Subway experiences

[Les Sherwood]

[u][b]Subway experiences[/b][/u]
As city folks most of us have interesting experiences on the subways
Here are a few of my experiences that are brought to mind:
1-First Subway Trip-We went to Manhattan to 42nd street with my mother when I was around 5-6 years old. Mom took us to Automat. I remember we had franks and beans.It was great and fun to use the machines that kept the food hot. The food was good and reasonable. What an experience.
2- To Grand Central- I went with Tom Horan to buy an Elvis album in mid 50’s. Was there a Sam Goody there at that time? The express was noisy, not too clean but it was fast and it was a great experience especially since n parents were with us.
3- Coming home from work reading a book. On the Express between Brooklyn Bridge and 125th street I was reading “Catcher in the Rye” and I starting laughing at experiences of Holden Caulfield? I had to stop reading at time as some people were noticing that I was happy and laughing. Remember people on the subways looked stone-faced, and almost expressionless. As usual the train was very crowded. After a while many people were close to laughing with me or about me but definitely not expressionless. I was somewhat embarrassed but I do think that I had happy impact on many. Laughing, and feeling good are contagious especially on a crowded train.
3-Religious Holidays. During High School I took Subways to Hayes. We could buy weekly passes for a nominal price. On religious holidays we could the passes to travel all over the 5 boroughs; sometimes we went to far reaches of Rockaway’s.
4-Wrong train. One night after drinking some after work I fell asleep and I awoke at 174th but on Jerome Ave line. Although it was freezing, it must have been 10 degrees, I decided to walk across the Bronx thinking that it would not take too long. Remember I was drinking a bit. Well after walking much more than an hour I got back to Cotter’s. By then I was stone sober/ready to get a few beers with friends who had a good laugh about my experience.

Of course there were many forgettable experiences. Coming home from Pace College one late night and as we went though the south Bronx five drugged crazed older teen angers terrorized the train. These guys were bad but nothing really happened since they picked on some men who did react to them. I have to say I was scared as I thought I would have to fight them more than likely by myself. The Subways could be a lonely place.

[pgirty]

Les - I'm still a straphanger and prefer the subway or a bus to a taxi.

But I do remember how cold it got standing on the elevated platform at the Parkchester station wearing stockings and high heels. It was brutal. This was way before North Face and Ugg boots.

My sister Mary has some good stories of her and her friends on the train - they were always running into perverts who would flash them. I never saw any such thing because I very smartly kept my nose in a book - and still do. Patty

[Les Sherwood]

Patty.
I can beleive how cold at times on the subway.
The coldest I remember was I hiked to Mt Kilamajero in 1989. The next coldest was I took that hike accross the Bx after I walked back to cotter's after I got on the wrong train.
Next was walking along the service road to the Bx expressway to Parkchester to get the express to go to work during winter. I know that it was definitely colder then. I can't understan how the ladies could wear skirts in the winter time
All the best.
L3s

[Jimmy Carolan]

Patty, Les,

I have a couple of "subway stories" for you although they are second hand. Many years back my father in law, Sean MacCormack, was taking the No. 6 train from 34th Street up to Hugh Grant Circle (Parkchester). It was the dead of winter, snowing and the time was around 1:00am . I 'm sure, as in your story, alcohol was involved. Anyway, Sean arrived at the Parchchester station and discovered that his pockets had been cut his wallet and cash gone. To add insult to injury, they stole his shoes as well. He walked home to Taylor Ave in the snow sans shoes.

The second story invoves my son Keith, and again alcohol was a critical factor. Keith lived in Hoboken and had gone out for drinks after work. He called his girlfriend and advised he was on his way home around 1:00am. When he left the Path train his cell phone indicated that she had called him over and over while he had no service on the train. He phones her in an aggravated state saying" why the hell are you calling me so much" she advise him it is 5:30AM and he has been riding the Path train back and forth to Hoboken for 4 1/2 hours.

Jimmy Carolan

[marie-elena (ferracano) r]

Hello Old & New friends,

I have to add a few comments re: freezing on train platforms. Yes Parkchester was colder than 180th train station. But try walking in stockings & heels from E. Tremont to 180th st.train station. Turn the corner, Adams St. Straight incline, all ice. It was tough walking home at night, up that hill. But for many years I took the #2 train to Gun Hill Road. Try standing on that platform in 10 degree weather.

One early Summer Saturday morning (late 1970's), had to get to Gun Hill Road. This was a few days,just before the 4th of July. Stopped to mail an enevelope, which I dropped & it almost flew away. So this delayed me, a bit. As I walk past the carpet store, on the angle of E. Tremont & Adams. I heard some "fireworks" going off. Next thing I know some strange looking guy pushes me under a car. An undercover policeman. There was an attempted robbery at B & B autobody shop. Or it was was being robbed. Never stayed around afterwards, to get the entire story.The police were having a shootout, with the thieves. It was the 1st time, I was ever in the middle of a crime scene. The cop apologized afterwards, for scraping my knee & elbow as he shoved me under that car. Which I didn't care about. Heard a few bullets, what I called "whiz" nearby. After what seemed like forever. Another cop came by & said that it was o.k. to get up. after that, I contined to go to the train station. When I finally caught up with some friends at Gun Hill Rd. (Instead of turning around & going back home!) My 1 ditzy friend commented on how I was lucky, that there was no dog poop, under that car. That's when i finally realized, how lucky I was, to have dropped that enevelope, that made me take a little longer to get to the train. Or who knows what could have happened to me that morning. That policeman may not have been on that corner.

