The Putnam Trail (Yonkers and The Bronx)

Route of this walk.

WHERE: The very southern end of the South County Trail in Yonkers, which becomes the Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

START: McLean Avenue and Tibbetts Road, Yonkers (Bee-Line number 4 bus from Woodlawn subway station - 4 train)

FINISH: 238 Street subway station (1 train)

DISTANCE: 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl. Maps courtesy of Google Maps.

Profile of this walk.

Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx is bisected by the Putnam Trail, following the route of the old Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad. Passenger trains ran on the “Put” until 1958 to Brewster, New York and occasional freight service continued until 1980. Like passengers on the New York, Westchester & Boston, passengers on the Putnam Division (except for electric trains on the Getty Square branch, abandoned in 1943) could not go through to Grand Central Terminal, having to transfer at the Sedgwick Avenue terminal in the Bronx to trains to Grand Central or to the Ninth Avenue elevated. In 1940 the latter was reduced to a shuttle from the Polo Grounds to the 167 Street subway station. The Polo Grounds shuttle was discontinued in 1958 after the New York Giants baseball team moved to San Francisco at the end of the 1957 season, a few months before the end of passenger service on the “Put.” The route from the New York City limits was paved over time, giving a bike and pedestrian path that is a continuous trail from the Bronx to Brewster except for a couple of diversions onto local roads. Once, in 2010, I biked the whole length of the trail. It is a beautiful ride even with about 25 miles (40 kilometers) of gentle but steady uphill from Elmsford to Baldwins Place. The Putnam Trail is part of the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile long system of bike paths, on-road bike routes, and canal towpaths running north to south and east to west across the State of New York.

One of a series of stained glass windows at the Woodlawn subway station, the series entitled “Children at Play.”

Until about a year ago the portion of the trail in Van Cortlandt Park was unpaved. Much of the trail became muddy after a little rain, and north of Van Cortlandt Lake the trail was a narrow path hemmed in by vegetation and railroad ties. Years of planning to pave it were accompanied by years of protests and hand-wringing, until finally it was paved. I had not seen the paved trail, so I set out to walk it. On an unseasonably warm day I was accompanied by Ken, who joined us last week on the East Bronx Ramble (see “The Stair Streets of New York City”).

It is a few minutes’ bus ride from the Woodlawn subway station to McLean Avenue and Tibbetts Road, just a short walk from the trailhead where one can go north toward Brewster or south toward the Bronx. The trailhead is accessible from a short street, Alan B. Shepard Jr. Place, named after the second person and first American to go into space, in 1961. I don’t know that Shepard had any connection to the city of Yonkers.

The approach to the trailhead, the trailhead, and looking to the north from the trailhead, with the Saw Mill River Parkway, the trail, and Tibbetts Brook.

The paved trail is excellent for walking, running, or biking. It goes past the Van Cortlandt Park golf course, the oldest public golf course in the United States.

Two views of the trail at the City line, the trail passing the golf course (on left), the upper reach of Van Cortlandt Lake and a wetland just beyond, created by the damming of Tibbetts Brook over 100 years ago.

Near the southern end of the trail is an unusual grouping, the Grand Central Stones. These came from different quarries in 1905 to evaluate their suitability for the new Grand Central Terminal that opened in 1913. Exactly why the New York Central Railroad placed them here, of all places, is anybody’s guess, but they are a surprise on the trail, accompanied by an excellent interpretive sign.

As seen on Bailey Avenue.

The end of the walk took us across Van Cortlandt Park South and south on Bailey Avenue, then west on West 238 Street to the Bronx Ale House for lunch and then to the subway. This was an easy but fun walk, and I’m glad to have seen the newly paved Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park.

Off-roading on Staten Island

WHERE: The Staten Island Greenbelt, mostly

START: New Dorp station, Staten Island Railway

FINISH: Joe & Pat’s Restaurant, Victory Boulevard at Manor Road, then S62 bus to St. George Ferry Terminal

DISTANCE: 5.19 miles (8.31 kilometers)

Maps by Google Maps and Carl Bombara. Photographs by Carl Bombara except where noted.

A few years ago my friends Rob and Kristin told me about an excellent pizza restaurant on Staten Island called Joe & Pat’s. I had not been on Staten Island in about 10 years and wanted to do a walk there, I wanted to go to Joe & Pat’s, and my good friend Carl lives on Staten Island, so it was time to plan a walk. Working with Google Maps, I mapped what looked like a good hill-climbing walk. Carl met me at the New Dorp train station and off we went.

The Staten Island Railway is an oddity. Once upon a time, fares were collected aboard the train; now, fares are collected only at the St. George Ferry Terminal and Tompkinsville station, On the rest of the line, one can travel between stations at no charge. The railway dates from the 1860s and was once owned by the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. In 1925 the B&O electrified the line and placed subway-type cars in service. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority acquired the line around 1971, and in 1973-74 delivered new subway cars for the line that are still in service today. As a sidebar, from 2002-2004 I was the project manager for the introduction of a modern signal system on the line.

New Dorp’s commercial strip, New Dorp Lane, is centered on the train station and has many shops and restaurants. The station is one of 10 subway and Staten Island Railway stations that are in the process of being made accessible, though work has yet to start at New Dorp.

Starting out, the walk was uneventful, along streets. When we got to High Rock Park we found an unmarked trail and ended up walking the first of several near-circles. No colored blazes on the trees or anything else, even though the Google Maps called out the “Yellow Trail” for the entire distance in the park. Thankfully, Carl took on the role of navigator. We walked along several trails, some of then marked, but the markings were rarely yellow. The trails had little wooden bridges here and there fording streams. Some of the trail walking was very steep and it was mostly unpaved. I had to tread carefully and with help lest I trip and fall because of a rock or a tree root. Eventually we found an outlet to Manor Road, where we would have ended up on the mapped route, and walked for some distance where there was no sidewalk and only a narrow shoulder. And sleet started falling while we were out there. Passing motorists gave us wide berth but I do not recommend walking on that road through the Greenbelt.

The route as mapped versus the route as walked.

