The Spell of the El (New York City)

NY Times ^ | May 1, 2005 | SEWELL CHAN

[neverdem]

Sam Falk/The New York Times
When the Manhattan stretch of the Third Avenue el was dismantled a half-century ago, it was already considered a relic.

Ernest Sisto/The New York Times
The el overshadows Bowery in 1954 before the track was destroyed.

The New York Times

The Manhattan borough president, Hulan E. Jack, applies a torch to the el structure as demolition work started in 1955.

New York Historical Society
The El was formally opened in 1878 to admiring cries from the multitudes. This view shows the Forty-second Street spur of the El, looking west from Third Ave.

Librado Romero/The New York Times
From the elevated, a bird's-eye view of Broadway in Kingsbridge, the Bronx.

Librado Romero/The New York Times
In Inwood, in Upper Manhattan, the streets are defined by the overhead rumble of the Nos. 1 and 9.

Librado Romero/The New York Times
Transit supervisors like Frank Gaetano, left, and John Ponessa oversee special crews of ironworkers and engineers who maintain the aging elevated structure.

The portion of Tenth Avenue shaded by the el is far less vibrant than Broadway, a block to the west, but it is hardly desolate.

That's true at 215th Street. Broadway is four blocks to the west at the Dyckman Street station. If Dyckman Street didn't have a name, it would be called 200th Street. There's a Dyckman House at 204th Street and Broadway that goes back to the Revolutionary War. I grew up in this Inwood, as opposed to the one in Nassau County. In the parts of the city with a layout like a grid, approximately 20 blocks equal a mile.

[neverdem]

FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.

[TBP]

I remember when they tore down the Third Avenue El. My family's Christmas card that year read like this:

Why is what we'r wishign you a joyous one of like third Avenue?

Noel.

[TBP]

I remember when they tore down the Third Avenue El. My family's Christmas card that year read like this:

Why is what we're wishing you a joyous one of like third Avenue?

Noel.

[TBP]

As an old New Yorker (I miss the place), this was a fascinating article. And great pictures.

[Who dat?]

My wife was temporarily assigned to New York City back in July/August of 2001. She went around to a bunch of different places and one of them was the subway museum. She brought back a tape that is about the history of the subway system. It’s pretty interesting.

[wrathof59]

It's unfortunate that you can never go back

[konaice]

Ever notice how New Yorkers care more about buildings and infrastructure than about people?

After 9/11 while the rest of the country was mourning incinerated secretaries and crushed firemen, New Yorkers were whining about the hole in the sky line.

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for this, but virtually everyone else east of the great lakes noticed this about NYC residents in the months after.

[neverdem]

Ever notice how New Yorkers care more about buildings and infrastructure than about people?

Even though I'm in the Bronx, I feel like a target.

NYC's location made it so attractive for investing in that infrastructure. The city itself is more like a collection neighborhoods, aka small towns, once you're out of midtown and the busines district of Manhattan.

[rcocean]

Does anyone know where the elevated subway shown in the French Connection (Gene Hackman 1971) is located ?

[DebNYC]

As a New Yorker living about two blocks from the World Trade Center, I went through a lot of pain on September 11th over both the people lost and the change to my neighborhood. I know that I feel guilty about this but I do miss the Towers.

They were a place I used to enjoy take for granted. The lose of life was horrific in comparison but imagine that someplace that you enjoy and assume will always be there suddenly isn't.

Before 9/11, I would have completely agreed with you. Buildings are just buildings. Having lived through it though is a very difficult thing. I should add that I was on a business trip to Dallas on 9/11 and so luckily I missed the horrors of the event.

Sorry, I will step down from my soapbox I just have a lot of mixed emotions about the whole event.

[speedy]

Great pix, neverdem. Another one here who used to live in NYC and misses it, even, sometimes, the subway. I remember once taking the number one line all the way to the end, at Van Cortland Park. At the terminal there, they have a sign that says "We Are Number One." Chauvanism, even among the subway lines. Personally, I'm an N/R fan myself.

[neverdem]

I would have to see the French Connection again.

[saquin]

Does anyone know where the elevated subway shown in the French Connection (Gene Hackman 1971) is located ?

I believe it was in Queens but I'll have to check.

[saquin]

Ever notice how New Yorkers care more about buildings and infrastructure than about people?

After 9/11 while the rest of the country was mourning incinerated secretaries and crushed firemen, New Yorkers were whining about the hole in the sky line.

Huh? New Yorkers mourned both. I believe we mourned the people just as much if not more than out of towners did, especially since most New Yorkers knew, either directly or through friends of friends, of someone personally effected. I don't even live in NYC, I live in a small Long Island suburb, and I know of 3 people personally connected to me through friends or acquaintances who were killed. A neighbor's son-in-law was killed. There's a street 2 blocks away from my house renamed after a young firefighter who was killed. Chief Peter Ganci lived in my town and I see his family members in the supermarket.

Please don't make assumptions just because you heard a lot of people mourning the change in the skyline. The skyline was also dear to people's hearts and it was hard to deal with what happened to it. If the Empire State Building was destroyed while people were inside everyone in the country would mourn for the people lost but for months and years afterwards there would also be a lot of mourning for the loss of the building. It doesn't mean we don't care about the people.

[Darksheare]

A friend of my father's had an apartment not far from one of the EL lines, I don't remember which one as I was too young to recall that info.
But I do recall Watching the thing go by outside, and watching things shake in the apartment, and watching people speek, and not being able to hear them.
*chuckle*

[saquin]

Does anyone know where the elevated subway shown in the French Connection (Gene Hackman 1971) is located ?

After searching the web a little, it looks like it was actually in Brooklyn.

Probably no other line in the New York City Transit System is as well known as the West End line (save for the #6 in The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3). The West End was used in a major chase scene of the movie The French Connection in 1971 as a car chases the train overhead from Bay 50th nearly all the way to the 60th Street side of the 62nd St. Station.

BMT West End Line

[Dad yer funny]

If you only knew how the comment you've made shows your willingness to be a hurtful DUNDERHEAD,...well , I feel like I'm wasting my time,nevermind