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Must be super creepy walking through those Philly concourses, day or night. They are unspeakably awful. I can't imagine a more ideal place to get mugged, raped, shot or stabbed. You couldn't pay me to walk down there. I hear they're a favorite hangout for drug addicts and homeless. On the bright side, would be a great place to shoot a horror movie. When I look at those photos I keep thinking of The Shining and picturing Jack Nicholson limping through the concourse with his bloody axe in hand.
CK, jeez. Not everything is sunshine and roses. Sometimes function over form works too.
Functional for what? Shooting up drugs? Getting assaulted? Shelter from nuclear fallout? I'm sure they're perfectly fine for any of those type of activities. Don't know what else they're good for.
Must be super creepy walking through those Philly concourses, day or night. They are unspeakably awful. I can't imagine a more ideal place to get mugged, raped, shot or stabbed. You couldn't pay me to walk down there. I hear they're a favorite hangout for drug addicts and homeless. On the bright side, would be a great place to shoot a horror movie. When I look at those photos I keep thinking of The Shining and picturing Jack Nicholson limping through the concourse with his bloody axe in hand.
Yeah, homeless people hang out down there, and as a result it smells like a urinal (sometimes mixed with weed). But it's only nasty, not unspeakably awful. I used to belong to the Philadelphia Landskaters, and it was fun skating through there. I imagine it wasn't quite as barren when some of the buildings had an entrance down there, but almost all of the entrances are closed.
My favorites for subway station architecture are LA and Montreal. Washington DC would be all right if there were some diversity; but they look almost the same. NY system has variety but they are all ugly. Chicago is mostly monotonous, especially the stations on the highways, but has a few gems: O'Hare, Rosemont, Cumberland, Lake Transfer and a few on the Orange line. Does Minneapolis count? I like their airport stations.
Sure, if you're brave enough to go down there. Who knows what may be lurking down there. What surprises may be in store. You might need to bring a flashlight with you. And a weapon of some sort. While you hold your nose for as long as possible. Philly is chockfull of seedy ghetto type neighborhoods and the subway system definitely falls within that category. It's really just an underground ghetto.
Sure, if you're brave enough to go down there. Who knows what may be lurking down there. What surprises may be in store. You might need to bring a flashlight with you. And a weapon of some sort. While you hold your nose for as long as possible. Philly is chockfull of seedy ghetto type neighborhoods and the subway system definitely falls within that category. It's really just an underground ghetto.
Your kingdom clearly isn't on the east coast.
04-18-2012, 03:07 AM
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In contrast, the NYC metro and San Francisco's BART look like something from the third world (the only exception being Grand Central station). Very basic and utilitarian in appearance. Why do the trains and stations all seem to be painted in the same dull, oppressive industrial gray? Or perhaps not even painted. The exterior of the trains look like they're just bare metal with just a clearcoat to protect from rust. The type of aesthetic you would commonly find in the Soviet era under Stalin.
Compared to the brightly colored trains and stations commonly found in European cities. A subway is underground so they can feel like dark, foreboding places to be especially at night. So to counteract that darkness it makes sense to paint the trains and stations in bright, vivid, cheery colors. The use of beautiful, uplifting architecture is another way to do it.
Subway stations in NY have the look and feel of a dark underground cave or dungeon. Those bare, harsh fluorescent light bulbs haning from the ceiling certainly don't help. Barf. This is not how you uplift and inspire the human spirit. But it might be a good way to repress it.
...and the award for ugliest subway trains in the world goes to...
Is it called the BART...or the BARF?
Those are impressive scenic photos of subway systems in those cities: Montreal, Barcelona, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Paris, Munich, Brussels, and Moscow.
It seems like other cities such as London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, Kaohsiung, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, Saint Petersburg, and Toronto etc. would have high quality, impressive, scenic subway photos too.
That proves just how overrated New York City’s subway system is in appearance for so much of its subway system. Too much of NYC’s subway system can look ugly, dirty, and sort of like an unpleasant sewer sometimes, especially for the below ground subway stations.
NYC subway system is still good for coverage of areas and reliability but appearance still matters a lot too.
While technically not a subway per se, Detroit's People Mover stations look pretty good. It isn't really as dramatic as the European ones, but enough to keep it from looking stale. Although, they partly didn't need to do it since only one station is enclosed and most people spend time looking out on to the streetscape anyway. But I imagine it wouldn't be terribly hard for other cities to liven up their subways this way.
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