The Chrysler Building is one of those iconic city structures with its own subway entrance—like the New York Life building on 23rd Street and the KMart (formerly Wanamaker’s) at Astor Place.
Which means that once you get off the 4, 5, or 6 train at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street, you can follow a passageway that takes you through a basement arcade containing a handful of stores, to a staircase for the lobby.
There’s still a barber shop in that sub-lobby arcade, and a locksmith, and the Lexler Deli (a wonderful hybrid name!). But I’m sorry to say that the efficiently titled Chrysler Beauty Salon is no longer.
It was probably replaced by the Duane Reade down there. . . .
Tags: Art Deco skyscapers, Chrsyler Building Arcade, Chrylser Building, Chrysler Beauty Salon, Chrysler Building subway, iconic New York skyscrapers, under the Chrysler Building, Vintage signs 42nd Street, Vintage subway signs
February 25, 2013 at 2:10 pm |
epic! I have to check it out!
February 25, 2013 at 3:29 pm |
Used this passageway everyday on my way to work till my job relocated me to the vastly inferior 51st St 6 stop. I say vastly inferior not because it’s not Grand Central, but because it’s poorly laid out and horrendously overcrowded.
The shoe shine shop in the Chrysler arcade is the best I’ve found in case anyone is in need of a good shine.
February 25, 2013 at 5:20 pm |
Good to know. Yes, the 51st Street stop is a weird subterranean collection of passageways that don’t seem laid out very well. I wonder why?
February 28, 2013 at 5:37 am |
That connection didn’t exist until the Citicorp Building was constructed in the late ’70s. The IRT/IND are more than one block apart at this station, so they had to do some massive work to build that block-long passage from 53rd Street (IND) to the north end of the Lex Ave IRT local.
February 25, 2013 at 5:34 pm |
Wonderful, thank you. I will have to check it out.
(And, Ryan, I could use a shine, so thank you, too.)
February 25, 2013 at 7:19 pm |
Wow, what a relic!
February 26, 2013 at 11:24 pm |
I would imagine 51st is so terrible because to start out with it is an amalgamation of two different transit companies (IRT and IND) that were competitors. The larger factor making matters worse is its private ownership by Boston Properties. Boston has no real incentive to improve anything. Just maintain the status quo and we all grumble but nothing ever changes. Constant escalator breakdowns, leaks, and the faint aroma of pee.
February 27, 2013 at 5:28 pm |
whyever did they put that half-foot thick layer of brown tile on the IRT wall?
February 28, 2013 at 5:32 pm
always wondered that. the brown tile is hideous and takes away precious platform space