This proved to be my most challenging walk by far, on stair streets or not, since the stroke, as well as the longest. The challenge came from the trails not being well-marked and for their being rugged, eroded in many places, and not paved. Tree roots and wet leaves were constant tripping hazards. I am most grateful to Carl for being there, navigating, and making sure I didn’t trip or fall.

As mapped we would have been on Todt Hill, the second-highest elevation on the Atlantic coast after Cadillac Mountain in Maine. We ended up doing a good climb anyway.

If anyone from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is reading this, I know your budgets have been cut to the bone over many years, but come on. Somebody please re-mark the trails in the Greenbelt. I’m not kidding. As we approached Manor Road we saw a tree on the left with a blue blaze, then happened to turn around and saw the same tree with a yellow blaze on the opposite side. Grade the trails. Put decent directional maps along the way. And bring someone from Google Maps with you.

All this said, the Staten Island Greenbelt is truly a wonderful place, tranquil and stress-relieving, a far remove from the city. It is astounding to think that the city’s late master planner, Robert Moses (1888-1981), planned a superhighway called the Richmond Parkway to be built through here, connecting the Staten Island Expressway (and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge) with the Outerbridge Crossing at the southwestern tip of the island. A half-finished interchange to what would have been the Richmond Parkway stood on the Staten Island Expressway for decades until it was demolished during the expressway’s widening.

Carl and me, a pond near the park entrance (photo MC), trail showing a bridge and blue and yellow blazes marking the trail, Manor Road through the park.

We continued to our destination for an excellent cheese pizza. Well-done, thin crust, fresh ingredients. It was a fine reward and I will be back, no question about it. At the end, as we got to Victory Boulevard (renamed from Richmond Turnpike during World War I), Carl remarked that the name was a fitting conclusion to a tough walk. Indeed it was. Thanks, brother, for keeping me going on this walk, which gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.

Therapy Walk (Astoria, Queens)

START: Astoria Boulevard subway station (N train, fully accessible)

FINISH: Ditmars Boulevard subway station (N train)

DISTANCE: 2.1 miles (3.4 kilometers)

Images courtesy of Google Maps except where noted.

Map of today’s walk.

Profile of today’s walk.

Today’s walk was designed to be an event for the stroke support group at New York Presbyterian - Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, of which I am a member. It was an easy walk with only one gentle hill, on Ditmars Boulevard. I was joined by Peter, the leader of the stroke support group.

This was a perfect day for this walk, with sunny skies and a high temperature of 55F/13C. The dog run in Astoria Park was full of happy puppies. From the Astoria Boulevard subway station we walked down to the East River and Astoria Park, then along the riverfront on Shore Boulevard past the Triborough and Hell Gate Bridges to Ditmars Boulevard. As many times as I have biked this route, I had walked only a portion of it once before; see my post entitled “Marching Through Astoria” on the “Stair Streets of New York City” page. Peter and I had lunch at an excellent Greek restaurant, Agnanti, on Ditmars Boulevard and 19 Street, then walked to the elevated subway station on 31 Street at Ditmars Boulevard. This extended the originally planned walk by 0.6 mile (1 kilometer).

I recommend this walk for anyone, not just those with mobility issues. Astoria is a busy, diverse, fascinating neighborhood with a fine restaurant scene.

Hell Gate Bridge and Triborough Bridge (photograph by Michael Cairl); Agnanti Restaurant (photograph courtesy Google).

Central Bronx Mix No. 1

WHERE: Van Nest and Parkchester neighborhoods, the Bronx

START: East 180 Street subway station (2 and 5 trains; fully accessible)

FINISH: Parkchester subway station (partially accessible; escalators from street level to platforms)

DISTANCE: 2.0 miles (3.2 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl

Route and profile of this walk, courtesy Google Maps.

This walk was not particularly physically taxing, it definitely was not scenic, and I knew all that ahead of time having biked these streets in the past. So why did I go there? A work assignment has me developing a work scope for the design of two stations for Metro North Railroad’s Penn Station Access project. This project will have commuter trains operating along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor from New Rochelle, New York to Pennsylvania Station, with four new stations in the Bronx. One of them will be in the area I walked through today. Not being one to try to do this from my armchair, I had to get out there for a good look. And I coupled that with a look at Parkchester, an interesting residential area.

On the opposite side of the tracks once stood the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad’s main repair shops for electric locomotives and, before that, a thoroughbred race track. The New Haven electrified this line in 1912 and it once had as many as six tracks for both passenger and freight trains. Now it has just two tracks for Amtrak, The old steel bridges carrying the overhead wires that carry the electric power for the trains still stand, and one is visible in the third image below.

Starting at the landmark East 180 Street subway station (look at my post “Lower Bronx River Greenway” for a photo and description), I walked to and along East Tremont Avenue, with the Northeast Corridor tracks on one side and the northern extent of Parkchester on the other. This streetscape is ugly. Enough said. There are plenty of automobile repair places, parking lots, filling stations, a car wash, and a Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet. Some of this stretch of East Tremont was part of my bike route from Brooklyn to City Island. I turned off at Castle Hill Avenue, with St. Raymond’s Church at the corner, then turned onto Metropolitan Avenue for the walk through Parkchester.

East Tremont Avenue streetscape.

St. Raymond’s Church, corner Castle Hill Avenue and East Tremont Avenue. Yet another neighborhood cathedral in the Bronx; see St. Nicholas of Tolentine on Fordham Road.

Parkchester was one of several planned apartment communities in New York City built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company on the eve of U.S. involvement in World War II. The others are Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan’s East Side, and Riverton Houses in Harlem. When these were built, African-Americans were restricted to Riverton, which was built to much the same standards as the others but was smaller. For a concise history of Parkchester go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkchester,_Bronx

Parkchester is traversed by two wide streets, Metropolitan Avenue and Unionport Road, forming an X and meeting at Metropolitan Oval, a pleasant park. The commercial heart of Parkchester is along Metropolitan Avenue between the oval and the Parkchester subway station. There are numerous restaurants and stores, even a branch of Macy’s. Walking along the length of Metropolitan Avenue, the area had something of the feel of Roosevelt Island, only older, lower-rise, and more spacious. Those of you who are familiar with Roosevelt Island and Parkchester will understand exactly.

