SUBWAY JAIL

by Kevin Walsh

Though the East Willie and north Bushwick have started to attract the cognoscenti, a good old fashioned ghetto ambience still holds sway in the subway stations, like this barred subway exit at Morgan Avenue that looks straight out of Franz Kafka.

13 comments

TJ September 24, 2012 - 5:11 pm

The wanted poster on the left gives it a real jail vibe.

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websteward September 24, 2012 - 6:55 pm

The guy on the wanted poster probably lives down those stairs.

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Joe Fliel September 25, 2012 - 6:02 am

Great photo, Kevin. That “Wanted” poster on the right is the icing on the cake.

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Hart Sastrowardoyo September 25, 2012 - 1:23 pm

The wanted poster next to it just adds to the ambiance.

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Bruce September 25, 2012 - 1:50 pm

This is only one of many closed off passages in the subway system. At one time, there was an open passage from the south side of the IND 6th Ave 42 St station that ran to the north end of the 34th St station. I remember that there also used to be a passage from the same 34th St station that ran through to Penn Station. These two passages have been closed off behind tiles and are no longer visible.

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Mitch September 27, 2012 - 10:37 am

Many of these passages have been walled up and covered by tiles. Its always interesting to see one get uncovered – like opening King Tut’s Tomb.

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Tom October 2, 2012 - 10:13 pm

We used that Penn Station walkway in the early 1970’s. Think it ran under 32 St?? Not too wide, maybe 6′. Never wanted to use it again, too creepy for a kid.

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Dan October 3, 2012 - 2:21 pm

I used that passageway between 6th and 8th Avenue only once in 1979. It was narrow and creepy as you say, even for an adult. In the middle was a tough looking transit cop. That passageway closed in the early 1980s.

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Howie October 7, 2012 - 7:48 pm

That subway tunnel under 32 street did indeed exist and as an earlier reply mentioned reeked of urine.But on a rainy day you could get from 8th ave abd 31 street all the way to 40th and 6th underground and without getting wet. The 6th avenue part was a very wide walkway probably a part of the IND mezzanine design while the crosstown part was much narrower and darker.

I am guessing they were built in different eras. The crosstown passageway had “exits for Gimbels and the hotel Pennsylvania as per this story from the Post

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/remembering_the_gimbels_tunnel_3SN7c8HSVMMdICpXMVJFiN

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somebody October 13, 2012 - 2:15 pm

I think that the 34th Street- 42 Street passageway may reopen sometime. I remember hearing that Vornado may expand its retail space into there.

Roy J. Tellason, Sr. July 13, 2021 - 1:41 pm

I remember going through that tunnel more than once, starting back in the sixties. It didn’t smell bad then, nor was it particularly creepy, that came a bit later. I remember being interested in the fact that you could go that far underground, and not have to come up into the street. The last time I went through there, though, it did smell pretty bad and there were people laying there, looking despondent. I don’t miss that aspect of it.

Cookie Pus September 25, 2012 - 10:58 pm

Wow…

If you breath deep enough, you can smell the urine through your computer screen.

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Mitch September 27, 2012 - 10:36 am

I think the MTA is working on reopening another long shuttered entrance/exit to the Jay Street/Metrotech complex. The metal gates covering an entrance on Smith Street near the corner of Fulton Mall was recent opened and it appears that work is going on down the stairs.

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