Posts Tagged ‘MTA’
June 25, 2010
The first subway line opened to riders on October 27, 1904. And almost since that day, New Yorkers have been grumbling, justified or not, about crappy service.
“Trains will run at the company’s convenience” states the fine print in this New York Herald cartoon from 1905.

It wasn’t just lateness that annoyed residents a century ago. Other grievances are the same ones we have today, like jam-packed trains and filthy stations.
“All the trains are dirt-filled and full of nameless odors,” bellyached one passenger in a letter to the New York Times in 1915.
Even dim lighting was open to complaints. “The lighting of subway trains was now so poor as to be dangerous to the sight of passengers who might attempt to read their newspapers,” states a 1909 Times article.
Tags:IRT opening 1904, MTA, New York City subway complaints, New York City subway history, New York Herald, New York in 1900, political cartoons New York City newspapers, subway service
Posted in Transit | 8 Comments »
March 3, 2010
Today’s subway ads are a depressing lot: medical malpractice law firms, Dr. Zizmor, MTA warnings about the dangers of traveling between cars.

Not so from 1941 to 1976. Back then, one young New York woman per month was crowned “Miss Subways,” her name and face plastered above the seats on thousands of subway cars for millions of commuters to see.
An ad agency, not the MTA, nominated the winners; residents then voted for a top candidate over the phone. The winners came from all backgrounds and boroughs and comprised a surprisingly diverse group over the years.

All had a few things in common: they were wholesome, had aspirations . . . and rode the subway, of course. Some information on what became of some winners can be found here.
Perhaps a revival of Miss Subways should duke it out with a new version of Miss Rheingold, the beauty pageant that gripped New Yorkers in the 1940s and 1950s.
Tags:beauty pageants of the 20th century, Dr. Zizmor, Miss Subways, MTA, New York City beauty pageants, subway ads
Posted in Old print ads, Random signage, Transit | 24 Comments »
December 9, 2009
The MTA should bring back some of these vintage posts and signs—they’re such a cool throwback to old New York. These lantern-like beacons guard the Fifth Avenue and 59th Street station:

Vintage signage on the New York Life building, on Park Avenue South—important enough to have its own subway entrance. Interborough Rapid Transit is today’s 4, 5, and 6 line.

I hope the MTA does not replace or tidy up this weathered, slightly rusted subway post, in Inwood:

Tags:Central Park subways, Interborough Subway, Inwood, MTA, subway posts, Subway signage, Vintage subway signs
Posted in central park, Gramercy/Murray Hill, Music, art, theater, Random signage, Transit | 3 Comments »
August 19, 2009
Every borough has at least a few subway stations that feature stained glass. But the Bronx seems to have more than any other, especially in the little stations at local stops for the 2 and 5 trains.
From “Latin American Stories” by George Crespo at the Jackson Avenue station:

One of several panels from the Prospect Street’s “Bronx, Four Seasons,” by Marina Tsesarskaya:

Part of Daniel Hauben’s The El, at the Freeman Street stop:

Tags:Bronx, Bronx subway stations, Daniel Hauben, Four Seasons, Freeman Street station, George Crespo, IRT trains, Jackson Avenue Station, Latin American Stories, Marina Tsesarskaya, MTA, New York City Subway, Prospect street IRT station, stained glass windows in subway stations, subway art, The El
Posted in Bronx and City Island, Music, art, theater, Transit, Urban beauty | 5 Comments »
April 4, 2009
You have to hand it to the transit officials in charge of designing subway platforms a century ago. They insisted that stations feature colorful ceramic tiles, terra cotta, and mosaics, and that the design elements be unique to each stop.
Today the MTA continues to restore these decorative motifs. They give each station a little bit of enchantment and a glimpse into the past.
Here’s the J for the Jefferson stop on the L train, in Bushwick:

The number 5 on this 50th Street sign for the 1 train harkins back to an Art Deco era:

A long, fat F for Fulton Street, downtown:

The Brooklyn Bridge 6 stop, with its backward B that looks hand-stenciled:

Tags:50th Street IRT station, Brooklyn Bridge subway stop, decorative tiles in the subway, Fulton Street subway stop, MTA, subway in Bushwick, subway station art, subway tiles and motifs
Posted in Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, Midtown, Music, art, theater, Transit, Urban beauty | 3 Comments »
January 7, 2009
Brooklyn’s narrow York Street subway station is home to a couple of vintage signs that deserve a little love.
“No Smoking, Spitting” is pretty rough around the edges; looks like it dates from the 1940s or 1950s—and probably hasn’t been enforced since then:

I love that someone at the MTA at one time thought it necessary to put this next sign up.

As you climb the stairs out of the Financial District’s Nassau Street station, you’re greeted by these old-school directions. The barber shop is still there, but I didn’t see a beauty salon.

Tags:MTA, Nassau Street station, smoking in the subway, spitting in the subway, Vintage subway signs, York Street station
Posted in Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, Random signage, Transit | 6 Comments »