Parkchester is well-designed and its population is now very diverse, certainly representative of the crazy quilt that is this city. Although as I started along Metropolitan Avenue the ugliness of East Tremont Avenue was only a block away, the streetscape gave no hint of that. Many building facades are enlivened by terracotta art work; this and the sculptures in the fountain at Metropolitan Oval lend a definite whimsy to the place - but one has to look up and around.

View along Metropolitan Avenue; examples of terracotta artwork.

Top row: fountain and sculpture in Metropolitan Oval. Bottom row: subway station in Hugh J. Grant Circle; marker explaining who Hugh J. Grant was.

This walk ended at the Parkchester subway station, a massive structure with nice tile work in the middle of Hugh J. Grant Circle, named for the youngest-ever mayor of New York. This walk had its share of contrasts and even a few surprises, making for a Sunday afternoon well spent.

All the way around Long Island Sound

START: Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn (Long Island Rail Road, fully accessible)

FINISH: Moynihan Train Hall, Pennsylvania Station (Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road, fully accessible)

WALKING DISTANCE: 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl except where noted. Maps courtesy Google Maps.

This was an all-day adventure on the Long Island Rail Road, Suffolk Transit, Cross Sound Ferry, and Amtrak, plus walks in Greenport, New York and New London, Connecticut. The “walk around town” was a short walk in Greenport and a longer walk in New London. I’m writing about this because the whole trip was accessible. This was a day very well spent and a trip worth doing again.

The first leg of the trip, from Brooklyn to Greenport, was on the original main line of the Long Island Rail Road. The LIRR was chartered in 1834 and started operations from Brooklyn to Jamaica, Queens (9 miles). Today, Jamaica Station is a busy place, the hub of all LIRR branches except one, plus a subway station and one terminal of the JFK AirTrain. I had to change trains at Jamaica and would do so again at Ronkonkoma, the eastern end of electric train service on the main line.

First leg of the trip: Brooklyn to Greenport on the Long Island Rail Road.

At the old Greenport train station.

The LIRR reached Greenport in 1844. The old station building from the 1880s is now a maritime museum, and the ferry to Shelter Island is just steps from the station. Greenport still has something of a fishing village about it but it has been “discovered” by tourists and day trippers.

From the station it’s a short walk along the waterfront and across Front Street to the S92 bus to the ferry at Orient Point. The Suffolk Transit bus was new, comfortable, and accessible. The bus ride takes about 15 minutes, but don’t schedule too close a connection to the ferry as heavy traffic west of Greenport is common and delays the bus. The bus I took ran very late but the ferry for which I had bought a ticket was also late, and was still boarding cars and passengers when I got there.

Second leg of the trip: Suffolk Transit S92 bus.

Scenes from Greenport: map of the walk from the train station to the bus, the waterfront walk, two views on Front Street.

Most of Cross Sound Ferry’s boats are accessible but some are not; mine was not but I got up the stairs to where there was seating. Accessible ferries are noted on their website. Note that the ramp between ferry and dock might be a little steep.

On the crossing there was a good breeze, the sea was choppy, and the day was cool. It felt great to be out on deck!

Ferry route from Orient Point (bottom) to New London, approaching New London, the U.S. Coast Guard training ship Eagle moored near Fort Trumbull, New London from the ferry.

New London has a long history, much of it tied to the sea. New London is home to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a U.S. Navy submarine base, and the Navy’s submariners school. Across the Thames River in Groton is a shipyard, still referred to by its old name Electric Boat, that has built submarines for the Navy since before World War I, and Pfizer’s major research and development center. A few miles to the east is Mystic, a major whaling port in the 19th century.

Walking along Bank Street in New London proved quite interesting. There wasn’t much going on this gray Saturday afternoon, but there was history everywhere.

Route of my walk in New London, starting at the ferry and ending at Union Station; historical note outside Thames Landing restaurant; two of several historical plaques in the sidewalk along Bank Street; the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument across from Union Station; where I walked for lunch (it was good but no match for Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale in Madison, Connecticut).

Before I did that walk I didn’t know that Benedict Arnold set fire to the city in 1781. I certainly didn’t know the city’s connection with the drive to abolish slavery. I was to learn something in front of the old U.S. Customs House, now a museum.

ON THIS SITE, AUGUST 29, 1839 -

“A Federal investigative inquiry indicted 38 enslaved Mende Africans accused of revolt on the high seas and murder of the captain and cook of the Spanish slave ship Amistad which was captured and brought into New London by U.S. revenue cutter Washington, Lt. Gedney commanding.

“This first step to freedom revealed resources which ultimately through trials in Hartford and New Haven and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by former President John Quincy Adams, won their liberty as persons to return home by missionary ship to Sierra Leone in 1841.

“Thames River waves lapped against the white-striped low black hull of Amistad for 14 months until it was refurbished and sold for salvage at Joseph Lawrence’s dock. The cargo of silks, satins and other treasures were auctioned off at this Custom House on these front steps.

“Amistad had unjustly held leader Joseph Cinque and his people as slaves in its hold before it became the vehicle for their passage to freedom. Never before, or since, has there been record of such freedom won!”

The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was donated to the city by the sons of Joseph Lawrence, a prosperous whaler in the 19th century. Learn more about him and the monument at http://ctmonuments.net/2010/01/soldiers%E2%80%99-and-sailors%E2%80%99-monument-new-london/

Union Station, designed by H.H. Richardson, is a handsome structure completed in 1887. Today it serves Amtrak (Northeast Regional and some Acela trains) and Connecticut Shore Line East trains to New Haven. It was a fine place to await the last leg of this trip, the train to New York.

New London Union Station. Photograph courtesy Wikipedia.

Final leg of the trip, on Amtrak from New London (right) to New York.

George Washington Bridge

Photograph by Edward Steichen, 1931, courtesy MutualArt.

