New York City Subway in popular culture

References to the New York City Subway in popular culture are prevalent, as it is a common element in many New Yorkers' lives.

By service

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  • Justin Townes Earle's song "Working for the MTA" describes the 6 train from the perspective of the driver.
  • In the novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and the films based on it, a 6 train that originated in Pelham Bay Park Station was hijacked, and hostages were held inside a subway car.
  • After his first visit to NYC in 1969, Rubén Blades wrote the song "El número seis" about waiting for the 6 train. He never recorded it, but it was recorded in 1975 by Bobby Rodríguez y la Compañía in 1975, Los Soneros del Barrio in 1999, and Jimmy Sabater with Son Boricua in 2002.
  • When she was growing up, Jennifer Lopez regularly rode a 6 train into Manhattan to go to her dance studio. Her debut 1999 album is called On the 6, a reference to the train.
  • "Take the A Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn, referring to the A train, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the express tracks in Manhattan. It became the signature tune of Duke Ellington and often opened the shows of Ella Fitzgerald. Part of the significance of this is sociological: it connected the two largest Black neighborhoods in New York City, Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
    • The A-Train series of Japanese railroad management games is named after this song. The original Japanese title translates to "Take the A Train".
  • "Cinderella & The "A" Train" is a song by Joe Purdy, and is one of several songs by Purdy about (or with references to) New York City.

A satirical depiction of the C Eighth Avenue Local appears in a full page "Sketchbook" in The New Yorker by cartoonist Roz Chast, titled "The Legend of the C Train."[1]

  • Lofi hip hop artist Samsa references the F train running from Brooklyn to Jamaica, Queens in his song "to the girl three seats over on the f train."
  • Rapper Jay Z has acknowledged that his moniker is partially a homage to the J/Z services, which stop at Marcy Avenue, near his childhood home in Marcy Houses.[3]

R (RR)

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  • The 1977 film Saturday Night Fever shows several clips of the subway, most notably Tony's ride on the RR train.

By medium

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Comic books

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  • In Tales of the Night Watchman #3 and #4, published by So What? Press, the story "The Dwellers of Big Bogie" takes place predominantly in the subway. A group of spider-like humanoids called Dwellers live in a cave beneath the L train in Williamsburg. It was written by Dave Kelly and illustrated by Amanda Scurti. In #3, Serena is mugged by a Dweller named Taryn while waiting for a train.[4] In #4, Nora chases Taryn into the cave and is captured by its rulers, the maniacal Vera and her husband, the eponymous Big Bogie.[5]
  • In 2018, Dave Kelly and Simon Fraser began serializing a Tales of the Night Watchman strip in the Park Slope Reader, a local Brooklyn paper. The first story, "The Ghost Train", is about the elevated train involved in the infamous Malbone Street Wreck returning to terrorize the city on the centenary of the accident. The story debuted in the paper's Spring 2018 edition, number 64.

Music

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Television

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  • The subway has a fictional station on Sesame Street. It also has appeared in some closing sequences of the series.[12]
  • The second half of the 1974 The Odd Couple episode "The Subway Story" takes place in a subway train. The episode was filmed on a set.
  • The entire All in the Family episode "Mike The Pacifist" (which aired in 1977) takes place on a subway train. A set was constructed at Television City in Hollywood, which resembled the interior of a subway train traveling toward Queens.
  • In the 1987–1989 American television series Beauty and the Beast, Vincent (the "Beast"), who lived in tunnels beneath the city (see "Mole People"), rode on top of a subway car to travel surreptitiously around the city.
  • In the 1992 Seinfeld episode "The Subway", a subway ride leads to four unique experiences. Jerry Seinfeld befriends an overweight nudist, George Costanza meets an attractive woman who invites him to her hotel room, Elaine Benes misses a lesbian wedding, and Cosmo Kramer wins a horse bet.[citation needed]
  • In the 1993 Full House episode "Subterranean Graduation Blues", the entire family rides the subway to Jesse's graduation ceremony. Exterior shots of trains pulling in and out of stations are of the New York City Subway, but the episode takes place in San Francisco.[13]
  • The fourth episode of the second season of Courage the Cowardly Dog titled Courage in the Big Stinkin' City features Courage boarding the A train and being chased by a police officer. The train’s operator is scared off the train, which speeds out of control with Courage attempting to steer it, until it crashes into Radio City Music Hall’s rehearsal room.[14]
  • The first season of the Disney Channel sitcom Girl Meets World often contains episodes with scenes mimicking Bleecker Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line). The show is actually filmed at Los Angeles Center Studios.
  • The seventh episode of The Defenders sees Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage use the subway to travel to Midland Circle Financial after escaping police custody, however the scenes themselves were actually shot on the PATH train.
  • The TV show Forever uses the subways in three different plots. The pilot features an investigation into a subway train crash which kills 15 people and protagonist Dr. Henry Morgan.[15] In "Fountain of Youth", Abe tracks one of the NYPD's suspects through the system, prompting Henry and NYPD Detective Jo Martinez to follow him.[16] In "The Last Death of Henry Morgan", Henry and Adam confront each other in one of the abandoned tunnels, which leads to Henry's death, Adam being stabbed in the neck with a needle filled with air, and Jo finding an old photograph which shows Henry appearing unchanged since it was taken.[17]
  • The second season of Russian Doll features main character Nadia Vulvokov being transmitted to the past and back through the 6 Train. In later episodes, Alan takes the same train and ends up in East Berlin.[18]

Film

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The New York City Subway has been featured prominently in many films.

