There are rumors, there is the documentary film ‘Dark Days’ [rents on Amazon.com] showing people ‘entering the pavement’ via ladders, to get to the underground tunnels There are a couple of books with stories about the homeless who live there. As the economics of the Country remain dire, more people take to living in these spaces. Quotes on ‘living’ as it is fraught with dirt, grime, rats, cockroaches, drug users and peddlers, delusional men and women, those sick with aids and anger, despair and all in the dark. In reading about it, I was astounded to understand that the City has the most underground tracks and tunnels of any city in the world. Here are some of the amazing facts of the spaces as much as 18 stories below the pavement: * No complete single blueprint of the City’s underground exists. Underground latrines from Revolutionary days have been uncovered. The original subway system which was a pneumatic tube 312 feet long, 9 feet wide was shut down a few weeks after it opened by Mayor Boss Tweed. A terminal for trolleys is visible under Essex Street off a current subway line. A tunnel by which President FDR travelled from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to Grand Central Terminal, for a train ride to Hyde Park on the Hudson was covered up, and when rediscovered a waiting room furnished with a crystal chandelier and grand piano intact was there. There are many waiting rooms under ground, no longer in use. At one time there were 932 restrooms built for subway riders. [I know of none that are operating] And there were additional facilities just below the streets for the theatre district on Broadway. If you aren’t dumbfounded yet, there was a 6-lane stretch of highway built in the late 60’s beneath Christie Street, which was almost immediately sealed, abandoned and forgotten. *[These facts from the book: The Mole People-Life in the Tunnels beneath NYC by Jennifer Toth].
This explained to me what I had been encountering in the 4th Street Station, the homeless with exceptionally grime-enbedded feet, the rank odor wafting across the platform, the groupings of homeless who appeared “out of nowhere”. Contrast this with the Upper East Side [UES] Park Avenue where the highest concentration of Billionaires live [you read that right] watch the documentary ‘Park Avenue’ if you want the entire story. Or read www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2488/are-there-really-mole-people-living-under-the-streets-of-new-york-city. Whatever you end up believeing there is an implicit indictment that we should all be doing better for each other.
Just looked – Dark Days is also avaibale for streaming on Netflix. This sounds like a very interesting topic. I’d like to read more. I’ll look for the book you mentioned too.
If you are that interested, I’ll send you the book. Definitely watch the Dark Days.