WHERE: The George Washington Bridge, from Manhattan to Fort Lee, New Jersey and back

START/FINISH: 175 Street subway station (A train, fully accessible)

DISTANCE: 3.2 miles (5.1 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl except where noted

I’ve biked across the George Washington Bridge many more times than I’ve driven across it, and the ride back to New York has usually been faster than the car traffic without my even trying. But until today I had never walked across the bridge. So, taking advantage of a beautiful day, I left the state of New York for the first time since February 2020.

The George Washington Bridge, linking upper Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey, opened in October 1931 and is the nation’s busiest bridge. The upper deck (8 lanes) was supplemented by the lower deck (6 lanes) in 1962 and carries Interstate 95 and U.S. Routes 1 and 9. Other highways feed traffic to the bridge at either end. The bike and pedestrian path on the south side of the bridge gets a lot of use, and the approach to it on the New York side is to be rebuilt. A suburban and intercity bus terminal, designed by the great Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi, is at the Manhattan end of the bridge, elevated over Fort Washington Avenue and Broadway. The bridge is almost as iconic as the Brooklyn Bridge and has been photographed countless times for its mass and beauty.

At the New Jersey side of the bridge is the southern end of Palisades Interstate Park. I had planned to go into the park but the pedestrian entrance at the bridge is being rebuilt as part of a rebuilding of the interchange with the Palisades Interstate Parkway. I’ll just have to go back in a year or so.

Getting to the bridge from either side is easy. Whether biking or walking, crossing the George Washington Bridge is truly rewarding.

George Washington Bridge from Washington Heights, Manhattan, 1988.

Plaque at the elevator at the 175 Street subway station, honoring disability rights advocate Edith Prentiss (1952 - 2021); a small park at the New York end of the bridge with plaques honoring those who perished aboard American Airlines flight 587 in November 2001, and local activist Louie Stern; memorial at the New Jersey end of the bridge to Port Authority Police Officer Bruce Reynolds, who died on September 11, 2001.

View looking south from the bridge; the New Jersey tower; obligatory selfie.

The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, Part 1

Route of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.

WHERE: The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway

START: Broadway and Bedford Avenue (B62 bus)

FINISH: Flushing Avenue and Clermont Avenue (B69 bus)

DISTANCE: 1.9 miles (3.1 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl.

Brooklyn’s waterfront along the East River and Upper New York Bay was, until fairly recent times, given over to docks and industry. As such, very little of it was accessible to the general public. This remained the case even after the docks and waterfront became largely quiet.. In 1966 the U.S. Navy closed the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where many warships were built, including the battleships Arizona and Missouri, idling many thousands of shipyard workers. Environmental advocate Milton Puryear had a vision to make the waterfront accessible to the communities abutting it. In 2003 he and two other activists, Brian McCormick and Meg Fellerath, founded the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) to connect the waterfront to the communities along it and to create a 14-mile bicycle and pedestrian path linking these communities, from Greenpoint in the north of Brooklyn to Bay Ridge, just north of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. In 2021 a significant amount of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway is complete in either final or interim form, and it has become a major resource for transportation and recreation. BGI has expanded the scope of the Greenway to continue along the Narrows, through Coney Island, along Jamaica Bay almost to JFK Airport, and across Jamaica Bay to the Rockaway Peninsula, a total of more than 30 miles. Learn more about this outstanding organization and the Greenway at https://www.brooklyngreenway.org/.

I was a member of BGI’s Board of Directors from 2008 - 2021 and the Board Chair from 2013 - 2019, and saw the waterfront evolve with new residential development and park land, the Brooklyn Navy Yard re-imagined as a cluster of high-tech and artisanal industry (and yes, ship repair), Brooklyn Bridge Park coming into being where docks used to be south of the Brooklyn Bridge, Industry City and neighboring Bush Terminal following a similar path as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and communities up and down the waterfront finally being able to enjoy it. As a cyclist I’ve biked the entire 30-plus-mile Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway many times; now, since the stroke, I am walking the Greenway with the goal of covering its entire length on foot to get a sense of a pedestrian’s experience of the Greenway and its accessibility.

Today I did my third Greenway walk, even though this is the first time I’m writing about it on this site. To recap the previous two walks: the first started in Long Island City, Queens, and along the northern part of the Greenway in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The second walk was a shorter walk wholly within Williamsburg.

Maps of the first and second Greenway walks, courtesy Google Maps.

Some views from the first two Greenway walks: two views of the Greenway on West Street in Greenpoint (bike lane is painted green), crossfit gym on Franklin Street, Brooklyn Greenway roundel with unofficial smiley face (I like it) on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, two views of the Williamsburg Bridge.

On today’s walk I picked up where I left off on the second walk. Twenty years ago, the westernmost blocks of Broadway were run down with few people around except for those going to the landmark Peter Luger’s Steak House. Now, the same blocks have cafes, bars, new residential buildings, and Peter Luger’s. Twenty years ago, Kent Avenue, running parallel to the waterfront, had a lot of truck traffic on weekdays but was deserted on weekends, making for easy bike riding. Hardly anyone lived on Kent Avenue. Today, nearly all the new waterfront development is centered on Kent Avenue. For an excellent look at what Kent Avenue was, and was becoming early in its redevelopment, go to https://forgotten-ny.com/2009/01/i-kent-explain-a-brooklyn-waterfront-avenue/.

Clockwise from upper left: Broadway, looking east from near Kent Avenue; view from the foot of Division Avenue (this could become a small park!); two views of the Greenway along Kent Avenue, with the Brooklyn Navy Yard at right.

Proposed car-free zone on Kent Avenue. Map courtesy Google Maps.

North of Division Avenue, Kent Avenue is much narrower than it is to the south. The sidewalks are narrow and there’s a very busy two-way bike path on the west side of the street,. There isn’t enough room for pedestrians, cyclists, cars, trucks, and city buses. I would like to see Kent Avenue closed to motor vehicles except emergency vehicles and small delivery trucks, year round, from Broadway to Bushwick Inlet Park (solid blue line on map). Making this street a full-time pedestrian mall, similar to Rue Ste-Catherine in Montréal, would create a safer, more accessible situation for pedestrians and cyclists. It could become a second showpiece for the Greenway; I’ll discuss the first shortly.

