Hot Rails to Harrison -- A PATH Train Primer for 2008

I expect a heated discussion on this, seeing as how anyone who lives in New York City, urban North Jersey, or who is affiliated with WFMU will have an opinion on the topic at hand. For those of you who reside on faraway shores, "PATH" is short for Port Authority Trans-Hudson, and is a highly-trafficked means of rail transport between Manhattan and some of New Jersey's primary population centers. (Newark, Hoboken, and WFMU's home in Jersey City). Basically, it's like a cheaper, slower subway that smells like urine, coffee, and heat all at the same time. There's a lot of negative mythology associated with the PATH system, mostly promulgated by Brooklyn transplants who somehow think their accursed L and F trains are better than the PATH. (I have met others who actually think that the PATH is just that -- an underground dirt path that connects New York with suburban Jersey. Others claim that it is actually a long stagecoach, pulled by a mule who is chasing a carrot tied to a stick and dangled in front of its face. All lies, I tell you.)

The fact is that the PATH is pretty much a way of life for everyone at WFMU from DJs to office staffers to volunteers. I find myself defending it frequently to the misinformed haters who spread ridiculous falsehoods such as "the turnstiles only take dollar bills" (they take your Metrocard, dummy), "it stops running after 11 PM" (it runs all night -- on a schedule, I might add), or "that guy Teddy always hassles me" (he isn't hassling you, he just wants to collect money to supply the local homeless shelter with juice, milk, and bread.) When riding the PATH train, I always recommend that you sit in the frontmost car, as close to the window as possible, and looking straight ahead. Careening through the old tunnels and observing the architecture necessary to bore a passage underneath a river is pretty amazing, and it feels like a demented version of one of those Disneyworld rides where animatronic pirates or dead presidents light the way ahead.

For those of you not fortunate enough to regularly participate in this modern marvel of urban transportation, here is a rough breakdown of all thirteen PATH stations and what you might expect to find at each of them.

Jersey Side:

Journal Square -- This PATH stop serves a modern transportation hub that anchors one of Jersey City's primary shopping districts. Journal Square is somewhat reminiscent of a gigantic, sprawling 14th Street; dollar stores and fast food chains (and their accordant knockoffs a la "Dunky Donuts" and "Kennedy Fried Chicken") are the most obvious features of the local landscape. But it's also home to some great nearby attractions like the Loew's Theater, Boulevard Drinks, and the many wonderful Indian restaurants of Newark Ave. The PATH station itself is housed within a cave (of sorts) with openings on either side, which means that waiting around for your train in sub-Arctic temperatures is a lousy experience that you'll not soon want to repeat. But Journal Square has a lot of character and history associated with it, and these are the details I choose to focus on when considering it. Interestingly, it is also the only place in the world I've ever witnessed a grown man defecate on the sidewalk (five years ago) and an attractive but clearly deranged woman take all of her clothes off in the middle of a busy intersection (last summer).

Grove St. -- The PATH station at Grove St. used to be painted a sickly blue with dirt-colored highlights, but the Port Authority recently made the bold decision to go 100% with the dirt color. Odds are good that you will find tired-looking business people here, as well as skinny-jeaned urban hipster types, rowdy teenagers, and Teddy.

Exchange Place -- A primary stop for well-paid investment bankers, many of whom live in New York, but commute to Jersey's "gold coast" and its many shining office towers. In recent years, an explosion of condos and "experiential lofts" have shot up in this neighborhood like a fungus on growth hormones, but this is WFMU's home and we work with the changes to the best of our ability. The Exchange Place PATH station involves a bizarre descent on an escalator that seems to be a mile long, and which is adorned by strange, neon sculptures suspended from the ceiling. I used to have a picture of Nikki Sudden riding this escalator on the night he performed on my radio show, but I can't find it right now. Fortunately, WFMU's presence in the neighborhood seems to have left another indelible mark on Exchange Place, as you can see here.

Pavonia/Newport -- My vote for the crappiest PATH station. It's painted a horrible, pukey tan color, smells like pee, and it gets hot as a docker's armpit in the summertime. There is no air conditioning in any of the PATH stations, just gigantic fans that blow hurricane-like winds at you in a lame effort to convince you that it's not quite so hot. Let me tell you, when you're sweating it out in 98 degree August humidity, having urine-scented air blown at you is like being trapped in some demonic blast furnace. Also, unless you have friends who live in one of the high rise apartment buildings found on the surface (unlikely), or feel like going to the mall (inconceivable), the best reason to come here is to marvel at the bizarre sedimentary deposits that hang from the ceiling and pool on the floor in primordial-looking puddles.

