hit it up for $2,500 by the end of next month.
(Q train, Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 8:26 AM
Filed under: Subways
May 11, 2005
Parkchester Station at 8:53
Posted by jpchan at 8:36 AM
Filed under: Subways
April 24, 2005
Looking Out, Looking In
Someone once said that New York is just like anywhere else, only more intense. It makes a lot of sense to me -- with so many people in so relatively small an area, everyday life here has an intensity that's sometimes thrillingly joyous, sometimes excruciatingly painful. Living here means seeing the best and worst things that humans are capable of, sometimes in the very same moments. You see happiness, hope, hatred, affection, disappointment, despair. This is the human condition: in your face, 24/7.
To protect yourself from being swallowed up by it all (and by your fellow inhabitants), you put on an attitude of indifference, an air of toughness. But there's always the risk that you'll go from looking indifferent to being indifferent.
I was riding the 4 train to Brooklyn on my lunch hour. I was in a good mood, heading to Sahadi's to buy some falafel and hummus for a party later that night. I sat down and noticed this identically-dressed mother and daughter. They were silent and the woman looked heartbroken. I wanted to know why and to offer some reassurance, but you don't do that with a stranger on the subway. It bothered me to be helpless. All I could think to do was quietly take a photo of the moment.
(4 train to Brooklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 10:21 AM
Filed under: Subways
April 16, 2005
Wayfinding Signage
Posted by jpchan at 10:55 AM
Filed under: Subways
April 3, 2005
Au Bon Pain
Posted by jpchan at 1:00 PM
Filed under: Subways
April 1, 2005
Rodenticide
(Canal St Station)
Posted by jpchan at 8:33 AM
Filed under: Subways
March 29, 2005
Tuesday Unlucky Rats (I Am, I Said)
As I was taking this photo to show how one can get used to anything in this City, including drinking Dr. Pepper next to stinky subway trash containers, a rat the size of my cat darted out from between them.
I leapt out of its way, barely a second before it would have climbed onto my shoe, crawled up the inside of my pant leg, chewed its way into my right front pocket, turned on my iPod's shuffle mode, listened to several tracks, made some snide remarks about Neil Diamond, and escaped by squeezing itself past the loose waistband of my baggy jeans.
As I stood there with a big grin of shock and relief at the fate I'd escaped, I could hear a couple with a baby next to me chuckle and say, "that's a big one."
(14 St-7 Av Station)
Posted by jpchan at 8:29 AM
Filed under: Subways
March 19, 2005
Hope Springs Eternally Underground
What is it about our species that we can't resist throwing coins into every small man-made body of water we come across, even if said small man-made body of water is a fetid stream of who-knows-what flowing through Brooklyn's busiest subway station?
Whatever the reason, my frickin' wish better come true soon, because coming here every day with an offering is getting damn tedious.
(Atlantic Av Station)
Posted by jpchan at 1:40 PM
Filed under: Subways
March 18, 2005
Getting a (Germ-Free) Grip
Subway riders do lots of things to minimize skin contact with the pole -- I've seen gloves, two-finger grabs, body leans, and surfing, to name a few. But I hadn't seen this rather obvious method (paper napkin) until today.
(B train, Bklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 12:13 PM
Filed under: Subways
March 15, 2005
Why Other NY Graffiti is Still Pretty Lame
I thought this bit of faith-based vandalism was a recent phenomenon, but apparently it dates back to the late sixties. Note to tagger: if you're gonna be rude enough to tag a subway car, you should at least try to do something fresh...
It's just more proof that the best graffiti around the city these days is ad graffiti -- postmodern, meta-commentary-licious, and easy on the property damage. Smart-asses with Sharpies, unite and take over!
(Q train to Bklyn)
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Posted by jpchan at 9:19 PM
Filed under: Subways
Why NY Ad Graffiti Rocks
The truth can really hurt sometimes.
(1 train, heading uptown)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:59 AM
Filed under: Subways
March 13, 2005
Gratitude
What's a great day in New York? It's watching a play you wrote on its feet for the first time and thinking how lucky you are that these talented people are creating wonderful life from some crazy things you scribbled on paper. It's eating Two Boots pizza for dinner and Junior's cheesecake for dessert at Grand Central. It's seeing a terrific work-in-progress by a playwright you kinda know and being inspired to try to make your own stuff as good as his. It's spending an evening with a beautiful person so full of love and life you're reminded that you were like that once and maybe could be again. It's hanging out at a coffehouse with great jazz and no cover charge. It's heading to a bar to buy someone birthday drinks when you should have gone home hours ago. It's deciding between a fast but expensive cab ride or a cheap but pokey subway trip back to Brooklyn where you'll hit the bed tired but happy and feeling very, very grateful for the small and imperfect life you once cursed.
(Canal St Station)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:49 AM
Filed under: Subways
March 4, 2005
Red Coat
Looked up from my spot
Saw a world in your red coat
I wanted to know
(Canal St Station)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:42 AM
Filed under: Subways
February 22, 2005
Rush Hour Reading Room
Today's Results
(in no particular order)
Torah
New York Post
English vocabuary book
Bible study guide
Six Days of War
Chinese newspaper
Daily News
Bible
Metro
Science textbooks
Stuff printed off the web
Cult of Harvey (???)
(Q Train - Brighton Local/Broadway Express)
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Posted by jpchan at 9:41 AM
Filed under: Subways
February 13, 2005
The Color of the Day
...is going to be saffron (known in the other boroughs as just plain orange). This is a sign of things to come.
