Out: The neighborhood here definitely looks pretty rough; in Bedford-Stuyvesant now. The sidewalks are cracking, there are some empty lots, and many row houses with siding in relatively poor condition. Almost everything is pretty low-slung, with no buildings over ~3 stories.
The people around here are almost all black, with no obvious gentrification. There’s the “Sexotic” hair salon, a church, cheap Chinese food, delis, and Kennedy Fried Chicken. Definitely typical of the ‘hood, and nothing really that exciting.
In: The layout here is two platform, three track, which is kind of strange on the G train here. It’s not clear to me what the middle track is for, because I doubt they ever ran an express train on this crosstown line. There are red metal columns by the end of the platform. The walls have white tiles with a green tile accent stripe, and no mosaic station signs. The paint is peeling on the roof and the tiles are kind of dirty. There is a really long mezzanine that extends the length of the platform, as well as a long tunnel to exit to the station. When I re-enter the station to leave, I notice that there are lingering smells of the trash train in the station. There are also a couple of cops near the near the turnstiles who eye me and my camera suspiciously (I’m wearing it around my neck), but they don’t see me take any photos and they don’t say anything to me.
