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For the past month I've lived two blocks from Penn Station. In fact, I go through the 34th St Penn Station subway stop at least twice a day. Midtown is such a
by dluan 10y ago
For the past month I've lived two blocks from Penn Station. In fact, I go through the 34th St Penn Station subway stop at least twice a day.
Midtown is such a barren wasteland of concreteness. Walking through the garment district feels like you're a tiny mouse in a gigantic grey maze. If you happen to be on 7th or 8th looking north or south, then you get blinded by the lights of MSG or times square. The entire environment is aggressively imposing and claustrophobic, and going underground into Penn Station is 10x worse. I've ridden the LIRR and NJ transit a few times now, and if I were to go in today I would still get lost.
One of the coolest things about Tokyo's train lines is the layers of walkways stacked vertically above roads and between other paths (e.g. shibuya), so that you're often looking into the shared space that's the big public intersection in the middle. It feels more open and there's trees.
Cool cities make you feel like you're part of something bigger, and a big factor of that is shared open public space. Penn station makes you feel like a pinball bouncing between turnstiles.
- vdnkh 10y agoMidtown Manhattan is a sinfully ugly tourist trap, especially around Penn. I'd argue it's the worst neighborhood by far. It's a twinkle in tourist's eyes but I avoid it like the plague. The thing about Penn too is that it's extremely difficult to calculate your bearings. There's no significant landmarks to orient yourself by - every corridor looks the same. I use Penn regularly and I occasionally get lost if I happen to use a different entrance.
- ghaff 10y ago>it's extremely difficult to calculate your bearings. Yep. I take the train into Penn Station at least a couple times a year and I still invariably walk half a block in the wrong direction before figuring out what direction I'm facing.
- cuckcuckspruce 10y agoUgh, I remember the first time I rode into Penn Station and had to find the right doors out. That was perhaps the biggest frustration during my entire stay for The Next HOPE in 2010.
- coredog64 10y agoThe same thing happened to me at Ueno station in Tokyo. Wandered around until I found an English speaker who could direct me where to go.
- cafard 10y agoThe other thing about Penn is that the city dealt with the homeless by removing most of the seating. If you aren't an Acela passenger, you can go into a restaurant or you can stand. I don't really mind standing, but I find it annoying as the only real choice.
- untog 10y agoI don't care about making midtown cool - there are plenty of cool areas in New York for me to spend my time. I want midtown to be efficient - if that means turning the entire thing into a perfectly square block of concrete, so be it. Penn Station needs to be so much better at one very simple job: getting people in and out of the city.
- dluan 10y agoFor the people who only pass through once in a while, sure. But for the people who commute everyday or live close by, it makes a big impact. There was a survey somewhere that said New Yorkers would rather their commute be 4 or 5 minutes longer if it meant it was less crowded or angry, or something like that. If you have to walk through some boring brutalist concrete everyday, your quality of life is going to be lower, whether you're running early or late. Also not everyone in the city has the choice of living some place nicer in NYC. Midtown is where fresh college grads land because it's cheaper and more convenient than the rest of Manhattan, not to mention other immigrants or old people.
- AndrewUnmuted 10y agoFolks who haven't done their research before carelessly moving to the biggest metropolis of the Americas move to the Penn / Herald Square area. It has nothing to do with price. There are far more pleasant and cheap places to live.
- jrockway 10y agoI lived at 6th Ave / 27th St. for a while. I didn't dislike it, other than I don't really like living in "buildings" with 300 other people. It's a fine area, easy to get wherever you want to go by bike or train. I like Brooklyn Heights more... though biking over a bridge-themed-tourist-attraction first thing in the morning is unenjoyable. The picture of the bike on the road does not mean "take your wedding picture here". But I digress.