Not everyone checks the transportation conversation on Twitter as obsessively as I do, but even a casual visitor over the past week would notice that the G train was on the mind of transit-interestedNew Yorkers, and probably most of the people living in North Brooklyn. While the G was down from Hurricane Sandy, the MTA refused to give predictions of when the IND Crosstown service would be back online, with conspiracy theorists claiming that reconstruction on the G would simply be delayed until we stop asking about it and the service becomes defunct.
I wouldn’t count on that happening. I know it’s a low-density line, and I understand that connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan was a main concern for the MTA (as a Windsor Terrace resident, I can attest that getting out of the borough was a nightmare for days). But as a typical “new” Brooklynite, I can also attest that the G is absolutely vital to my interests. It connects the hipster backbone of Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Park Slope. It cuts the commute time to Western Queens in half. It is the only subway winding its way through the heart of Bed-Stuy.
The MTA will not simply leave the IND Crosstown to rust, but as the only non-shuttle that doesn’t enter Manhattan I think the poor G often gets short shrift. So, while it was down for the count, I decided to appreciate the G, to “untap” it and show you the gems just above ground along the line.
My route, trying to follow aboveground as closely as possible the train’s route
GoogleMaps told me that my journey from the first G-only stop, Fulton St., to the northernmost Brooklyn station, Greenpoint, would be 4.4 miles and take 1 hour and 27 minutes. Since I’ve found that GoogleMaps usually thinks my walking speed is a brisk jog, I planned for a longer trip. [Final time: 2 hours and 37 minutes]
Fulton St StationBible verses on the wall of 69 Lafayette AveGourds talking to each other at 92 Lafayette AveStairwell mural at 126 Lafayette Ave“still moving” at 136 Lafayette AveMasonic temple at Clermont Ave and Lafayette Ave, next door to Queen of All Saints churchWhite rollerblades with flowers (a memorial?) tied to the stoplight at Lafayette Ave and Washington AveMTA workers surfacing the steps at Clinton-Washington Avenues StationBike parking at Pratt Institute’s Higgins Hall, Lafayette Ave and St. James Pl312 Lafayette Ave under constructionNo Parking, with friendly enforcersClimb up to the bench at 444 Lafayette AveOrnamentation at 474 Lafayette AveBedford-Nostrand Avenues stationPoison and dogs at 551-553 Lafayette AveA splash of blue at 577 Lafayette AveChicken coop at 535 Lafayette AveGreenThumb park on Lafayette Ave and Marcy AveStay Cool at the Kosciuszko pool on Marcy Ave and Kosciuszko StKingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on 685 Dekalb AveBed-Stuy cats at 650 Marcy Ave“U Like Chinese Food” at Willoughby Ave and Marcy AveMemorial for Mack at 599 Marcy Ave“Flat Fix God Love You” at 580 Marcy AveMyrtle-Willoughby Avenues stationThe grates were my G-train yellow brick road, although they weren’t usually this aestheticPfizer plant at Flushing Ave and Union Ave (Marcy Ave turns into Union)Flushing Ave stationEmpty lot at Union Ave and Wallabout StAcme Power Transmission, which inexplicably uses stuffed animals in its display, at 578 BroadwayBroad & Boerum, a Hasidic building in the former Lincoln Savings BankBroadway stationA modern obelisk? At 190 Union AveMetal copse at 251 Union AveBacked-up gas lines at S. 2nd StMural at Union Ave and Grand StI liked the clover awning at 418 Union AveMetropolitan Ave station and the infamous Kellogg’s DinerThe former location of Our Lady of Mt. Caramel at Jackson St and Union Ave under the BQEArchitectural waves at 610 Union AveUprooted tree from Hurricane Sandy in McCarren ParkBradley Manning mural at 55 Nassau AveNassau Ave station next to Yelena’s Shoe Repair, which I can corroborate is a good shoe placeA surprising wooden door at 671 Manhattan AveGreenpoint Savings Bank, now inhabited by ChaseA new CVS going in at Manhattan Ave and Milton StGreenpoint station
On Wednesday morning, G train service was brought back online, albeit slowly, and I’m more thankful for it than ever. At least now, as I wend my way northward, I’ll be able to imagine the route overhead.
