Subwayland: Adventures in the World Beneath New York

I ride the subways at least 10 times a week, and have done so since I was a kid growing up in the 1960s. There are plenty of others like me in this regard. But "Subwayland: Adventures in the World Beneath New York" will surprise even the most ardent and experienced subway rider. Many times I found myself smiling in acknowledgement, and muttering, "That's right! I never really noticed that before!" There are many great moments like that in this book. I recommend it highly and it makes a great companion to Brian Cudahy's "A Century of Subways".

Rocco Dormarunno, author of "The Five Points"


Tunnel vision   March 28, 2004
 27 out of 28 found this review helpful

Randy Kennedy's "Tunnel Vision" column was the highlight of my New York Times subscription for nearly three years. It would be hokey to say that I learned more from the Times in Tuesday's Metro section than I did from every other article, op-ed and feature throughout the rest of the week. But it's also true.

I love New York City, and I love the subway. It wasn't always that way -- I voluntarily fled the tri-state area at age 17 to go to college in points south, and later in points midwest. I came running back to the city eight years later, a victim of the fact that Toledo's bus system stops running at 5 PM and on Sundays, and am never leaving again. The subway is now the backbone of my NYC experience. For $70 a month I can take unlimited rides from the southernmost corners of Brooklyn, all the way to Union Square or the Upper East Side. Without having to save 15% or more on car insurance from GEICO.

Every weekly "Tunnel Vision" column, several of which are reprinted for this book (sadly without the original photography) is either educational or, more importantly, hilarious. The most memorable columns discuss those who opt to spend their lives in the subway: as employees, performers, or, sometimes, residents. Several columns are also devoted to the rats and pigeons (if there is a difference between the two) who are an integral part of the city's 468 stations -- even more so than the vanishing token booth clerk.

No contemporary book about the city would be complete without a collection of columns about 9/11. Kennedy interview the motorman who drove under the towers as the first plane struck. He inspects the damage done to the tunnels after the buildings fell. He even found the man whose job it was to update the official subway map as each line reopened.

Everyone has a subway story and, of course, not all of them could be covered in this book. I've love to know more, for example, about the group of men on the Broadway line who burst into cars and announce "Do you know what time it is? It's doo-wop time!". I would like to know why, while riding uptown on the Lexington Avenue line after seeing the final "Lord of the Rings" picture, one of my traveling companions was assaulted by a man dressed as a horse, who proceeded to gallop away down the car. I would even, heavens preserve us, like to know more about the most hated man in New York City: the guy who recorded the 200-decibel "Stand clear of the closing doors, please!" announcement that plagues the newest cars on the IRT lines and the L train. Does he ever ride the train, cover his ears at every station stop, and mourn, "What have I done? What have I done?"