Between Division Avenue and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278), Kent Avenue is wide enough to accommodate two travel lanes, left-turn lanes, car parking, and a wide bike path that is separated from a wide sidewalk by native plantings. Disused marine containers stacked three high form an unexpectedly attractive wall that pays homage to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the other side.

Running parallel to the expressway is Williamsburgh Street West, where the Greenway consists of a sidewalk and a bike lane separated from car traffic by concrete “Jersey barriers.” A short distance along is a real gem, the Naval Cemetery Landscape.

From the 1830s until World War II a naval hospital occupied the southeast corner of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. When the hospital was moved to Queens many of the remains in the hospital cemetery were disinterred and moved elsewhere. Some remains were thought still to be there decades later. BGI obtained an agreement with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to transform the former cemetery site into a contemplative space and secured funding from a private foundation for this. The Naval Cemetery Landscape is stunning, a peaceful oasis, a fitting memorial to those who served in the Navy and died in the hospital. It has also become a green space for a diverse community that sorely lacks green space. I have often said that the Naval Cemetery Landscape is the best part of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, making the Greenway more than just a ribbon of asphalt. The site is filled with native, non-invasive plants that BGI co-founder Milton Puryear championed. Read more about the history and design of the Naval Cemetery Landscape at https://www.brooklyngreenway.org/naval-cemetery-landscape/history-and-design/.

Some views of the Naval Cemetery Landscape.

Back to the Lower Bronx River

WHERE: Park trails and local streets along or near the lower Bronx River

START: Soundview Ferry Terminal (fully accessible)

FINISH: Simpson Street subway station (2 and 5 trains; fully accessible)

DISTANCE: 3.9 miles (6.3 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl

The NYC Ferry has received some criticism as a rather heavily subsidized boat ride for tourists. There is some truth to that but it also provides fast and cheap transportation to and from some otherwise hard-to-get-to parts of the City. New York City’s waterways constitute an underutilized path for public transportation.

Having discovered that I could take NYC Ferry from the foot of Wall Street in Manhattan to Soundview in the Bronx, a 50-minute ride for $2.75, I put together a good walk combining some unexplored territory for me, and a route I’ve biked and/or walked. From the time I left the subway at Wall Street, to the time I stepped off the train at Grand Army Plaza going home, the whole trip was accessible.

Route of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.

Profile of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.

The ferry from Wall Street to Soundview gives a good look at different parts of the City.. Not well known but very interesting is North Brother Island (lower left corner on the map); the ferry passed between it and privately owned South Brother Island. From the ferry one can see the ruins of Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island. This was a City hospital for the chronically ill, and its most famous resident was “Typhoid Mary” Mallon.

The Soundview ferry terminal is at Clasons Point, across the East River from College Point, Queens (see my post “On the Trail of Conrad Poppenhusen” under “The Stair Streets of New York City”), just west of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, and just across the Bronx River from the Hunts Point Terminal Market, from which most of the City’s perishable foods are distributed. Clasons Point Park is a little riverfront park at the ferry terminal, with sweeping views. Soundview Avenue runs northwest from Clasons Point Park, and after a short distance the Shorehaven waterfront path begins.

Left to right: selfie at Clasons Point Park, just off the ferry, with the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in the background; view from the Shorehaven Esplanade with the towers of Manhattan in the distance; bungalows along Leland Avenue.

At the end of the Shorehaven Esplanade I continued on Bronx River Avenue and then Leland Avenue, into one of those parts of thew Bronx where I almost had to slap myself and ask, “Am I in the Bronx?” This is a community I’ve biked through a few times on the NYC Century and the Tour de Bronx. It is a community near the water, mostly of small bungalows nestled close to each other. It is not at all the Bronx that is often portrayed in the media and it is not the only such community in the Bronx. The Country Club neighborhood, Riverdale, and the brownstones on Alexander Avenue in the South Bronx, all have left me astonished, and not just the first time I have seen them. Flags of the United States and Puerto Rico were flying in about equal number from in front of people’s homes.

At O’Brien and Leland Avenues I started out on the bike and pedestrian trail through Sound View Park. This park hugs the mouth of the Bronx River. Along most of the trail it seemed that I was in a dandelion snowstorm. Like most of the City’s parks that operate without a not-for-profit conservancy, Sound View Park needs some attention, but it is generally in good condition and it proved to be a quiet oasis.

Left to right: First row, path in Sound View Park with a lot of dandelion seeds, and NYC Greenway roundel. Second row, two sides of the same sign at the north entrance to the Sound View Park trail (Colgate and Lafayette Avenues.)

Along the north end of the Sound View Park trail are several baseball fields, all of which saw a lot of use today. Beyond the north end of the trail are a few blocks of high-rise apartment houses and assorted light industry, before returning to the Bronx River and entering Concrete Plant Park. I wrote about this park in my 2020 post entitled “Lower Bronx River Greenway,” so I won’t repeat it here but please refer back to it. Suffice it to say that it is an urban gem and the revival of the Bronx River as a home for fish and birds is testimony to the great work of the Bronx River Alliance.

Left to right: the Bronx River looking upstream from the Bruckner Boulevard bridge, with Concrete Plant Park in the center to the left of the river; selfie in Concrete Plant Park.

In the “Lower Bronx River Greenway” post I also discussed, and included photos of, the ruins of the Westchester Avenue station of the New Haven railroad. It’s still there and in need of an “angel” to restore it to a good use.

Busy Westchester Avenue near the Simpson Street station.

Leaving Concrete Plant Park, I walked west along Westchester Avenue to get the subway home from Simpson Street station. Along most of its length Westchester Avenue is in the shadow of elevated subway lines: the White Plains Road line (2 and 5 trains) and the Pelham Bay Park line (6 train). Most of the portion of Westchester Avenue that I walked is most of what is not covered by an elevated line. The fully accessible Simpson Street station is one short block from the busy intersection of Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue, a commercial hub for this lively, ethnically diverse neighborhood, and the junction of bus and subway lines.

