#191st street station

[wanderingnewyork]

From 2018: Looking up the tracks of the No. 1 line from the 191st Street Station, #Manhattan.

#New_York_City_Subways

#mtanyctransit

[dirtcola]

I have a story to tell. Look at me. I need to talk about public transit.

Behold... the woeful tale of the most cursed subway station in the system (content warning bodegaland under the cut)...

I present to you - 191st Street on the 1 Train.

This station is notable for being the deepest underground. It is 173 feet (53 m) below street level. This is because it is under a massive, steep hill in the neighborhood of Ft George. Most of New York City is pretty flat, however, in places like Northern Manhattan and parts of The Bronx, the terrain is quite hilly. This specific hill is notable for being big enough to almost completely cut off the neighborhood of Inwood (northern tip of Manhattan) from the rest of the island.

The station itself has a simple enough layout, a northbound and southbound platform connected by a covered pedestrian footbridge and mezzanine. The atmosphere is what is different - you're so far underground that the air is still and stale, and in between the arrival and departure of trains, it is deathly quiet.

So you're likely thinking, "how does one exit this strange station at the bottom of such a big hill?" There are two ways to enter and leave the station: a set of four large freight-style elevators, or a long pedestrian tunnel which lets out at the bottom of the hill. There are no stairs.

Let's talk about the elevators first, should you decide to brave them. Luckily for you, they've recently been completely replaced! This is a wonderful thing, because the old ones were absolutely slow and rickety as hell and would often stall out and return to the bottom of the station when overloaded (being overloaded, mind you, by exhausted and nervous commuters eager to make it out of there).

Here is a video shot by a transit enthusiast riding the old elevators shortly before replacement. Note how it took a full 43 seconds to make the ascent, and that is with only one person riding in it! He also made a follow-up video riding the new elevators, which ascend at a crisp 34 seconds.

Now you might be thinking, "those elevators seem like a total death trap. What about the tunnel?" Well...

The tunnel is made of concrete, dimly lit, and 900 feet (270 meters) long. For a years, the walls were covered in graffiti art and murals commissioned by the NYC Department of Transportation. To be fair, it looked pretty cool!

However, I'm sure you noticed the past tense in the preceding paragraph. In January 2023, DOT completely painted over the tunnel in an unflattering shade of landlord white. It looked like this:

Understandably the community was quite upset by this. DOT eventually began commissioning artists to beautify the tunnel in September 2023:

Certainly an improvement! The tunnel still lets out at the bottom of the hill though, so I hope that you don't have business at the top of the hill. It's also a long walk from one end to the other, and the thick concrete walls make the sounds inside very isolated. Not ideal for any semblance of safety.

In conclusion, this post may make 191st Street interesting, but I still suggest avoiding it. The atmosphere in this station is oppressive and eerie, the elevators and tunnel out are of dubious safety, and there isn't much to see or do here if you don't live in the immediate neighborhood.

New york fuckin city babey!!!!!!!!!

[bossymarmalade]

The NYC three-block-long tunnel emerging at the Washington Heights 191st Street subway station:

2015, after a public mural initiative

2022, lack of maintenance by the Department of Transportation

2023, painted over without consulting the community

x.

[richardmurrayhumblr]

13th edition of the RMNewsletter 191st street streetart invitation 3d modeling Storyboard films Black Girls Breathing Al Harrington Pharma https://rmnewsletter.over-blog.com/2023/03/3/26/2023-rmnewsletter.html #rmaalbc #rmnewsletter

[patina-millers-biceps]

okay okay okay important post-in-the-heights-movie question: thoughts on jon m. chu directing the wicked movie?

okay okay okay my thoughts are that if he can't do it no one can. Like I LOVED LOVED LOVED Chu's little fantasy dream-y sequences with the fabrics in It Won't Be Long Now, the mannequin wig heads in No Me Diga, and that DANCE SEQUENCE in When the Sun Goes Down????? HELLO????? I'm also trusting his casting ability here because this cast can actually really SING!!!! A movie musical cast that can sing! What a concept! And it also clearly looks like he allows the original writers to have a sense of control and say in the work too, which is comforting. No matter what though, Wicked is going to be SO HARD to transfer to the screen, in terms of the fact that Wicked is the definition of camp, which tends to fly (haha) better in a stage setting. But I do trust him to do right by it and at least try to get that essence a lot more than I would almost any other director who's attempted a movie musical recently.

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

The 1979 movie Stalker (available on DVD at the library or streaming online) is a very strange movie that's a wonder to behold. It's based on an amazing book called Roadside Picnic, which is an amazing and immersive read.

Here's the story in a nutshell: Something happened in a location on Earth, and even though the "something" (whatever it was) is now over, the area where it happened is permanently changed. One theory is that aliens stopped by earth for a short time for an inconsequential visit (like if you took a break from driving to have a roadside picnic, and then left again). The area called the Zone is now off-limits, but some people (nicknamed "stalkers") make their living by bringing curious visitors into the Zone illegally.

