Monday, March 2, 2009

2/5 Trains - Intervale Ave. (Day 3, stop #123)

Out: The El tracks run directly above the street, but they are highly elevated with more understructure, making it look more imposing than usual.  The neighborhood here is pretty close to Hunt’s Point, and on the street level things look quite desolate.  There aren’t many stores around, especially because of a big construction project next to the train stop.  I was feeling hungry and went to a White Castle for lunch.  Some guy came up hassling me for a quarter, which wasn’t a big deal, but I was feeling pretty uncomfortable when he bumped me on the chest with his fist afterwards.  I definitely look pretty conspicuous here.  Fortunately he didn’t pull anything else.  The food at White Castle was surprisingly disappointing; I had never been here before, despite my love of Harold & Kumar.  The burgers were greasy little balls of almost-meat.

In: This station is definitely not renovated.  There are the old-style metal panels with ridges on the side of the platform, as well as an old-style awning over the platform.  The staircases down to the street look like they’re straight out of the 70’s. Despite the old accents, though, the station is in pretty good condition.