This was a fine walk, mostly far away from the City but well within it. It was good to see people out and about in these late stages of the pandemic. Most of all, as I keep pushing myself I advance the recovery I’ve taken full ownership of. Many people have helped me up and helped keep me going, and continue to do so. Ultimately, stroke recovery has always been up to me, and I’m having fun doing this.

Onward!

From Queens to the Bronx

WHERE: Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) Bridge and Randall’s Island Connector

SUBWAY AT START: Astoria Boulevard (N, W; fully accessible)

SUBWAY AT FINISH: Cypress Avenue (6)

DISTANCE: 3.3 miles (5.3 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl and Ryan Eick except where noted

The RFK Bridge - I call it by its original name, the Triborough Bridge - is actually three spans radiating from Randall’s Island in the East River: a suspension bridge to Queens, a vertical lift bridge to Manhattan, and a truss bridge to the Bronx. It opened in 1936 as the creation of that deeply flawed genius, Robert Moses. The magnum opus about Moses is The Power Broker by Robert Caro, worth reading all 1,400 pages, and after reading it I truly understood that we all leave a mixed legacy as we walk the earth. Moses was responsible for the Triborough Bridge, turning Randall’s Island and Ward’s Island into parks, nearly all the public swimming pools in New York City, and perhaps the best public work of its kind anywhere, Jones Beach State Park. He also was responsible for eviscerating neighborhoods with expressways and sought to keep nonwhite people away from the state parks on Long Island. Ultimately, he met his match in the Brooklyn Heights Association, Jane Jacobs, and most of all, then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

Left to right: map of the walk from Astoria to Randall’s Island; map of the walk from Randall’s Island to the Bronx. Maps courtesy Google Maps.

I’ve biked over all three legs of the Triborough Bridge many times but never walked any part of the bridge until today. My friend Ryan joined me in Astoria, Queens, at the eastern end of the bridge, for this walk. The bridge has 3 sets of stairs of 22 steps each, one at the Astoria end and one at either end of the suspension span. It was a cloudy but pleasant day, perfect for this walk.

Clockwise from top left: plaque at the Astoria stairway showing the bridge and Randall’s Island Park; the Queens span of the bridge (courtesy www.nycroads.com) with the walkway above the road and on the right; the Hell Gate Bridge seen from mid-span of the Triborough Bridge; the last set of stairs going toward Randall’s Island, with friend Ryan on the right.

A wide ramp leads from the suspension span down to Randall’s Island. This. along with adjoining Ward’s Island, has walking and biking trails, many baseball fields, a stadium for sports and concerts, a water treatment facility, the Fire Department’s training center, and the headquarters of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. From the bottom of the ramp we walked a little distance along Central Road, where there was once an arch bridge linking Randall’s Island and Ward’s Island before they were connected by landfill, to the beginning of the Randall’s Island Connector.

Two views of the now-gone Little Hell Gate Arch Bridge, constructed 1936, demolished in the late 1990s. In the first image, the current Central Road is in front of the arch bridge and the larger span is the railroad viaduct. The second image shows the bridge as it looked when I would bike across it. Photos courtesy of Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress).

Profile of the walk from Queens to Randall’s Island, courtesy Google Maps.

Profile of the walk from Randall’s Island to the Bronx, courtesy Google Maps.

The Randall’s Island Connector opened about five years ago as a low-level alternate route to the Bronx. There was, and remains, a footpath on each side of the Bronx span of the bridge, but access to it is a steep ramp with right-angle turns on the Randall’s Island side and a spiral ramp on the Bronx side. The Connector is much more negotiable and pleasant. It is tucked underneath the arched supports of the viaduct leading to the Hell Gate Bridge, used by CSX freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains. The view through these supports is just mesmerizing.

The Connector comes to an end on East 132 Street. This part of the Bronx, Port Morris, has a printing plant for the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, a FedEx facility, and a lot of warehouses, truck terminals, and light industry. Just to the north is the Oak Point rail freight yard, and beyond that, the huge Hunts Point Terminal Market. Just over four blocks from the Bronx end of the Connector, in this improbable location, is the Bronx Brewery and Empanology, where Ryan and I stopped for lunch and beer. They have a small beer garden in the back and tables out front. A good contingent of cyclists stopped there, and by the time we left there were people waiting for tables in this not-at-all picturesque setting. From there I made the short walk to the subway at Cypress Avenue for the trip home.

Clockwise from top left: me at the southern end of the Randall’s Island Connector; view of the Connector where it crosses the Bronx Kill; scene in front of the Bronx Brewery and Empanology (approach to the Hell Gate Bridge in the background); mosaic at the Cypress Avenue subway station.

Total steps: 44 up, 22 down, total 66. This was an excellent walk; I felt strong and rewarded at the end.

John Finley Walk, Carl Schurz Park, Bobby Wagner Walk (Manhattan)

WHERE: The East River waterfront promenade from East 63 Street to East 96 Street, Manhattan

SUBWAY AT START: Lexington Avenue - 63 Street (F, Q; fully accessible)

SUBWAY AT FINISH: 96 Street (Q, fully accessible)

DISTANCE: 2.5 miles (4.0 kilometers)

Photographs by Michael Cairl

I dedicate this post to my friend and fellow stroke survivor David, who while not a city person always likes to see a new post on this blog; to my physical therapist Dave, who always pushes me to do more; and to my friend and barber Mark, with whom I’ve bonded in a shared determination to live fully despite physical disability.

Route of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.

After my most recent stair streets trip (see the post “East River Ramble” under “The Stair Streets of New York City”), I was interested to go north from the same starting point, along the East River. This was a brisk, cloudless day, perfect for this trip. A lot of walkers, runners, cyclists, and dogs were out enjoying the day.

The portion south of East 81 Street is called the John Finley Walk, which opened in 1941 together with the East River Drive (later the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive) and is named for John Huston Finley (1863 - 1940), a president of City College of New York and later of the University of the State of New York, who often walked the perimeter of Manhattan. In the past two decades it has been enlarged and improved. All access to the walk is now by ramps, a surprise as I didn’t know the long staircase at East 81 Street had been replaced. Much of the path is wider than it was, the result of Rockefeller University, Weill-Cornell Medical Center (New York Hospital), and the Hospital for Special Surgery all having expanded their campuses over the FDR Drive.

