i'm 28 and listening very carefully

John Hughes

As a bit of a subway geek, this article in the Times about selling corporate naming rights to the Atlantic Avenue station got me thinking: What other stations, through quirks of history, actually have commercial names, even if we don't realize it? For the purposes of this exercise, non-profit entities (like Columbia or the Museum of Natural History) don't count, though no-longer-existent commercial entities do. Fact checked using Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia of New York City, nycsubway.org and Forgotten New York.

Train stations

There are two subway stations that are part of old railway stations, each of which is named for the railroad company that built them. Penn Station is, of course, named after the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, a fact which makes possible the elocutively bewildering experience of going from New York Penn Station to Newark Penn Station. Grand Central-42nd Street gets its name from Grand Central Terminal, which gets its name in turn from the New York Central Railroad of Vanderbilt fame.

Newspaper squares

When Adolph Ochs moved his newspaper to Longacre Square in 1904, he got the city to rename the area Times Square, a name that has been retained even though the Times hasn't actually been on the square since 1913. I would speculate that the cost of redoing all of the name plates in the Times Square-42nd Street station had something to do with it.

Herald Square was named after the New York Herald, which was headquartered there from 1893 to sometime in the 1920s. I want to say that the city renamed the square after the success of Times Square in a successful attempt to get the Herald to move there, but I can't find any references to back me up on that story at the moment.

Sports stadiums

An interesting thing to note about Barclay's purchase is that it's consistent with MTA practices of the past in naming stations after professional sports venues. Prior to this year, both baseball stadiums in New York City had their names on their respective subway stops, though it does not appear to be the case that Ebbets Field was so lucky (actually, looking at some old maps it looks like Yankee Stadium wasn't so lucky at the time either).

However, when the name of Shea Stadium's replacement was announced, the MTA balked at the idea of putting the name of a giant bank on the wall without being compensated, an idea I applauded. A beleaguered Citibank failed to pony up, and the Mets-Willets Point station was born. 161 Street-Yankee Stadium remained of course.

For some reason, while posting the trademarks of corporate sponsors requires payment, the MTA is fine with the trademarks of the teams themselves. Both team names are trademarks; whether those marks are registered to the team owners or to MLB is unclear to me.

Other commercial place names

63rd Drive on the R and V trains (the IND Queens Boulevard line) has the subtitle Rego Park, a neighborhood named after the Real Good Construction company, which built it. On the same line is Steinway Street. Including that station on this list is a bit of a stretch, because it seems as if the street is named after Steinway the man who owned the piano company that dominated the neighborhood to the north and not the piano company itself.

Are there any that I missed?

yet another reason i am not as cool as john cusack

A lot of these are pretty bad. Thanks, WLIR!

Grammys drop polka album award; Folk/Americana category split into two

Seriously, what goes on at a recording academy meeting?

The Lord Justice Hath Ruled: Pringles Are Potato Chips

so, anyone know where I can get a good taco in philadelphia? or not. fuck.

song obsessions update

i am a horrible person, reason #435

Every time I see the Merchant of Venice and they get to the part with the people picking among the three boxes, I think “haven't any of you ever seen Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade?”

celebwatch 2005!

Jason Bateman at 1st and 1st (the nexus of the universe).

Dramatic Television

400

It's a centennially historical season here in New York. For those of us who enjoy refried beans, last Friday was the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Queensboro Bridge. But for all of New York, this year marks a special historical occasion: the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage from the Netherlands. Today is the 400th anniversary of the day he left from Amsterdam.

Here's a photo I took a couple of years ago of the spot from which the Half Moon disembarked. The plaque on the left reads:

From this ancient “Tower of Trade” Erected 1442(?) A.D. HENRY HUDSON set sail April 4th 1609 A.D. on the vessel “Half Moon” on that voyage of discovery destined to bring him to the harbor of New York and the Hudson River; This memorial erected September 1927 by The Greenwich Village Historical Society of New York City, U.S.A., Catherine Parker Olivette, Founder.

On the very bottom is the name of the sculptor which I can't quite make out, even with a magnifying glass and a copy of the actual photograph (Samuel Jameson Heinemann?). The plaque on the right is 50 years old today:

Presented to the City of Amsterdam on the 350th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage to North America by the Port of New York Authority, April 4th, 1959

Robert B. Meyner,
Governor, State of New Jersey

Nelson A. Rockefeller
Governor, State of New York

Under that there's the list of PA commissioners from New York and New Jersey, whose names are far too small to make out in my picture. Interestingly, at first I thought the plaque said 300th anniversary, but I couldn't figure out who the names could be; they weren't the name of New York's mayor in 1909 (George B. McLellan) or the Governor (Charles Evans Hughes). I kept looking at it, eventually realizing that the name on the right could be Nelson Rockefeller. Sure enough, Rockefeller's governorship started in January of 1959, right before the 50th anniversary, and the governor of Jersey at the time's name could then easily be recognized.

As a lot of really smart people have noted, the fact that New York (or rather, New Amsterdam) was founded by the Dutch and not the English is the basis for much of what makes it a special place. While other places where founded on ideas of religious liberty, New York is where religious liberty actually happened. While other colonials came to the new world to find the freedom to practice their own religion, it was often at the expense of practicing others; the Dutch, on the other hand, came to make money. As a result, they didn't really care what religion you were, as long as you helped 'em make money. During his governorship, Peter Stuyvesant actually tried a few times to restrict religious practices, but it seems as if he was always rebuffed by his Dutch masters. One of those instances involved admitting the first Jews into the city; another would lead to the Flushing Remonstrance, referred to in the Encyclopedia of New York City as “The first Declaration of Independence.”

depressing science for the day.

the best and worst thing about hamantaschen is that you can't break one in half.

fun unix tip of the day

countmail

try it it is awesome.

everyone loves lyrics

Leslie causes me to do a lyrics quiz. These are all first lines. And there are 27 of them.

1. How many tequilas in the place?
2. sweetness, sweetness i was only joking when i said i'd like to smash every tooth in your head
3. On nights like this/when the world's a bit amiss
4. i know you're born in 84/half polish half danish
5. two dozen other dirty lovers/must be a sucker for it
6. bah bababababa (bah bah bah) bababa bah bah baba bah bah bah bah/bah babababababa baba bah bah/ba baba bah bah bah ba ba ba ba ba
7. when i get to the bottom i go back to the top of the slide
8. O Mount Kailas/uncover me
9. Can't you hear me calling your name girl?
10. Pressure pushing down on me
11. turn your watch, turn your watch back/about a hundred thousand years
12. my my my, we're treating each other just like strangers
13. sleeping is giving in/no matter what the time is
14. i heard there is no christmas in the silly middle east
15. This town is coming like a __. All the clubs have been closed down.
16. well my temperature's rising and my feet on the floor
17. i believe, i believe/i could see, i could see/forever in my hand
18. ever since i was a young boy/i've played the silver ball
19. She don't believe in shootin' stars
20. something ain't right/i'm gonna get myself/i'm gonna get myself/i'm gonna get myself...
21. desert loving in your eyes all the way
22. ultraviolet/radio light
23. never knew i could feel like this/like i've never seen the sky before
24. was a long and dark december/from the rooftops i remember
25. see the people walking down the street/fall in line just watchin' all their feet
26. Alarm goes off at seven and you start uptown
27. Look at me/here I am/right where I belong.

The Day the Music Died

QRS has ended production of player-piano rolls