Good morning. It's Monday. Today we'll look at a very important New York City institution that is 120 years old.
On an afternoon in October 1904, the New York City subway, then just a single line, made its inaugural trip, departing from a chandelier-embellished station under City Hall to 145th Street in Harlem. Crowds of New Yorkers waited eagerly aboveground for the strange subterranean vehicle to pass. The mayor, George McClellan, drove the train and enjoyed it so much that he stayed at the control panel until 103rd Street. The train made it uptown in 26 minutes, right on time. On Sunday, the subway celebrated its 120th anniversary, a milestone that arrived as the public transit system was navigating decaying infrastructure, a steep budget shortfall and the loss of a $15 billion funding stream brought on by Gov. Kathy Hochul's decision to halt congestion pricing. Today, much of the grandeur of the first ride has faded, the chandeliers swapped out for bright white fluorescents. But a touch of magic still remains. On a ride along the C line on Saturday afternoon, from its southernmost point in Brooklyn to its terminus in Upper Manhattan, New Yorkers expressed their begrudging love for a transit system that has been the backdrop for their biggest moments. They've fallen in love and gotten married; they've spotted Broadway legends and made unexpected friends; they've helped each other up and gotten each other home; they've been late for work and later home. They've lived, and even died, on the subway. At Euclid AvenueKai Gibson, 22, settled into a faded orange seat in the corner of a car, waiting for the chime that signals the doors are closing. Gibson, a New Yorker for 12 years, has had his share of subway nightmares, including hourlong delays. But he still loves riding the J, his favorite train, across the Williamsburg Bridge. "It just gives you a grandiose feeling, like you're really inside of New York," he said. At Ralph AvenueA few paces away, Iris Roman, 55, was looking around the quickly filling subway car. Roman is from Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and grew up riding the subway, but she said she felt it had grown dirtier and more dangerous recently. "I take the train because I have no choice," she said. "If they were to pay me," she added, "I would clean it myself." At Franklin AvenueAs the train rolled through Brooklyn, Devin Fagan, 32, came aboard in running gear after an excursion in Prospect Park. "I can't imagine my life without the subway," said Fagan, who grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. "It gave me a freedom that other children don't have." Even so, he hopes the subway will modernize in the coming years. "With the fall of congestion pricing, I'm kind of ashamed that we're not improving the system more," he said.
At Columbus CircleAt the far end of the car, Daniel Cuthbert, 49, sat beside his daughter Nina, 5, who wore an aluminum astronaut suit. The two were headed to the Upper East Side for a Halloween event at Nina's school. Cuthbert, who recently moved to Hell's Kitchen, on the Far West Side of Manhattan, from Midtown, said he had been mourning the relative lack of subway access around his new home. "It's almost as if we'd lost a piece of us," he said. "We felt really unmoored from the city." Cuthbert recalled a day in 1999 when an older man collapsed on the platform and riders sprang into action. "It encapsulated not just the subway, but also New York City itself," he said. "We're very busy, we seem very brusque, but we're marshmallows at heart." At 116th StreetAs the train lurched into Morningside Heights and then into Harlem, the crowd thinned. One of the remaining passengers, Maria Wilber, 36, was heading home to Washington Heights, curled in her seat reading a glossy copy of Elle Decor magazine. Wilber, a therapist, said she cherishes the quiet moments she has shared with fellow riders, including, once, the playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. She met her husband doing an AmeriCorps program and said their romance blossomed on long morning subway rides to the Bronx. "The subway has really been there for us," she said. As she spoke, the train came to an abrupt stop at 145th Street. A message came over the loudspeakers: C train service would end early because of track maintenance. To get home, Wilber said she would have to transfer to the A, which would be packed on a Saturday. "I'm in no rush," she said. "My frozen pizza is melting, but it's all part of the charm." WEATHER Prepare for a sunny day, with a high near 60 and light wind. This evening, expect a partly cloudy sky and a low near 50. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect today. The latest New York news
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Dear Diary: I was on a downtown 4 train. It was the middle of a hot afternoon, and the car was not too crowded. An older woman was dealing with a young boy who was having a tantrum. She looked like she could be his grandmother. The boy was screaming and would not keep still. He kept trying to get off the woman's lap to lie on the floor, and she was struggling to hold onto him while staying in her seat. His intense crying was making his nose run all over his face. She pulled a packet of tissues from her bag and tried to take one out, but the boy's flailing would not let her. Watching this unfold was a construction worker who appeared to be on his way home, a hard hat and backpack by his feet as he stood next to the woman and boy near the train's door. He began to gesticulate in her direction. Without getting a response, he took the tissue packet from woman's hands, pulled out a few tissues, passed them to her and returned the packet to her bag. The woman wiped the boy's nose and held him even tighter. The train stopped, the door opened and the construction worker stepped out. — Daniella Ben-Arie Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. Shayla Colon will be here tomorrow. — M.C. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Makaelah Walters and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
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N.Y. Today: The subway turns 120
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