This was the first time I walked the John Finley Walk, and remember biking it only once.

Profile of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.

The namesake of Carl Schurz Park (1829 - 1906) was a German revolutionary, an American journalist and reformer, U.S. Senator from Missouri, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The promenade sits atop two levels of the FDR Drive, and at its north end is Gracie Mansion, since 1942 the official residence of the mayors of New York. It was built in 1799 by Archibald Gracie, a prominent architect. The Gracies and the Roosevelts became related along the way, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s baby brother was Gracie Hall Roosevelt (who, thankfully, went by Hall). Continue north onto the Bobby Wagner Walk, named for Robert F. Wagner Jr. (1944 - 1993), son of three-term mayor Robert Wagner and a leading figure in Manhattan politics, to 96 Street and the short walk to the Second Avenue Subway.

I’ve biked the Bobby Wagner Walk and through Carl Schurz Park many times but don’t recall walking this route before. It’s a different experience on two feet versus two wheels.

Across the river from this walk is Roosevelt Island, a thin strip of land in the middle of the East River that I’ll walk around and describe in an upcoming blog post.

While the ramp up to Carl Schurz Park is long, this whole trip, subway to river to subway, was wheelchair-accessible.

Left: the power station built by the Manhattan Railway Company in 1900 for the electrification of its elevated lines in Manhattan and the Bronx. Coal delivered from barges at the river fired boilers that powered huge reciprocating engines, which in turn drove electric generators. Before electrification, trains on the elevated lines were pulled by small steam locomotives. Con Edison still uses this facility but the big engines are long gone. Right: the start of the ramp leading up to the terrace at East 81 Street. This ramp replaced a long set of stairs two blocks farther north.

Clockwise from top left: one of a few John Finley Walk signs dating from 1941 (at 81 Street); obligatory selfie in Carl Schurz Park; view of the footbridge to Wards Island at left, and the Hell Gate Bridge and RFK (Triborough) Bridge on the right; Gracie Mansion in the distance, built 1799 and the official residence of the mayors of New York since 1942. An upcoming walk across the Triborough Bridge from Queens to the Bronx will be the subject of another post on this page.

Left: the parabolic concrete structure at center was built by the city in the 1940s as an asphalt plant. Today it is part of the Asphalt Green Recreation Center. Right: smart signage on a decorative lamppost; “91” indicates East 91 Street. The structure on the right is part of a garbage transshipment facility that was opposed for years by the community, which didn’t want garbage (except theirs) being hauled through their nice neighborhood.

The Second Avenue Subway is notable for its high standard of design and for the art work in each of its stations. These images are from the Lexington Avenue - 63 Street station and evoke the Second Avenue Elevated, service on which ended in 1940, and street life in its shadows.

The Daniel Patrick Moynihan Train Hall

Photographs by Michael Cairl except where noted.

Today the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Train Hall opened across 8 Avenue from the superblock occupied by from Pennsylvania Station and, atop it, Madison Square Garden and office and retail spaces. So much has been written about the original Penn Station that I won’t repeat it here. Instead, read “The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station” by Lorraine Diehl, and watch “American Experience: The Rise and Fall of Penn Station,” available online. (Incidentally, one of the people interviewed, the renowned tunnel engineer Vincent Tirolo, has been a co-worker of mine and lives a few blocks away.) Moynihan station is named for the four-term U.S. Senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who had long championed building a grand train station inside the James A. Farley General Post Office, a Beaux Arts building across 8th Avenue from Penn Station. Moynihan Station is excellent in its own right but a bit of historical context is in order for a prooer appreciation.

The original Penn Station opened in 1910 as the station in Manhattan the Pennsylvania Railroad had sought for so long. Until then the only railroad that had a terminal in Manhattan was the Pennsy’s arch-rival, the New York Central, at Grand Central Terminal. Other railroads terminated on the west shore of the Hudson River in Jersey City, Hoboken, and Weehawken; passengers completed their journeys by railroad-owned ferries or, from 1908, on the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (today’s PATH). Penn Station was designed as a station for intercity trains and Long Island Rail Road suburban trains.

Clockwise from top left: Penn Station looking west from 7 Avenue in 1910, the arcade leading from 7 Avenue in 1911, the stairway from the arcade to the main waiting room in 1911, the main waiting room in 1911, the train concourse and platforms in 1910, the train concourse around 1950. All photos from The New-York Historical Society courtesy of mashable.com.

The post-World War II decline in passenger rail travel and the glut of rail lines in a deindustrializing Northeast led the Pennsylvania Railroad to monetize what assets it could, and in 1962 announced that Penn Station would be demolished in favor of today’s underground station, a new Madison Square Garden, and an office tower. The New York Times’ architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable, called this “a monumental act of vandalism” but it happened anyway. The destruction of Penn Station helped give rise to the historic preservation movement in the United States, and I have long thought that Penn Station died so Grand Central could live.

Intercity rail travel, at least in the Northeast, has come back to life under Amtrak, and the Long Island Rail Road and the other Penn Station tenant, New Jersey Transit, saw record ridership prior to the pandemic. The current Penn Station has been a dingy, confusing, poorly signed, seriously overcrowded warren of spaces used by its three railroads, a place to get into and out from as quickly as possible.

Moynihan Station allows dispersal of passengers over a greater area. It is meant to accommodate all Amtrak passengers and some Long Island Rail Road passengers. The existing facility will be primarily for commuters. The U.S. Postal Service remains on its historic 8 Avenue side of the building. The main part of the train hall occupies the former sorting hall of the Post Office, and commercial tenants, the biggest of which will be Facebook, will occupy the rest of the space.

I entered the station from the subway station at 34 Street and 8 Avenue. Wayfinding is pretty easy and it’s part of the design. Up a short ramp was the lower concourse, running the width of the station and providing access to tracks 5 through 21. (Tracks 1 through 4, used only by New Jersey Transit, are accessible only from the existing station.)

