Random Dispatches » subway

Gotta Love It

lindsayrgwatt — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:19:39 +0000

The other night I was in the 2nd Ave subway station and a busker was playing the saxophone. It’s a total New York cliche – the echo eventually drowned out by the roar of a train – but it still sounds great. Here’s a snippet:

Saxophone in the Subway

Subway Mapping

lindsayrgwatt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:12:52 +0000

Last week Google added subway lines to the list of items that it shows in Google Maps for NYC. What’s neat about this is that we can now plot where the subway lines are in the real world vs. where they appear on the MTA subway map:

A couple of themes emerge:

Manhattan is ridiculously oversized in the MTA version. Note how much smaller it should be
If you live in East Brooklyn or the entire borough of Queens you’re pretty much out of luck when it comes to subway transport
It is ridiculous how far the subway lines are from both JFK and LaGuardia

Signs in the ‘Hood

lindsayrgwatt — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:45:44 +0000

One of the little joys of living in my neighbourhood is watching the subway ads get defaced. If it was just a matter of people tagging the ads, I’d consider it vandalism, but the locals have turned it into an art form (I think there are some very creative but underemployed folks in my hood who are quite bored waiting for their morning commute to Manhattan. Perhaps a hint of social deviance as well).

Below is a scene from earlier today. Our local artist carved out the baby’s smile and found that it was perfectly overlaid above a row of teeth below. There is an artistry of sorts lurking here.