Museums and Plazas on the 2.

Today I continue on my adventures to each station on the 2 Line. I proceed further out into Brooklyn covering the stops from Bergen Street to Franklin Street. Bergen Street was more exciting outside the stop as a came across a cow for advertising purposes for a nearby store. Reminded me of where I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. Except there we have real cows. Onto the next stop Grand Army Plaza. I really enjoyed this stop because outside of it is the Grand Army Plaza hence the title of the stop of course. Inside the station there is artwork displayed which is called Wings for the IRT, The Irresistable Romance of Travel, Jane Greengold which was installed in 1993. The work is based on the winged women in the quadriga on the Soldiers and Sailor's Memorial Arch above the station, with an homage to the original IRT "winged train" logo. Source: nyc.gov.

In the middle of the plaza stands The Bailey Fountain which is approaching seventy five years, the fourth and longest lasting plaza fountain. It was built in 1932 by architect Edgerton Swarthout and sculptor Eugene Francis Savage. Named after Brooklyn-based financier and philanthropist Frank Bailey. It features an elaborate grouping of mythical figures.

The next stop on my journey Eastern Parkway - Brooklyn Museum. This is one of my favorite stops. There is plenty of artwork in the station associated with the museum. It is called Historic New York City Architectural Elements, Brooklyn Museum of Art Collections.

These architectural elements offer a sampling of ornamental forms that once decorated and still adorn many 19th- and early 20th-century buildings in New York City. The molded terra cotta keystones, plaques, lunettes, and borders on view have been salvaged from now-demolished structures throughout the metropolitan area. They were drawn from the Brooklyn Museum of Art's collection, where they have long served to increase public awareness and appreciation of Greater New York's architectural richness. Source: mta.info/Arts for Transit.

The outside of this station places you right in front of the Brooklyn Museum which is a beautiful artpiece all within itself. I have been to this museum numerous times and really enjoy it. It might be just one of my favorite museums. Today I couldn't go in because on Mondays it is closed. However, I proceeded to take photos outside.

Franklin Avenue stop was where I headed to next and compared to the last two stops this one was nothing to write home about so to speak. I took a few pictures but a very run of the mill station stop. At this point there happen to be some change in how the trains were running so I decided to stop my journey and head back home. Next time I will be finishing the Brooklyn end of the 2 train.

Two of us on the 2

Today I start out on the 2 train. I have a companion today, Maria, who is a great friend of mine. She lives out in Brooklyn so I decided to travel to some stops out in Brooklyn first. The first stop we go to is the Clark stop. This stop is located in downtown Brooklyn and has some artwork in it noticeably on the floor. The passageway from the stairs to the elevators has a marble terrazzo floor done by Ray Ring in 1987. He named it the Clark Street Passage. After you take the elevator to street level there is food stores and some places to eat inside the station and you discover that the hotel St. George is overhead. The area is pretty nice as it is downtown Brooklyn. The next stop is the Borough Hall stop. The stop is not that interesting but outside you will fine a hustling and bustling Brooklyn downtown right at the base of the New York Supreme Court building. It is a very busy square and not to mention that it was soo cold that day so standing above ground to take pictures was a quick event. Hoyt stop was next and it was really a beautiful station stop however the station looked like it was in two parts. One part being in a red color scheme and just looked very new and the other part looking older with pastel color scheme. It was weird that the station wasn't overdone fully. The last stop on this trip was the Nevins stop. This stop was a smaller station but had some artwork displayed. It is called Work & Nature by Anton van Dalen done in 1997. Porcelain enamel on steel frieze. This mosaic is 14 inches high by 83 feet long along both walls of the mezzanine. The work is in tones of soft blue, green and ochre like the original platform mosaics. It features stenciled silhouettes in black of a woman operating a sewing machine, a mother taking cvare of a child, a man planting a tree, an architect reading a blueprint, a female executive addresseing a meeting, and famous musician Furry Lewis. Source: mta.info. I only ended up visiting 4 stops today but plan to do a lot more the next time I venture out. It was great to have someone with me who may see things in a different light then I do as we travel through the subway stations.

Last of this 1

On this journey I finally complete the 1 line by venturing out to the last 7 stops uptown. Today, is probably one of the coldest days of the year and the wind is fierce. I jump on the train and pray that most of the stops will be underground. Well, first stop is Dyckman Street. Guess what?! It is above ground. The platform itself was quite long and the train comes out of the underground tunnel which is much warmer than standing on the cold platform waiting for the wind to hit your face. I take my pictures that I need and jump on the next uptown train. Next stop is 207th Street/10 Avenue. Once again this stop is above ground. I can't catch a break can I? On this trip I am using two cameras. My Nikon digital camera and the Diana plastic film camera. I have never used a camera like that before and wanted to see what came out of it. Needless to say my hands are freezing but I gotta keep going and hope that the next stop is underground. This stop was pretty typical but what I am really liking about each of these stops is the fact that there are no tall buildings so therefore I can see for miles. I love taking pictures in that way. Next stop is 215th Street/ 10 Avenue. Once again above ground. I really can't catch a break here. Good thing that the 1 train is very efficient and runs about every 3-5 minutes. This stop overlooks the NYC Department of Sanitation Plant which is in fact huge. Never thought I would be discovering that. Also, the station entrances look quite old and I always like to this on my journey, some preservation of how the subways looked long ago. Ok, so I am hoping now maybe I could get an underground stop because at this point my hands are numb and it is getting harder and harder to take pictures especially with two cameras. 225 Street - Marble Hill is the next stop and above ground. My luck. This stop however is really beautiful and you can see for miles. The Metro North trains are nearby and you can see them the midst of their routes. The subway crosses the Broadway Bridge and the station is on the Bronx side. Goodbye Manhattan for the remainder of the trip. The body of water that is crossed is called the Harlem River Ship Canal. Never heard of that in my life and that is why I love doing this project soo much. Who knew?! The canal is also called the Spuyten Duyvil Creek which is a one-mile-long channel connecting the Hudson and Harlem Rivers in New York City, separating the island of Manhattan from the mainland. This stop also has some artwork. It is about time. I haven't seen a lot of artwork on this journey and I was wondering if all my pain and suffering due to the cold would allow me to see some subway art. Elevated Nature I-IV, by Wopo Holup in 1991 depicts fossil-like imprints above the station seats as you will see in my pictures. Onto the next stop because by this time my hands are popsicles. This stop is 231st Street which also had some great artwork and also is another above ground stop. This artwork is very recently done in 2007 by Felipe Galindo called Magic Realism in Kingsbridge. It is beautiful stained glass works that are throughout the station. I really love stained glass and love the colors that were used for this layout. Next stop is 238th Street which didn't have any art but had tons of these huge lamp post about a foot away from each other on both the downtown and uptown platforms. The look of them just made the whole station a piece of art. Not sure if it was beautiful art or just plain ugly. You will have to see for yourself. Once again it was above ground. Onto the next stop which is the last stop on the 1 line called Van Cortlandt Park - 242 Street. This stop looked quite old and the area where you would walk to street level was a wooden porch-type corridor. In this area you felt like you were out off of some expressway in Long Island. Manhattan is long forgotten up in these parts. The subway station is literally above a highway. You have to take a bus to get to shops and restaurants in that area. Well, at this point in my travels my hands are blue and my whole body is just freezing due to each and every stop being outside but physical pain aside these stops were some of my favorites thus far. I felt like I was in a totally different world and I can't believe I live a half hour or so away from all of it. The 1 line is completed now onto the express lines of the 2 and 3!