"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"--
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."
How New York City subways signage evolved from a “visual mess” to a uniform system with Helvetica triumphant. For years, the signs in the New York City subway system were a bewildering hodge-podge of lettering styles, sizes, shapes, materials, colors, and messages. The original mosaics (dating from as early as 1904), displaying a variety of serif and sans serif letters and decorative elements, were supplemented by signs in terracotta and cut stone. Over the years, enamel signs identifying stations and warning riders not to spit, smoke, or cross the tracks were added to the mix. Efforts to untangle this visual mess began in the mid-1960s, when the city transit authority hired the design firm Unimark International to create a clear and consistent sign system. We can see the results today in the white-on-black signs throughout the subway system, displaying station names, directions, and instructions in crisp Helvetica. This book tells the story of how typographic order triumphed over chaos. The process didn't go smoothly or quickly. At one point New York Times architecture writer Paul Goldberger declared that the signs were so confusing one almost wished that they weren't there at all. Legend has it that Helvetica came in and vanquished the competition. Paul Shaw shows that it didn't happen that way—that, in fact, for various reasons (expense, the limitations of the transit authority sign shop), the typeface overhaul of the 1960s began not with Helvetica but with its forebear, Standard (AKA Akzidenz Grotesk). It wasn't until the 1980s and 1990s that Helvetica became ubiquitous. Shaw describes the slow typographic changeover (supplementing his text with more than 250 images—photographs, sketches, type samples, and documents). He places this signage evolution in the context of the history of the New York City subway system, of 1960s transportation signage, of Unimark International, and of Helvetica itself.
The first subway line in New York City opened on October 27, 1904. To celebrate the centennial of this event, the Johns Hopkins University Press presents a new edition of Gene Sansone's acclaimed book, Evolution of New York City Subways. Produced under the auspices of New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority, this comprehensive account of the rapid transit system's design and engineering history offers an extensive array of photographs, engineering plans, and technical data for nearly every subway car in the New York City system from the days of steam and cable to the present. The product of years of meticulous research in various city archives, this book is organized by type of car, from the 1903–04 wood and steel Composite cars to the R142 cars put into service in 2000. For each car type, Sansone provides a brief narrative history of its design, construction, and service record, followed by detailed schematic drawings and accompanying tables that provide complete technical data, from the average cost per car and passenger capacity to seat and structure material, axle load, and car weight. Sansone also includes a helpful subway glossary from A Car (the end car in a multiple car coupled unit) to Zone (a section of the train to the conductor's left or right side). Subway and train enthusiasts, students of New York City history, and specialists in the history of technology will appreciate this updated and authoritative reference work about one of the twentieth century's greatest urban achievements.
In Subway Adventure Guide: New York City, residents and tourists alike gain access to off-the-beaten-path adventures in a compact guidebook format and see the New York City that's not featured on postcards sold all over Manhattan. Each of the roughly three dozen end-of-the-line destinations spread out over New York City's five boroughs included in this easy-to-use guide, from restaurants and bars to landmarks and museums, are highlighted in great detail by authors Kyle Knoke and Amy Plitt—what to order, what to see, and how to get there. For even better exploring, each destination is organized by the more than 30 subway lines that run through the city, including handy maps with street names. From delighting in a little-known ethnic restaurant to admiring a local landmark, each adventure contained in this photo-packed pocket guide reveals a new hidden gem of the city. Van Cortlandt Park. Far Rockaway. Bay Ridge. Flatbush Avenue. Subway Adventure Guide: New York City takes you away from the tourist traps and closer to a genuine New York City experience.
More than 250 extraordinary photographs--including both newly commissioned color photographs and period images from the New York Transit Museum archives--chronicle one hundred years of architectural and design history from the New York City subway system, including everything from the interiors of t
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the construction of the competing lines and their unification *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "In New York, you've got Donald Trump, Woody Allen, a crack addict and a regular Joe, and they're all on the same subway car." - Ethan Hawke Of all the great cities in the world, few personify their country like New York City. As America's largest city and best known immigration gateway into the country, NYC represents the beauty, diversity and sheer strength of the United States, a global financial center that has enticed people chasing the "American Dream" for centuries. One of the most significant needs of a growing civilization is an efficient transportation system, and by the time the burgeoning New York City had reached the latter half of the 19th century, the waterways and narrow streets were no longer sufficient to get people from one part of the city to another. Something new was needed, and in a place where real estate was already at a premium, building above ground was not an economically efficient option. As such, the leaders of the city commissioned companies to explore the world under the busy streets, and to build a rail system that would allow people to move quickly below the feet of those walking above. First one company and then another rose to the challenge, and the first decade of the 20th century found the city with one of the best subway systems in the nation. As the city grew, so did the companies, and they continued to dig like human gophers into more expansive areas. Perhaps not surprisingly, barely anything went smoothly, and for every mile of track put down, there was at least another mile of red tape that had to be cut through. There were also accidents and tragedies both big and small, but the subway continued to expand. Eventually, city officials decided that such a large undertaking, one on which the city had grown dependent, could not be left in private hands, so the city ultimately took control of the system and made it part of a larger public transportation system in 1940. This proved to be good in the long run, but in the short run caused quite a stir, as old lines were closed and new ones opened. Moreover, as middle-class people began to own automobiles and to drive back and forth to the suburbs each day, the subway fell into disrepute, becoming a seedy place that was considered dangerous for all but the bravest citizens. That might have been the end of the enterprise, had it not been for a serious program of renovation and security that brought the underground train system safely into the 21st century. The subway survived not only its own downfall but the terror that gripped the city on September 11, 2001, and today it is once again considered the way to get around by New Yorkers in the know. Just as notably, the size and scope of the subway brings the city's residents and workers together, a sentiment David Rakoff captured only half in jest: "Deprived of the opportunity to judge one another by the cars we drive, New Yorkers, thrown together daily on mass transit, form silent opinions based on our choices of subway reading. Just by glimpsing the cover staring back at us, we can reach the pinnacle of carnal desire or the depths of hatred. Soul mate or mortal enemy." The New York City Subway: The History of America's Largest and Most Famous Subway System looks at the construction and history of one of the world's biggest and busiest public transportation systems. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the New York City subway like never before.
In "Subways," her highly anticipated follow-up to "The Automat," Diehl sets off on another sentimental journey, recounting the true story of a city transformed by underground passageways.
