Sunday, January 15, 2006
the people ride in a hole in the ground
last week i got my vaccinations updated, found my passport and headed into brooklyn to check out the mta museum. being a big fan of museums, new york, and our mass transit system, i'd long been meaning to go visit this museum, which is located inside of a refurbished subway station
playing virgil to my dante was erin, who is, in no particular order, my oldest friend, a brooklyn native, a little bit of a ham
the museum is composed of two levels. the first level has loads of nyc transit-flavored stuff like
old-timey signs
apparently spitting and meddling were the big quality of life issues back in the day back in the day.
images of transportation life way-back-when
the picture above shows herald square in 1890, which couldn't look more different now.
even early on, people took issue with advertising on the subway.
and miscellaneous historic memorabilia
my favorite was in a section dedicated to movies set in the new york city subways and busses. it's a poster for the ed-mcmahon/martin sheen vehicle, "the incident"
which apparently features this awesome bit of dialogue
also on the fist level was an exhibit of laura cantor's paintings of what's she's seen in her past 23 years as a new york city transit subway car inspector
the lower level of the museum housed subways aplenty from a variety of eras of subways
from these with (surprisingly comfortable, but ultimately impractical) wicker seats
to these more modern, if somewhat grim, subway cars
seriously, why did people need so many reminders not to spit?
what i liked best about the subways (besides the lack of homeless people) was that they featured reproductions of advertisements from yesteryear, like these movie ads above the doors between cars
as well as these ads above the windows
what i particularly like about the ads is that they show what people and the zeitgeist were like years ago. for example, i learned that
racism was so acceptable it was used to sell products
the image of a child bleeding to death wasn't always considered too gruesome to be put on public display
and people used to be cool about gays in the military
playing virgil to my dante was erin, who is, in no particular order, my oldest friend, a brooklyn native, a little bit of a ham
the museum is composed of two levels. the first level has loads of nyc transit-flavored stuff like
old-timey signs
apparently spitting and meddling were the big quality of life issues back in the day back in the day.
images of transportation life way-back-when
the picture above shows herald square in 1890, which couldn't look more different now.
even early on, people took issue with advertising on the subway.
and miscellaneous historic memorabilia
my favorite was in a section dedicated to movies set in the new york city subways and busses. it's a poster for the ed-mcmahon/martin sheen vehicle, "the incident"
which apparently features this awesome bit of dialogue
also on the fist level was an exhibit of laura cantor's paintings of what's she's seen in her past 23 years as a new york city transit subway car inspector
the lower level of the museum housed subways aplenty from a variety of eras of subways
from these with (surprisingly comfortable, but ultimately impractical) wicker seats
to these more modern, if somewhat grim, subway cars
seriously, why did people need so many reminders not to spit?
what i liked best about the subways (besides the lack of homeless people) was that they featured reproductions of advertisements from yesteryear, like these movie ads above the doors between cars
as well as these ads above the windows
what i particularly like about the ads is that they show what people and the zeitgeist were like years ago. for example, i learned that
racism was so acceptable it was used to sell products
the image of a child bleeding to death wasn't always considered too gruesome to be put on public display
and people used to be cool about gays in the military
# posted by Sweatpants Money : 1/15/2006 12:05:00 PM
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