Hoboken -- Here you can witness the cocksure pragmatism of marketing executives through the elaborate ads geared towards Hoboken's wealthier set. In addition to the customary billboards (mostly for Broadway shows), there are humongous ads for Johnnie Walker Black that are custom built for placement on the ground one stands on while waiting for the train. These ads are especially poignant when complemented by some bananahead who came to town for a night of carousing at Bahama Mama's, and who is now passed out cold on the floor of the station. I guess that's what one too many Jaeger shots will do to you.

But I digress. Picking on Hoboken's large percentage of smarmy post-grads isn't fair to the many great things that have come from the Mile Square City, like Yo La Tengo, Maxwell's, Pier Platters (R.I.P.), and that Operation Ivy song. [Real Audio]

Harrison -- There is no practical reason to visit the Harrison PATH station. I can't even think of a whimsical reason to visit the Harrison PATH station.

Newark -- I almost didn't include this one because the PATH system terminates at this stop, where passengers disembark to change over to Amtrak and Jersey Transit trains, or board shuttle buses to the nearby airport. The official name of this transportation hub is Newark Penn Station, which you'll notice is very similar to New York Penn Station, found across the river at 33rd Street. You'll also notice that the "Penn" is short for "Pennsylvania", as in "Pennsylvania Railroad", yet neither of these Penn Stations are located in Pennsylvania. I assume this is all part of some elaborate scheme intended to confuse recent immigrants and foreign tourists who are trying to find their way around the eastern United States. Anyway, with so many connections available here, it feels less like a PATH station than it does a depressing, underground mall. If you're up for a gastrointestinal adventure, throw caution to the wind and sample the delights available on the food court, or get in line at the magazine stand to stock up on Dasani, lottery tickets, and porno mags. There is also a sports bar (where the most visibly encouraged "sport" is drinking heavily at 8 o'clock in the morning) and an auxiliary police precinct located in the men's bathroom. Now that is a mess.

New York Side:

The stations on the NYC side of the river demand a different kind of discussion because for the most part, there's very little to distinguish them from one another. Hewn at intervals along Manhattan's 6th Avenue, and then downtown at Christopher Street and the World Trade Center, they provide a great means of hopping from Jersey to the city's various shopping and nightlife areas. I also have a loosely developed theory that the neighborhoods which correspond with the 9th, 14th, 23rd, and 33rd Street PATH stations can be directly likened to how cheap a date you are, and how your spending arc (hopefully) goes up as you get older and more serious.

9th Street -- Its location serves as the gateway to both the East and West Villages, neither of which I've willingly hung around in years. However, there are a ton of restaurants and bars there, and the young people seem to like it. As Manhattan ceases to be a viable community for anyone but the very rich, there still remains an inexplicable need for everyone to treat it as their social playground. Maybe it's changing now, with generations of young hipsters who had their idea of New York sculpted by Sex & the City (instead of Kurtis Blow, Woody Allen movies, the '86 Mets, David Dinkens, WBLS, and the Cro Mags), but even though everyone knows the better restaurants and bars are in Brooklyn, there is something undeniably fancy about New York City, and what it means to Go On A Date There.

That said, the 9th Street PATH station has got to be among the most hated, since it's the only place I've ever witnessed passengers purposely board a train going in the opposite direction they want to go in, just to have a seat on that same train's voyage back downtown and on to Jersey. (The sensation of forward momentum apparently being preferable to jacking around the platform with the serfs.) Alcohol has clearly clouded the judgment of these people. Or maybe they're just trying to get away from Teddy.

14th Street and 23rd Street -- Gateways to the WFMU Record Fair! And... Chelsea. And lots of well dressed gay people and crowded restaurants. It's also a popular hangout of Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, whom I used to see around there so frequently, I briefly worried they might think I was following them. What these PATH stations lack in interesting details they make up for in amusingly good-natured drunk people at all hours of the day and night. On the downside, they also seem to also be popular destinations for the dreaded "sick passengers", many of whom journey tens of blocks for the explicit purpose of surrendering the contents of their stomachs on the platform.

33rd Street Penn Station -- Like Newark, this is a terminal station that connects with multiple subway lines, Amtrak, and Metro North rail services. Unless you're there for a WNBA game or the Rush concert (upstairs at Madison Square Garden), are looking to engage in questionable bathroom activities, or just love the cheese fries at Houlihan's, this is a place to be gotten in and out of quickly, and thereafter only spoken of in hushed tones.