I read the book and watched the movie a while ago, and then I rewatched the movie recently, and then a patron returned a DVD copy to our service desk last week. So, basically, this story has been percolating in my consciousness for a little while.

And that's probably why my brain recently made the connection to a real-life location that looks and feels like it could have been ripped out of this story:

That's right: it's the subway tunnel at the 191st Street station of the 1 train.

It feels dark and haunted, there's water dripping everywhere, strange sounds echo around you, and you feel like you might be in danger.

And yet, on the other hand, sometimes you will also see strange things that are uplifting or beautiful …

And, like the tunnel in Stalker, it also feels different every time you walk through it!

[aagdolla]

191 st Train Station ( #1 Train ).....

191st Street is a station on the Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City. Located at the intersection of St. Nicholas Avenue and 191st Street in the Washington Heights, it is served at all times by the 1 train. It is the deepest station in the New York City Subway system—about 173 feet (53 m) below street level. Access to the station's main entrance is only provided by four elevators to the mezzanine. A pedestrian tunnel also extends west from the station 1,000 feet to Broadway.

This station has a free transfer if you are going from uptown to downtown. 

Neighborhood = Washington Heights

📷by aagdolla ©2020

[nativenewyorkerposts]

Happy Subway Day!  The New York City subway opened on October 27, 1904.  I have a special interest in anything related to trains.  Yesterday, I rode the #1 train to the 191st Street station in Washington Heights.  I wanted to include this pedestrian tunnel in my blog:)  I will conclude this post with a surprisingly insightful quote from comedian Don Rickles: “Struggling is hard because you never what’s at the end of the tunnel.”  (Photo taken on October 26, 2019)

[mtaartsdesign]

School’s out for summer in NYC!

Image: Raúl Colón, “Primavera” (2003), ceramic mosaic at 191st Street (1) station in Washington Heights. 

[usnewsrank]

Girl, 14, stabbed in NYC subway after ‘arguing with group of teens’

Girl, 14, stabbed in NYC subway after ‘arguing with group of teens’

A teenage girl was stabbed near the 191st Street Station in Washington Heights a day after Mayor Eric Adams announced a new initiative to fight crime in the transit system (Pictures: Shutterstock) A 14-year-old girl was stabbed while riding in the New York City subway after reportedly getting into a confrontation with two other teenage girls. The fight broke out near the 191st Street Station in…

[wanderingnewyork]

From 2017: Looking up the tracks of the No. 1 line from the #191st_Street_Station, #Manhattan.

[dirtcola]

We already talked about 191st Street, but here are some other cursed subway stations that get honorable mentions:

181st Street (1) - Only one stop down from 191, I've seen people shooting smack into their necks in the stairwell at rush hour at this station. It's elevator-only to exit, but I consider it slightly better than 191 because it's less isolated/eerie, and at the very least there is no Tunnel of Doom and a giant fuck-off hill to walk up.

53rd Street/Lexington Ave (E, M, 6) - If you want to transfer from the E/M to the 6, SO MANY STAIRS HOLY SHIT and your only other option is a rickety escalator (which may or not be in service).

4th Ave/9th Street (R, F, G) - Not especially dangerous, but the R is very deep underground and the F/G are very high above ground, so if you're making the transfer from the R you gotta climb up like 5-6 stories and it's killer.

125th Street/Lexington Ave (4, 5, 6) - Truly one of the wildest stations. Super grimy, grungy, and filled with people of questionable intent. There's always something crazy going on here, and it's never good.

34th Street Hudson Yards - This shiny new station has an escalator that is so steep that riding it gives me vertigo, and I'm not normally someone who struggles with that!

[patina-millers-biceps]

I literally cannot get over how good the in the heights movie was ....... my brain simply cannot function. What was your fav part?

Oh man! Same! I loved a lot, which is a good sign but the top three, in no order are: just everything Daphne Rubin-Vega did, that STUNNING dance in When the Sun Goes Down, and the INSANE staging (?? Is that correct term I don’t do movie speak) of Paciencia Y Fe. (Even tho I resent the lyric change but I get it) like the subway showing her progress through time?? And also since I am a New Yorker I do have a favorite subway station and the 191st Street station is mine, so I loved seeing it look so pretty in those lights!

[mysvavisualjournal-blog]

Went to the 191st street station for the first time, I was IMPRESSED.

[csosin]

A couple of weeks ago I photographed Lisa Clark, one of the MTA’s few remaining elevator operators. She works the overnight shift (10pm-6am) at the 191st street station. I forgot how difficult all nighters are! Read the story in this week’s #wethecommuters by @gothamist @wnyc #transportation #oddjobs #mta #commuting #photojournism #wnyc #gothamist (at 1 Train 191St St Subway Station) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzDsr4aFFzl/?igshid=bsy0ds1n3dsr

[nyc-subway]

191st Street Subway Station

by ShellyS