E/J/Z Trains - Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave. (Day 9, stop #365)

Out:  This area appears to be mostly black, a little run down, and with lower-scale buildings than at Jamaica Center.  There are smaller old attached houses as well as some potential factories.  There are also a number of small stores (deli, nails, McDonald’s, Crown Chicken, etc.), but most of them are still closed (9:45 a.m.).  

The area doesn’t feel residential, but instead more like the gritty downtown of some smaller city with its population center in the suburbs.  The only impressive building is the one housing the LIRR stop (see photo).  

There also seem to be a lot of buses around, as this is probably an important place to connect to further destinations in Queens not accessible by subway.

In:  Similar 60’s feel at this station, but with better lighting.  There are square metal columns, a brick floor, and red and burgundy square tiles on the side of the stairs.  It smells kind of damp in here.  The E platform has a one platform, two track layout.  The ceiling is long and inclined and made of reflective metal, and red brick tiles or square tiles are everywhere on the platform and on the stairs.  There are still plenty of stainless steel accents around as well, but the roof has lots of strange dirty streaks on it.  This station is still ugly and looks like a MARTA station, but at least it’s out of the ordinary.  The mezzanine level here is pretty large, but with the same ugly red tiles. There are many signs directing customers to the AirTrain to JFK as well as the LIRR stop here.  The lobby for the elevator up to the AirTrain is quite a bit nicer than the subway stop, with fake granite walls.