J Train - Crescent St. (Day 4, stop #185)

Out:  At corner of Crescent and Fulton.  The neighborhood is still quite ethnically mixed, with blacks, whites, East Asians, South Asians, and Hispanics; Hispanics might predominate, but I can’t tell.  There are attractive, well-maintained row houses on the side streets here.  There is a fish market, a North Fork Bank occupying an old stone bank building, a dry cleaner, and a pizzeria.  More notably, there is a large dual-steepled church and a huge graffiti mural nearby as well.  The neighborhood looks middle-class and small-scale overall.

In:  On the train ride over, the train has to slow down considerably to navigate a sharp turn before coming into the station.  The station also has a very different design now: while still elevated, there is only 1 platform with 2 tracks on both sides for trains going in each direction.  This also means there is no side paneling and I can see the surroundings over the entire length of the platform.  The awning is newly renovated and covers about half the platform length.  The token booth is on the same level as the platform (as opposed to the station house one flight down, at most elevated stations), but you need to walk up two flights of stairs to reach the booth.  There is a burgundy and green motif for the stairs, similar to those on the renovated 2 and 4 line trains in the Bronx.  There is also stained glass below the sign placards with the station name in the middle of the platform.