Christopher Street -- The skinniest of all PATH platforms, and one of the most frustrating to navigate if you're in a hurry. Gateway to Film Forum, expensive brunch places to go when your friends from San Francisco are visiting, and one of my favorite local landmarks -- a pizza parlor built on a corner, with neon signs on both sides that when observed from a particular angle appear to spell out: "ASS PIZZA".

World Trade Center -- The only PATH station that has become an actual, bona fide tourist destination, as it is located smack dab in the middle of Ground Zero (which is funny to consider, being that most New Yorkers had been referring to the World Trade Center as "ground zero" since well before 9/11.) Indeed, every voyage through this station at any time of day or night will yield an army of camera-wielding tourists from around the world, all of whom have made this pilgrimage in order to take a picture of... those two big things that aren't there anymore. If you want to observe 9/11 conspiracy demonstrations or stock up on World Trade Center commemoratives (my favorite is the Spanish language version of a popular tourist book which explains the events of 9/11. It's called La Tragedia!), this is definitely the place to come. Last year, Brian Turner found this leaflet (left) taped to the wall of the station, and brought it back to WFMU where it adorned our lobby for many weeks. The station itself, as is constantly reminded to anyone who travels through it, is a "temporary" point of departure which will eventually be replaced with something else whenever the Freedom Tower gets built on top of it, I suppose.

If you were to back me into a corner and demand that I choose a favorite PATH station, I think I would have to pick the World Trade Center. It's a weird pick, I know, especially since in one way, it's got the most obvious historical relevance. But I'm a big fan of lower Manhattan in general. J&R Music World has an old-New York vibe that just can't be felt anywhere else. And as far as I'm concerned, dinner and drinks in Chinatown, or a weekend bike ride through the ghostly financial district easily trumps most of the allegedly superior activities staged north of Canal Street. Then again, I'm (often) accused of being antisocial.

Further PATH-related infotainment:

Wikipedia entry | NYC Subway.Org Photo Archive | Flickr

And finally, here's a video of the approach to the World Trade Center as seen from the first car in the PATH train, made by YouTube user Tribecatom.

Next time: Subtleties and nuances of Inwood. (Or: "Is it true that I have to change money north of the Cloisters?")

Comments

[James]

Back in 1989, when I started my freshman year as a student commuting to St. Peter's Prep (near WFMU and the Exchange Place station), I would have to *walk* up or down a very long and winding staircase to get from the Exchange Place station to the ground level (or vice versa). The escalator wasn't there yet, as far as I remember, though I do recall it being built not long after I started at Prep. It was a long, long walk on those stairs.

The Pavonia/Newport station is very badly designed. The platforms are too narrow, and every time a train lets off passengers, they inevitably form a dangerous bottleneck around each staircase. It's easy to imagine someone getting accidentally knocked onto the tracks. It's just as bad above ground - the station is very busy during rush hours, and there just isn't enough turnstiles to accommodate the flow, so you practically have to fight your way in or out. And, you are completely right about the sedimentary deposits over the walls - they're on the pillars, ceiling and floors as well.

One other great thing about the Journal Square station - the flying creatures (birds? bats?) that fly back and forth near the ceiling and seem to nest up there.

[jenjen]

That picture from Pavonia/Newport... that's a station that's actually in use?! From the picture I was expecting you to say it's one that's no longer in use but you can run along the tunnel and explore the urban decay...

[K]

Nice post, Mike. That brings back a lot of memories. Here's one.

There was a white junky who used to hang out at the 9th St. station and play the most soulful blues on a beat old National Steel. He'd tune to some open chord and use a butter knife as a slide. One late sweltering august evening as I watched him perform, a train pulled into the station opposite bound and the doors opened. Two drunken kids with popped collars and NJ buzz cuts lurch out, gathering what few brain cells remained between the two, and throw an empty Budweiser bottle at the guy. Doors closing, the train slowly pulling away down the tunnel pneumatic brakes hissing like an angry cat and steel wheels scraping. The old junky leansssss over putting down the knife, picks up the empty, and using _that_ as a slide begins to play.

Now it don't get much more blue than that does it?

[Listener Rudy]

Brilliant post.

[Bob]

I like Newark Penn Station, although passing through there at 7 am on the way home to sleep from an all-niter is weird. If I'm footsore & in no hurry, I sit on the long escalator at Exchange. The worst feeling is getting off the down elevator at Exchange at night, meeting a crowd headed up, which usually means I just missed the Newark train. The front seat in the front car is great on the "scenic" Newark run, but it's also a popular seat.

I graduated high school with a guy who became a transit cop. Late one night, he asked a solitary PATH rider to put out his cigarette. The rider pulled out a gun & mortally wounded him.