(49 Street Station)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:58 PM
Filed under: Subways
February 3, 2005
From A to B
I was waiting for the B train back to Brooklyn when the A pulled up. Not my train, but something caught my eye. "Far Rockaway via JFK Airport" the sign said. I blinked.
The chime rang and the doors began to close. A quick step and I was inside. The people looked different than the ones on my train. Poorer, darker. After Jay Street, I was the only guy in a suit. After Nostrand, I was the only white one.
Somewhere in Queens, the train left the tunnel and I could see rows and rows of small old houses from thirty feet up. You could see right into the backyards and even in some of the windows. Everything was unashamed and out in the open: rusty above-ground pools, moldy Big Wheels, soggy cardboard boxes. When the train stopped at these elevated stations, the cold wind would fill the car, blowing in husky guys wearing uniforms that said JetBlue, DHL, SkyChefs.
A few stops later and we were at the edge of the airport. I followed the crowd up an escalator and onto a smaller, newer train that reminded me of the monorail at Disney World. I hadn't thought about that trip in a long time. It was our last family vacation before Dad split. He never told us he was leaving for good, just that he had to take a trip. I used to wonder how a person could just leave his family like that, but eventually I stopped.
The little train made its way around the terminals. I got out at Terminal 9, the last one. It was old and decrepit and there were construction barriers everywhere. You couldn't tell if they were tearing it down or fixing it up.
The next flight was in ten minutes. Shit, I thought. I'm not going to make it. I walked faster. Got through security quickly. "Final boarding," the announcer began. I started to run. The gate was at the very end of the concourse -- a straight shot but still several hundred yards away. I ran faster. I felt my chest burn. My ankles hurt. I thought I might lose a shoe.
I got there just as the door was about to close. I was winded and I wanted to vomit, but Goddamn I made it. I found my seat and sat down, sweaty but satisfied. In a few hours, I'd be in Orlando. I closed my eyes.
The A pulled out of the station and a few moments later a B arrived. I got on and was back in Brooklyn in about 30 minutes. I picked up the kids from day care and we ate pasta for dinner. My wife and I watched TV until we both fell asleep.
(Jay St Station)
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Posted by jpchan at 2:59 PM
Filed under: Subways
January 19, 2005
Lost in the Land of the Lost
Although it's a fairly common belief here in Brooklyn that early humans spent their days battling dinosaurs for food and real estate, it simply isn't true. The fossil record unambiguously shows that dinosaurs and humans never co-existed, which precludes scenes like the one hanging in my living room of a scantly clad she-warrior riding a triceratops. During the Age of the Great Lizards, in fact, mammals were a lowly bunch of pre-human scavengers and deadbeats, bolting in fear at the mere mention of a brontosaurus. (Broadway's Les Miserables is an excellent chronicle of the mammalian struggle to get out from under the thumb of T-Rex and his scaly ilk, if you're into musicals.) It wasn't until the Great Comet/Ice Age/Alien Invasion that these ferocious and ornery beasts were vanquished, making way for the ascent of mammals, who were next on the waiting list. Through evolution, these creatures would eventually become the species we call "people."
I've often taken pleasure in smugly deriding the "humans vs. dinosaurs" myth as silly "Land of the Lost"-based history, but now I wonder how long I'll be able to say it with confidence. Recently, researchers from the American Museum of Natural History reported their discovery of a small prehistoric mammal fossil in China -- with an even smaller dinosaur partially digested inside its stomach. Mammals munching on baby dinosaurs? That's bad-ass, yo. Now that we know early mammals were much more gangsta than we'd been led to believe, what other revelations await us?
Perhaps we have already seen the Land of the Lost -- and it looks a lot like Brooklyn.
Parts, anyway.
("Alligator" by the awesome Tom Otterness, MetroTech Commons, Brooklyn)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:25 AM
Filed under: Subways
January 18, 2005
To Serve or Protect?
They seemed awfully young, they were wearing dress uniforms, and they didn't have guns. They looked alert, scanning the throngs of busy commuters quietly and methodically. I thought they might be a symbolic sort of protection, not unlike the unarmed National Guardsmen that are stationed at Grand Central and Penn Station. Or maybe it was part of their training, the way NYPD rookies are now sent into the worst precincts right out of the Academy. Was Atlantic Av Station on high alert now? Whatever the reason, they became part of my daily commute.
One day, one of them made eye contact with me. I felt I was being checked out. Did I look suspicious? I wasn't offended, just curious as to why I had merited any attention. For some reason, the moment stayed in my mind.
On Saturday, I saw them again -- differently. They had pamphlets, brochures. They were speaking to young men. They were recruiting.
(Atlantic Av Station, Brooklyn)
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Posted by jpchan at 9:06 AM
Filed under: Subways
January 10, 2005
The Lean
Maybe in other cities' new-fangled subways they have those screens and announcements that tell you when the next train is coming, but here in NYC, we do it the old fashioned way.
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Posted by jpchan at 9:55 AM
Filed under: Subways
December 29, 2004
Priority Seating
B train, heading home
An old man heads for the seat
Older man steals it
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Posted by jpchan at 6:55 PM
Filed under: Subways
December 27, 2004
Monday Commuting
Prospect Park Station
Catch the B, the Q, the S
My own Grand Central!
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Posted by jpchan at 9:49 AM
Filed under: Subways
December 23, 2004
Astoria
Rainy, cold.
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