I took the Port Authority Trans-Hudson subway (PATH Train) every day for a job in Hoboken in early 2016 and, while many PATH stations still boast the vaulted ceilings they originally sported in 1908 when the subway to Hoboken, Jersey City, Harrison, Newark, Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Midtown was built, the 33rd Street terminal in NYC is a special case.
When the IND 6th Avenue Line was constructed in the late 1930s it was actually built under an avenue that already had a subway and had had one since 1908. Of course the 6th Avenue Line had headier ambitions than the PATH and was eventually extended south to Brooklyn and east into Queens. But an accommodation had to be made with the older line. The PATH finally gave way and rebuilt its terminal further south, and today has exits on 32nd Street and 30th Street, but NOT 33rd! The signs only point the way: no PATH entrances or exits are found on 33rd or 34th.
These tiled red and white signs on the side platforms, used to let out exiting passengers, are a legacy of that IND displacement; they’re tiled in the same style as most original IND stations, with no nonsense, non-serifed lettering and numbering that mean business.
4/19/16