[bartleby]

In the geologic time frame of the path system Pavonia Newport was actually *recently* refurbished. I don't know if folks remember before that time when it looked as much like a natural cave as any transit system station anywhere. There must be groundwater or pipes leaking into it. In it's defense the end of the station shown in the photograph is about the worst. Also the 33rd St. PATH station is not actually at Penn. Station. It's a block or so to the east.
The worst smelling PATH station, and to say it smells like "urine" is putting it kindly, used to be Hoboken now it seems the smell circulates throughout.
Does anyone recall the conveyor belt people-mover in Hoboken? Am I remembering this correctly?

[Jason Grote]

Great post, Mike. I thought I was the only PATH obsessive out there. One thing, though - what's with the statue of the soldier who's been bayoneted in the back at the end of Montgomery Street, heading into the Exchange Place station? Crazy!

[randhoppe]

Nice piece, Mike! The ads in Hoboken aren't completely geared to Hoboken's wealthier set. You haven't mentioned how Hoboken is the connector for many NJ transit riders to Manhattan, especially Wall Streeters. Midtown less so, now, what with Secaucus and the Midtown Direct, but my sense is the ad buys are still more about the wealthy NJ suburbanites.

[Jason]

This is just super, Mike. Thanks! One of my favorite things about the PATH system is the wonderful winding pathways leading from street to platform, particularly at 9th Street, and the big long straight section of the Pavonia maze (which I have actually bicycled through a couple times).

[mike]

I've done that thing where you get on at 9th, go north, and then ride the train back south and to Hoboken. That's because the PATH trains are usually air-conditioned, and the 9th Street PATH station is absolutely the last place you want to be on a hot summer night.

My wife and I have been using Teddy as folklore for years - ever since we moved out of NYC, really - so it's nice to see him get recognition. Once we tried to find the address of the Bergen-Lafayette Coalition to Feed The Homeless Shelter so we could , you know, get more info on the charity. Not surprisingly, our search turned up with nothing.

[chris]

here's an epic debate about the validity of Teddy if anyone is really bored:
http://hoboken411.com/?p=5813&cp=1

[Emma]

Teddy on YouTube!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UGgL0jZfcNE

[jack m]

great post, mike. i've lived in hoboken for 20+ years and been EXTREMELY lucky (knock wood) riding the path, not more than a handful of major delays, etc. always puzzled by/loved the massive windtunnel that you scale when exiting the christopher st stop...only to find it's a calm, quiet day when you come out at street level.

remember when each path car was dedicated to a particular nj town or county? there was a little plaque inside across the top near the driver's box, with a little history about the town. and props for the hoboken train station...ok, not technically the path station but nicely restored.

[bartleby]

This is kind of changing the subject but is anyone familiar with Carl, the fellow from the station near MoMA? While I've seen Teddy on the PATH train longer than I've seen Carl at the 53rd stop near MoMA and Carl does not actually ask for money, I still wonder-Is Carl actually crazy or just extraordinarily misogynistic or both? Carl could do voice overs, quite the smooth baritone that one.
He's there less often since someone tried to murder him a few years back.

Also, got to give it up for the PATH train butt warming, especially on a day like today.

[LT]

Interesting - you must not have been to the Hoboken PATH station in quite a while since the Johnny Walker ads are long gone. So is the smell of urine you described. A few "smarmy post-grads" maybe although I'm not sure exacly what that means - Hoboken is populated mostly by young professionals who have been priced out of the Manhattan million dollar starter condos, lots of families with little kids, and a few remaining old-timers still enjoying cheap rent thanks to strict rent control laws. Having been born and raised in NYC I've had many more unpleasant experiences on the New York City subways than on the PATH. You are correct about Maxwells, though - it does still rock!

[Listener bkd]

My favorite bit of PATHiness is the 19th street station. You'll see it if you sit in the front seat on your way up to 23rd and 33rd.

And the power plant is most awesome indeed.

[Former 7SD call-screener Maria]

The first time this former Brooklynite ever rode the PATH train was to volunteer at WFMU during Jones' record-breaking broadcast. I was given directions that neglected to consider that I might be coming to the station in the middle of the night, and I ended up completely alone at Pavonia/Newport in the middle of the night, getting help over the "phone" from someone who could see me, though I think he was sitting somewhere in Journal Square. I ended up taking a cab the rest of the way rather than wait 20 minutes being completely creeped out. (I soon learned that the map was actually very simple if I'd bothered to consult it, and I eventually got very adept at PATH travel, as I ended up marrying the person that gave me those bad directions.)