[Les Sherwood]

Marie-elena
great story.
All in all a luckly day.
Les

[kay rogan moore]

This category brought back a memory I hadn't thought of in years. I was on the Pelham Bay express heading home on November 9, 1965. The train had just pulled into the 125th Street station and the doors stayed open for a long time. Then the announcement came that the entire northeast was in a blackout and that we would have to exit the train....wow...i was traveling home alone and was faced with ok now what...When we exited there were several leaders who asked if i wanted to walk with them to Parkchester station...I looked around and saw someone from the neighborhood whom i really didn't know...but i knew she lived on Archer Street and I think she was equally relieved to see a familiar face. So Pat Rooney and I walked home from 125th Street. I remember walking up Taylor Avenue with her and she left me at Archer Street. I don't remember ever seeing her again, but I was so relieved to have someone with me as we walked the many miles...Thanks for writing about the subway, Les.

[Les Sherwood]

Great story and an unnerving experience.
Being on 125 St. at night is a scary one. i can't believe you walk all the way to the neighborhood.
I remember well the 1965 blackout. After work i went to to Pace college to work on a paper. When the lights went out I tought they blew a fuse. The library was on the 12th floor so when nothing happened after a while I went to the window and was surprised the whole city was dark.
I made my way down the stairs and at the main floor I ran I into a friend from one of my classes.
It was great to some one who I knew. At night school it was not usual you would meet with some one with you knew.
It was ~ 6-7PM so we decided to find a restaurant to have a drink and something to eat. I remember we went to Delmonica's in the Wall Street area.
When we got there and we went in and found "there wass a party going on..." Of course we joined the party and and were having a great time under the lights of candles; It was a great experience. However the bar was running low on food and drink. Somehow the phones were working and I called my brother who was at home, and he was able to take my car and he went down to the restaurant. Afer he picked me up he took me up to the Bronx and we to Cotter's. Happyly the bar was crowed and having a good time. Evenyone was sharing their experiences of the day. who would believe that almost the whole eastern coast way in a blackout?
At this great age one didn't need any excuse to have a party." Those were the times my friend; we thought th ey would never would end... la la la....
All the best
Les

[Eddie Acunzo]

Here's a bizarre subway experience I'll never forget, actually a bizarre life experience. I had a very early morning doctor's appointment about some condition I was experiencing, then I had to hurry off to an air-conditioning trade school I was attending near Union Square in Manhattan. My doctor had given me samples of a medicine I was going to be taking once I got the prescription filled. I took the first dose there in his office and hurried off with my tool box to the subway. It was rush hour, so the train had the usual congestion, and it was never any fun to lug the tool box around. But as the subway crossed into Manhattan I began to have painful "charlie-horses" in my face and felt funny. Other than that, I wasn't sure what was going on. Also I began to get a very peculiar reaction from the other passengers on the train. For some reason, they seemed to be recoiling from me in horror. Why are they looking at me so strange? Suddenly I had half a subway car to myself, which is more than odd during rush hour, especially while everyone else was jammed like sardines into the other half of the car. I looked at my reflection in the train windows. The lower part of my face had slid to one side and the muscles were twisted up horribly, my tongue had swollen up to twice its normal size and was hanging out of my mouth like a sheepdog and I was bug-eyed. I looked like Quasimoto of the "Hunchback of Notre Dame." I frightened myself to death and wished I could find a belltower to hide in. I had turned into one of those freaks that you try not to stare at on the train for fear that he may notice you. It turned out that I was having a spasmatic allergic reaction to the new medicine. Go ahead and laugh about it now. It was one of the single most humiliating and embarassing moments of my life, but as long as it entertains you, that's the important thing. And I had to catch an uptown train to go back to the doctor's office to find out what was wrong with me. Talk about a lesson in humility!

[mary lamasney]

My Dad was a New York Transit Authority police officer so we had lots of stories about the subway. One of them involved my Dad working New Year's Eve on the #6. He was the Sargeant on duty and got a call about a guy walking on the tracks. He had the trains turned off north and south. They found one of the guys from the neighborhood walking home. My Dad recognized him and rescued him from getting arrested as well as run over by a train. He somehow got this guy who lived in my grandmother's building home safe and sound. This was about 1965. Joanie McMearty and I took the subway down to school on East 63 St. and it was often harrowing especially on the really crowded express train at 125 St. We had our most upsetting experience when we were coming home on a Friday with a couple of our school friends - we were seniors so when this gang of little kids who were 12 or 13 got on we did not even worry about them. Unfortunatley, they were looking at us - they started to grab our pocketbooks. We managed to fight them off but it was not easy since we were outnumbered. We were able to hold onto two of them for the cops. No adults intervened to help us which may be the difference with people today too. The subways are much improved in many ways from the old days. Mary

[Les Sherwood]

Mary
i hope you used your great "right hand" punch that you had.
All the best.
Les

[Lydia58]

I had a similar subway experience to Eddie's. I was 18 and had to get 3 teeth extracted (thanks Dr. Nelson, you're a great dentist). Anyway, I didn't have dental insurance and I found a dentist in Manhattan who would pull the teeth for $10 each. After being given about 90 shots of novacaine I headed uptown with a bottle of pain killers the dentist had given me. I got about as far as 125 St when the novacaine started wearing off and I was in agony. I opened up my pill bottle and tried to swallow them without water and was having trouble. I had a big wad of bloody gauze in my mouth and I thought if I took it out, it would be easier to swallow the pills. Well, imagine the rest----DISGUSTING! Blood all over, slamming pills in my mouth. I cleared out my subway car. Ah, the good old days!