Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn
My last posting was about
a museum that doesn’t allow visitors under the age of twelve. So this week I am
writing about a museum that has them in spades.
Most New Yorkers with
children in their lives are familiar with the New York Transit Museum. But did
you do know you don’t need to have children to visit this museum? And, did you
know it’s actually fun for adults, too? Granted, it WILL be crawling (and I
mean this literally) with children, and you’ll have the pleasure of listening
to wealthy Brooklyn Heights parents calmly explaining to their tantruming
children that, no, they can only get one toy at the gift shop, but if you time things properly, you might get
to enjoy some of the exhibits in relative peace.
When to visit the Transit
Museum is tricky: during the week it is filled with school groups and it has
family programming nearly every weekend. Schools, however, can’t bring groups
after three, so you can swoop in during the last hour the museum is open
mid-week. Or, as most of the weekend programs begin at 1:30, you can try to get
there first thing on a Saturday or Sunday. Check the calendar, though, as there
are occasional morning programs on the weekends. There are, however, some
special adult-only programs. Though, those cost extra and require advance
reservations.
If you decide to go first
thing on a weekend, go to lower level first. The entire museum is on a lower
level—it’s housed in a 1936 subway station—but there’s an even lower level that
is the old subway platform. On the now-unused tracks is an almost complete
history of subway car design in NYC, from the R-1 to the R-160. This is the
coolest exhibit in the Museum. The old cars have been perfectly preserved,
including vintage advertisements (including a movie poster for Marlon Brando in
The Wild One), leather straps,
and straw seat covers. The open space of the vacant subway platform, however,
it too great a temptation for most children to resist running up and down it at
full speed, so get there before they do.
Another favorite is the Fare
Collection exhibit, which shows
collection devices throughout the subway’s history, including the first paper
ticket choppers used in 1904. It also explains why our designs changed and how
the current turnstiles are supposed to help deter fair evaders. I write
“supposed to” because we all know how easy those things are to jump. You can
gaze longingly at the lovely fifty-year history of the token and for a pretty
penny can buy some at the gift shop. This exhibit is generally not overrun with
kids as they are too busy fighting over who gets to pretend to drive the
various buses and trolleys in the On the Streets exhibit near the back of the Museum.
To enter the Museum, all
visitors must pass through the dimly lit Building New York’s Subway exhibit.
This section is fairly text heavy so most families move through it quickly, but
take time to stop and look at the old photographs and documents of the men who
physically built the original subway tunnels. It’s amazing how much work can be
done in a very short period of time when human life is not considered
important. People gripe about how long the Second Avenue line is taking to
finish, but these things take time and money when the workers are paid a living
wage and their safety is taken into consideration.
Other rooms contain
rotating displays of posters and city-themed artworks, some more interesting
than others.
For anyone out there who
thinks I have something against kids since I spent a large portion of this
posting telling people how to best avoid them, let me state that I have been to
the New York Transit Museum twice: once with my thirty-four-year-old boyfriend,
and once with my eight-year-old niece. Both times were just lovely. I’m just
acknowledging that depending on who you go with you will likely focus on different
aspects of the Museum. If you do go with a niece, nephew, or even your own
little ones, by all means, let them spin on the subway poles to their hearts’
content and don’t let other kids cut in front of them when they’re waiting
their turn to drive the vintage 12-seat bus.
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