Left: Entrance from subway station. Right: Lower concourse.

A stairway and escalator lead from the lower concourse to the train hall, a transition from a low space to an open space reminiscent somewhat of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple (1906) in Oak Park, Illinois. What was once an open courtyard is now covered by an acre of steel and glass. There’s nothing fussy about the design; the openness, natural light, and masonry of the Post Office building all speak for themselves,

Clockwise from top left: The train hall looking south toward 31 Street, the train hall looking north toward 33 Street, the train hall looking west toward the Amtrak ticket office, one of the train gates in the train hall, one of the train gates in the lower concourse, obligatory selfie from the balcony on the 33 Street side.

Even the signage and departure boards were made appealing.

The New York Times has a great piece on the design and public art at Moynihan Station; go to https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/arts/design/penn-station-art-moynihan.html?searchResultPosition=1

Moynihan Station doesn’t address nearly all the problems of Pennsylvania Station: the layout of the station, train operations, and too little capacity for all the people using it. And while it’s convenient to the 8 Avenue Subway it’s a long schlep through the existing station from the 7 Avenue Subway. It gives a nod to the old Penn Station but doesn’t mimic it, and that’s a good thing. It will not be how Lorraine Diehl described the vast train concourse of the original Penn Station: “a room of blacks and whites and shadows, a room meant to be filled with grit and memories.” But it’s worthy in its own right, a good start to the transportation and planning problems besetting this area. It’’s the best public space, other than a park, to open in this city in a long time. I look forward to taking a train to or from here and thinking, as I cannot possibly do at the existing station, that I am someplace important and exciting. Go see it if you’re able.

Lower Bronx River Greenway

START: Hunts Point Avenue station (6 line, fully accessible)

FINISH: East 180 Street station (2 and 5 lines, fully accessible)

DISTANCE: 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers)

This was my first longish walk post-stroke, in August 2019. I give as deep a bow as I can manage to the Bronx River Alliance for cleaning up the Bronx River, opening it to fish, birds, and kayakers. And the Bronx River Greenway, still a work in progress, is a great thing.

Start at the Hunts Point Avenue subway station. Once outside, turn left on Bruckner Boulevard, then walk over the Amtrak line and past a truck lot, then enter the Greenway on the left; see first photo.

On this first leg of the Greenway you’ll walk through Concrete Plant Park, a very nice place whose focal point is, you guessed it, an old concrete plant. Then walk up the ramp to Westchester Avenue. On the left are the ruins of the old Westchester Avenue station of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Passenger trains stopped serving this station on the last day of 1937. Beneath the decay you can still see beauty.

If at this point you’re feeling tired, you can get the Bx4 bus on Westchester Avenue (direction East 149 Street) to the Simpson Street subway station (2 and 5 lines, fully accessible).

Turn left on and then cross Westchester Avenue, then turn right onto Edgewater Road. Walk past some car lots and light industry to the park entrance that is to the right of a car turnaround. On the left you’ll see the brand-new bike path on what was the Sheridan Expressway, being converted to a local boulevard. Walk past Starlight Park on the left, then underneath East 174 Street and across a footbridge. At the end of the bridge, turn right and follow the path. On the left, in a stand of trees, is a remnant of the old New York, Westchester and Boston Railway: Catenary Bridge No. 1. The NYW&B was built to high standards and opened in 1912 but never made any money, closing at the end of 1937. The no. 5 subway line from East 180 Street to Dyre Avenue is on the old NYW&B right-of-way and the old station houses are still in use.

If at this point you’re feeling tired, you can get the Bx21 bus on East Tremont Avenue (direction Westchester Square) to the East 180 Street subway station (2 and 5 lines, fully accessible).

Continue on the path to the end; the entrance to a bus depot is on the right. Be careful crossing busy East 177 Street, then continue on Devoe Avenue past East Tremont Avenue (McDonalds on the corner) and the high elevated subway structure to East 180 Street; cross and turn right, walking on the park side. On the left you’ll see the entrance to the next section of the Greenway, if you’re feeling adventuresome. But we continued to Morris Park Avenue and turned left. Walk a short distance, then on the left is the station house for the East 180 Street subway station. This grand structure housed the offices of the NYW&B and this station was a transfer between the NYW&B and the subway. On this occasion we crossed the street for the Bx21 bus to an excellent Italian restaurant, Patricia’s of Morris Park.

This walk is good for seeing interesting places and for exercise. It is good physical and mental therapy. And the whole route is accessible.

Photographs in this post by Michael Cairl and Keith Williams except where noted.

Entrance to Bronx River Greenway at Bruckner Boulevard. Screenshot from Google Maps.

The pedestrian and bike path in Concrete Plant Park. An old concrete plant was repurposed as the focal point of this very well-done park.

In Concrete Plant Park.

Wayfinding on the Greenway: simple and effective. I’m pointing at East 180 Street.

How the lower Bronx River is kept clean and fit for fish and birds: capture all the crap in the river behind a barrier. How those basketballs got there is anyone’s guess. We did see a cormorant, several ducks, and probably a turtle. The river has come a long way, thanks to that great organization, the Bronx River Alliance.

The old Westchester Avenue station. I wish some angels could be found to fund the restoration of this sadly neglected gem.

Terra cotta detail on the facade of the old Westchester Avenue station. This humble commuter station hasn’t seen a paying passenger since 1937. By sheer luck it hangs on, albeit in an ivy-covered and much decayed state.

Another look at the Westchester Avenue station, from a walk I did in the area in January 2012. Note the still-beautiful tile work and decorative terra cotta. Passengers entering the station must have felt they were someplace important.

Footbridge being built over the Bronx River to connect to a new path on the east bank of the river, north of Westchester Avenue.

NYW&B Catenary Bridge No. 1. This is just north of the former West Farms Junction of the NYW&B and the New Haven.

Route map, courtesy Google Maps.

East 180 Street station. Photo credit: TheBronxNYC at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26003567