7th Avenue Subway Station

A total maze. You can get around a chunk of this area all underground. Kinda cool.
Never too crowded. Well kept and as clean as a subway station can get.
Could use a farmers market or squatters village.

This subway stop is bare bones. A few seats here and there, sometimes a guy at the info booth depending on the time and not much else to see. It’s typically pretty warm on the platform and there is no cell service once you’ve stepped downstairs.

I recently (2/​25, in the evening) attempted to refill my monthly metrocard at each one of the six machines in this station, but none of them were accepting credit or debit cards, only cash. Unbelievable! I was not carrying any cash (does anyone nowadays?) and was already running behind for an appointment. Since it wasn’t my fault that these machines weren’t working properly, I asked the clerk for a pass to get on the bus, and she refused, saying «It’s not my fault you’re not carrying cash.» Can you believe this???

A very very long time ago in a galaxy far far away, i lived in park slope at one time. Yep, one of my first apartments in nyc actually. I lived closer to Union Street at the time actually but it always seemed like such a hike to get down to 4^th avenue, so I’d head up to 7^th avenue and 9^th street instead.
I had this impression of new york before actually arriving here, that there were tons of underground passageways through the subway system. This station in particular is a huge station, with a lot of windy pathways, and once you get to know them you can actually cross the street to any corner without dealing with traffic. I love that about it.

This station is pretty old, but is about average clean for old stations (much nicer than one like York Street, much less nice than something that’s been newly tiled and maybe even has artwork like 14^th Street on… I think it’s the A, with those little bronze sculptures). The station can feel pretty big, especially compared to it’s neighboring stations in Brooklyn, and the bigness and lack of corresponding station agents makes me feel like it could be a good spot for crime. I don’t know what the crime level in the station is, but it occurs to me to think about it especially because of the recent attacks (summer-​fall 2011) in Park slope and Windsor Terrace. 7^th Avenue also spans a couple of avenues, and I can imagine in might be confusing for a non-​native to pop out and find himself on the fairly residential 8^th Avenue rather than commercial 7^th Avenue.

It happened early last summer, I was making my way home from an outdoors work related event. After drinking much more beer than my little belly could hold, I hopped off the train at 7^th Avenue to walk the rest of my way home.
I knew I couldn’t make it. I definitely had to pee so bad it hurt my kidneys… and then a thought occurred to me! I was fortunate enough to be wearing on of those less flattering albeit in-​style flowy tops, so I took on the posture of a pregnant woman, trotted up to the station attendant and announced (with beer on my breath) that I was pregnant and had to use the facilities. Without a second thought he tossed me the key.