The Underground Guide To New York City Subways

The only guide you will ever need to travel around New York City by subway. From the theater district of trendy Manhattan to the quaint residential neighborhoods of Queens, every single station in the four boroughs has been researched to help you maneuver the system like a pro. Highly informative and resourceful, highlights from Dave Frattini's The Underground Guide to New York City Subways include: * Noteworthy stations featuring the best in underground art * The best nearby restaurants for affordable, informal and ethnic dining * Insightful historic information on the IND, BMT, and IRT transit lines * A token rating scale that gives an honest assessment of each station's - Decor - Cleanliness - Safety - Surrounding neighborhoods - Nearby points of interest such as museums, theaters, parks and shopping New York City residents and visitors alike will find this comprehensive handbook indispensable for riding the mass transit rails.

A fascinating journey into the past—and under the ground—that offers “an insightful look at the what-might-have-beens of urban mass transit” (The New York Times). From the day it broke ground by City Hall in 1900, it took about four and half years to build New York’s first subway line to West 145th Street in Harlem. Things rarely went that quickly ever again. The Routes Not Taken explores the often-dramatic stories behind unbuilt or unfinished subway lines. The city’s efforts to expand its underground labyrinth were often met with unexpected obstacles—financial shortfalls, clashing political agendas, battles with community groups, and more. After discovering a copy of the 1929 subway expansion map, Joseph B. Raskin began his own investigation into the city’s underbelly. Here he provides an extensively researched history of the Big Apple’s unfinished business. The Routes Not Taken sheds light on: *the efforts to expand the Hudson Tubes into a full-fledged subway *the Flushing line, and why it never made it past Flushing *a platform under Brooklyn’s Nevins Street station unused for more than a century *the 2nd Avenue line—long the symbol of dashed dreams—deferred countless times since the original plans were presented in 1929 Raskin reveals the personalities involved, explaining why Fiorello H. La Guardia couldn’t grasp the importance of subway lines and why Robert Moses found them old and boring. By focusing on unbuilt lines, he illustrates how the existing system is actually a Herculean feat of countless compromises. Filled with illustrations, this is an enduring contribution to the history of transportation and the history of New York City.

But as it is in no other city on earth, the subway of New York is intimately woven into the fabric and identity of the city itself.

A white woman in a mostly minority male workplace, Swerdlow helped edit a newsletter, Hell on Wheels, and tried to organize for better working conditions, confronting the Kafkaesque Transit Authority bureaucracy and complacent union leadership. This book presents her account that is laden with anecdotes that range from the funny to the absurd.

"New York wouldn't be New York without the subway. This one-time engineering marvel that united and expanded the city has been a cultural touchstone for the last 114 years. Somehow though, there has never been a book that celebrates the subway from the scars it left on the city's fabric to the romantic fantasies it unleashed. Subway will convey a sense of wonder and fun about the world's largest transit system. The book will include a complete, concise history of the subway beginning with the technical obstacles and corruption that impeded plans for an underground rail line in the late 1800s, and the visionary and sometimes wacky schemes put forward in that era for subterranean and elevated transport. It will also tell how additional lines were built and how three independent subway systems were merged, creating the mishmash of numbered and lettered lines we have today.Interspersed throughout will be sidebars and stand-alone sections including profiles of characters that helped make the subway what it is (including the mostly forgotten August Belmont Jr., a flamboyant financier who bankrolled the first subway); graphics and imagery showing the evolution of subway cars, tokens and MetroCards, graffiti, and even subway etiquette ads; how the subway has been characterized in movies, television, and music; a look at abandoned cars and stations and more. Packed with compelling stories, fascinating facts and anecdotes, vivid portraits of the people who made the subway and those who saved it, all supplemented with engrossing imagery and a dynamic design, Subway will be a visual feast and must-have gift book, perfect for any coffee table"--

Discover the city that never sleeps with the most incisive and entertaining guidebook onthe market. Whether you planto climb the Statue of Liberty, walk the High Line or visit a jazz club in Harlem, The Rough Guide to New York City will show you the ideal places to sleep, eat, drinkand shop along the way. Inside The Rough Guide to New York City - Independent, trusted reviews written in Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and insight, to help youget the most out of your visit. - Full-colour maps throughout and ahandy city plan - navigate the backstreets of the MeatpackingDistrict or Brooklyn's artsy Williamsburg without needing to get online. - Stunning, inspirational images - Things not tomiss - Rough Guides' rundown of New York's best sights and experiences. - Itineraries - carefully plannedroutes to help you organise your trip. - Detailed city coverage - whethervisiting the big sights orventuring off the tourist trail, this travel guide has in-depth practical advice for every step of the way. Areas covered include:the Harbor Islands; the Financial District; Tribeca; Soho;Chinatown; Little Italy; Nolita; Lower East Side; the East Village;the West Village; Chelsea; the Meatpacking District; Union Square;Gramercy Park; the Flatiron District; Midtown East; Midtown West;Central Park; the Upper East Side; the Upper West Side; Morning sideHeights; Harlem; north Manhattan; Brooklyn; Queens; the Bronx; Staten Island.Attractions include: theMetropolitan Museum of Modern Art; the Statute of Liberty; theEmpire State Building; 9/11 Museum; Grand Central; Museum of Modern Art; the High Line; the Whitney Museum of American Art. - Listings - honest and insightful reviews of all the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop,with options to suit every budget, along withthe latest on New York's clubs, live-music venues, theatres, galleriesand LGBT scene, plus in-depth sections on the city's sports andoutdoor activities, festivals and events, and children's attractions. - Basics - essential pre-departurepractical information includinggetting there, local transport, the media; tourist information; entryrequirements and more - Background information - aContexts chapter devoted to history, books and film.

Why does New York City have a subway system, and why does it have such an unusual design? Railroad engineers developed its bold and ambitious design in 1891 for the purposes of speed and convenience, above all else. By understanding the original thinking behind the subway, we can see beneath the grit and appreciate the true beauty of the system…and be inspired to build even bigger and better things in the future. The subway possesses a combination of design elements that make it unequalled among the world’s major rapid transit systems. The pillars of the system’s design are the high-speed right-of-way and trains, being underground but close to the surface, having extensive four-track mainlines with all tracks on the same level, and providing bi-directional local and express service.

When it first opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City subway ran twenty-two miles from City Hall to 145th Street and Lenox Avenue—the longest stretch ever built at one time. From that initial route through the completion of the IND or Independent Subway line in the 1940s, the subway grew to cover 722 miles—long enough to reach from New York to Chicago. In this definitive history, Clifton Hood traces the complex and fascinating story of the New York City subway system, one of the urban engineering marvels of the twentieth century. For the subway's centennial the author supplies a new foreward explaining that now, after a century, "we can see more clearly than ever that this rapid transit system is among the twentieth century's greatest urban achievements."