Raiders of the Lost Blog

This is crazy! The NYC subway has a number of ventilation shafts and emergency exits. You can’t just have them poking up everywhere so they’re hidden in different neighborhoods as regular buildings. In the picture above the middle brownstone is a fake, it’s really a vent and emergency exit.

Hopefully the link will stay active, check out the story and video at NY1.com. I’ve included the full text below…

AUGUST 12TH, 2003

New York City’s subway system has 468 stations, more than 700 miles of track, and along with it, lots of infrastructure you’ve probably never even thought of before. As NY1 Transit Reporter Bobby Cuza explains in the following report, some subway facilities blend into the landscape so well, you may not even know they’re there.

At first glance, it looks like just about every other row house in this tree-lined residential neighborhood. But take a closer look and you’ll notice some things missing.

There are no plants or flower boxes, no air conditioning units in the windows, and no garbage piling up outside, like the other apartment buildings: just black windows, front doors with no mail slot, no door buzzers, and a very strange-looking keyhole.

It turns out it’s not a residence at all, but a subway ventilation facility and emergency exit, with a shaft that leads down to the subway tunnel under the street. The building is so well-disguised, some people who’ve lived here for years were surprised to learn it’s anything but an ordinary brownstone.

?Well, now that I’m looking at it, I can see that it looks peculiar. But I had no idea,” said one resident of the neighborhood.

?The windows are a little bit dark, but other than that, it looks like a normal apartment building, yes,” said another neighbor.

Citing security concerns, transit officials asked NY1 not to disclose the building’s location. But it’s been in use for almost 100 years, and mimics the neighborhood’s Greek Revival-style architecture.

In recent years one next-door neighbor leased the back of the building, doubling his yard space.

?In the middle of the night there’s noise sometimes, but other than that, there’s really no problem living next door,? said the lease holder. ?The workmen come by, and they tend to come by in the middle of the night rather than in the morning, and you hear banging in there. What they’re doing, I don’t know.”

In general, transit officials try their best to camouflage their facilities. Others are more conspicuous, but the idea is to blend into the neighborhood.

And with those old sidewalk ventilation grates no longer permitted, future projects like the Second Avenue subway will have to build vents into the sides of buildings, or disguise them as buildings, like the old row house.

“It’s a very harmonious design and use of the property,? said one woman who lives near the structure. ?Definitely, that should be replicated across the city in other neighborhoods.”

- Bobby Cuza

Last week my Gameboy SP fell out of my bag on the subway. The screen was kaput, the pixels all smeared and incorrect. I was worried I’d have to shell out another $99 to get a new Gameboy.

Turns out Nintendo has a great warranty! 1 year for Gameboys. If anything happens to it, you can visit their support site, fill out your information, get a return number and be ready to go. They’ll even pay for 2 day Fedex shipping!

My Gameboy got there on Thursday, they shipped it on Friday and it just came today. 1 day turnaround, free shipping on both ends of the deal? I’m a very happy customer. Thanks Nintendo!