Bartleby - I indeed am familar with Carl, who I always referred to as "the headline guy," as I worked in midtown for years. Definitely misogynistic in his rants, though I have seen him give polite, detailed, and correct directions to old women more than once. For a while I rode the F from 2nd Avenue in the village to 5th Ave in midtown, and he would often make the same trip.

[Nicholas]

I've been riding the PATH into New York for years, and now that I live in downtown Jersey City, pretty much every day. Its no more or less pleasant then riding some of the subways from Brooklyn or Queens, depending on the time of day, the distance, or line you're taking. Exception though IS the Pavonia station. That place looks like the Riddler started designing it before he was replaced. It is an interesting study in what will happen to all the subway stations when we've finally shuffled off our existence on this planet: they will be quickly devoured by fungus.

As for the Harrison stop, apparently, they are building a sports complex in the area which may explain why there is ONE stop, half a mile before the Newark stop in the Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome wasteland that is Harrison. Otherwise, I don't get it either.

[James]

There is a sports stadium being built in Harrison right now, right next to the Harrison PATH station, but the Harrison stop has existed for years. I think the explanation for the Harrison station might be the factories that dominated Harrison decades ago, which have mostly gone empty in recent years (only to be demolished for things like sports stadiums). I'm thinking that workers from other parts around the tri-state area used the Harrison PATH station to get to work easily.

[Krys O.]

The new stadium is the Red Bull (Taurine) stadium and here's the skinny on the skinny Harrison station: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_(PATH_station)

I took the PATH for many years to get to work in Manhattan (train from South Orange to Hoboken then the PATH) and still use it from Newark Penn Station to avoid potential Lincoln Tunnel traffic on the commuter bus line from the Essex County area. The unique odors have more to do with the surrounding waterways near Hoboken and Jersey City after decades of dumping, chemical and otherwise.

[kris]

Of course everyone knows this, but the Pennsylvania RR used to be the main passenger rail line on the East coast link. Witness Baltimore Penn Station, Union Square Penn etc. Newark was (and is) a primary transit hub, so of course, the Penn RR company built a station there. (I've always found it to be one of the most interesting (odd) of the Penn stations architecturally.)

Harrison is a town with a lot of multi-family dwellings a short walk from the station, so it's a poplular stop during the AM commute (yes, all you see from the train is the remnants of some river-side industry). There is also a ton of parking. It is pretty close to NWK Penn, but over the river, so I guess it saves the Harrison residents having to cross. Harrison itself is a pretty little town. Take a walk sometime. you'll see a beautiful park and some streets so steep they are reminiscent of SFO.

[gslu]

Back in the day, the path train was known as the tubes; ie," taking the tubes to new york." As to the Harrison station, true not much to look at, although the street entrance on the NY bound side has some interest, which they'll most likely demolish w/ the renovation for the new stadium.( Money talks & style walks around here. ) As a youth, it served as a way to discover the outside world(NYC) & as a prodigal son returned to the area, a convenient means of transport (volunteering at fmu)

[Chris J]

It's been a while, but whenever I volunteered at FMU I took a NJ Transit bus to Newark Penn Station and then the PATH to Exchange Place. Used to love running up that long staircase to the surface world. So glad to reach the top, because at that instant I'd always feel I hadn't another step left in me. And then I'd walk, huffing and puffing, the few short blocks to FMU.

Good practice for running up the Empire State Building, which I'll be doing for the second time, on February 5.

[CheeseSnobWendy]

Awesome post, Mike!
One of my favorite things about the Exchange Place station is the escalators, but for a reason you didn't mention: the "music"!
The first time I was at the Exchange Place station - on my way to the station - as I ascended the escalators, in addition to seeing the odd neon sculpture, I heard a fantastic sound: a trance-inducing audio experience that sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, and could've been some sort of horn / trumpet / thing or a violin or both, wavering between notes. I wished I'd had a tape recorder. I thought it was part of the art: "Ooh, a sound installation, too!" The next week one of the escalators was closed for repairs and the sound was gone. I was a weekly volunteer at FMU for awhile, and I noticed the sound was there before a repair, and gone after one. It was a non-intentional audio installation (corresponding to the breakdown of machinery), but a great one at that.

[John de Guzman]

The PATH has announced $3.3 billion for upgrades, which seems a bit inflated to me. (Note the upgrades announced as rates were hiked.) I can't see where this $3.3 billion is going, and it's infuriating. Are we getting ripped off? Check out my blog post: http://hawtaction.com/2008/03/33-billion-for-path-upgrades-w.html

Let me know where if my assumptions are off!

John
HAWTaction.com