Video games

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Other

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References

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  1. ^ Chast, Roz (March 27, 2023). "The Legend of the C Train". The New Yorker. April 3, 2023 print edition. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Jean-Michel Basquiat - MoMA". www.moma.org.
  3. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Jay-Z Biography. Allmusic. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
  4. ^ "Advance Review: TALES OF THE NIGHT WATCHMAN #3". 30 November 2014.
  5. ^ "SPX Preview: Supernatural Noir Returns With 10 Pages From Tales Of The Night Watchman # 4 - Bleeding Cool News And Rumors". 4 September 2015.
  6. ^ New York Times Subway Glide
  7. ^ "Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn: Jazz Composers -Take the "A" Train". Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn: Jazz Composers. National Museum of American History. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  8. ^ "Lou Reed - Velvet Underground - PopSpots". www.popspotsnyc.com.
  9. ^ "Loaded - The Velvet Underground - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  10. ^ (News) Native New Yorker Jennifer Lopez Celebrates city's Puerto Rican Day, Lewiston Morning Tribune, June 15, 1999
  11. ^ Savage Garden diary entry for 26 August 1999 Archived 19 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ File:Tv movie christmas eve oscar legs 86th street.jpg
  13. ^ "Season 6, Episode 19, "Subterranean Graduation Blues"". 28 December 2012.
  14. ^ "Courage the Cowardly Dog - Courage in the Big Stinkin' City - TheTVDB.com". Beta.thetvdb.com. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  15. ^ "Pilot". Forever. Season 1. Episode 1. September 22, 2014. ABC.
  16. ^ "Fountain of Youth". Forever. Season 1. Episode 3. September 30, 2014. ABC.
  17. ^ "The Last Death of Henry Morgan". Forever. Season 1. Episode 22. May 5, 2015. ABC.
  18. ^ "Nowhen". Russian Doll. Season 2. Episode 1. April 20, 2022. Netflix.
  19. ^ "GoneMovies – Movie Blog". www.gonemovies.com.
  20. ^ Anderson, Ken (16 October 2011). "DREAMS ARE WHAT LE CINEMA IS FOR...: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW 1966".
  21. ^ "What is the best car chase scene of all time?". Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  22. ^ "Chevrolet Chevy Van in "Death Wish"".
  23. ^ "Oldsmobile Cutlass S in "Death Wish"".
  24. ^ "Subway image captured on Internet Movie Cars Database".
  25. ^ "Death Wish (1974), starring Charles Bronson (VIDEO)".
  26. ^ Dwyer, Jim, "Subway lives : 24 hours in the life of the New York City subway", Crown, 1991, ISBN 0-517-58445-X
  27. ^ Reeves, Tony. "Filming Locations for Saturday Night Fever (1977), around Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge in Brooklyn". Archived from the original on 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
  28. ^ "The Warriors Trip From Coney Island to Dyre Avenue in the Bronx Revisited". www.stonegreasers.com.
  29. ^ "Movies Filmed at 59th St - Columbus Circle Station — Movie Maps". moviemaps.org.
  30. ^ "Jacob's Ladder Film Locations - On the set of New York.com". onthesetofnewyork.com.
  31. ^ "Photos of Vincent Schiavelli". www.hotflick.net.
  32. ^ "Glengarry Glen Ross Film Locations - On the set of New York.com". onthesetofnewyork.com.
  33. ^ "Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) corrections".
  34. ^ "Money Train Film Locations - On the set of New York.com". onthesetofnewyork.com.
  35. ^ "Fake Subway". February 1995.
  36. ^ Marking Time In Movie Land. "Subway Stories". cinemachild.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
  37. ^ "Little Nicky (Hollywood Jesus)".
  38. ^ "James Gray • Director Profile • Senses of Cinema". sensesofcinema.com. 12 May 2017.
  39. ^ "Lower Bay's New York Makeover - Transit Toronto - Content". transittoronto.ca.
  40. ^ "20 best NYC subway cameos in pop culture". Curbed New York. 20 September 2017.
  41. ^ "Little Manhattan Film Locations - On the set of New York.com". onthesetofnewyork.com.
  42. ^ THESSALONIAN31N (28 October 2014). "The Brave One Subway Scene". Archived from the original on 2016-03-10 – via YouTube.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  43. ^ "'Knowing' crew lets you in on the secrets of that subway crash". 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017.
  44. ^ "Film Locations: Inside Llewyn Davis in 1960s NYC". 22 January 2014.
  45. ^ "ESPN Classic - Great Subway Series moments". ESPN.
  46. ^ "Photos 1-25 of 25". www.nycsubway.org.
  47. ^ "REMNANTS OF THE NINTH AVENUE EL - Forgotten New York". forgotten-ny.com. 25 December 1999.
  48. ^ Perez-Pena, Richard (July 15, 1993). "Aficionado Of Subway Spared Prison". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2008.