Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets (New York City Subway)

History

Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets was constructed as a junction between the Fulton Street and Crosstown lines of the Independent Subway System (IND), and part of the section of the Fulton Street subway under Schermerhorn Street between Court Street and Bond Street. Surveying by the New York City Board of Transportation along Schermerhorn Street began in 1928, and construction began around 1929. Property on the south side of Schermerhorn Street between Bond and Nevins Streets was condemned to facilitate the project. Like other stations along the lines, it was constructed via shallow cut-and-cover methods, with the street covered by wooden planks. In September 1929, a portion of the "plank road" above the station site collapsed.

The station was ceremonially opened by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia on April 9, 1936, with the station serving both Fulton Street Line local and express trains. The station cost approximately $3 million to construct, with the tilework costing $131,000. This station began serving Crosstown Line trains on July 1, 1937, when the Crosstown Line was extended from Nassau Avenue. From this station, northbound Fulton local trains were planned to continue to Court Street and terminate there. Express trains would turn north under Jay Street and continue to Manhattan via the Cranberry Street Tunnel. However, initial Fulton Street service ran entirely local at the time, as the line only ran to Rockaway Avenue. Without express service, local trains provided service to Manhattan via the express tracks at this station while the HH shuttle was instituted to serve Court Street and the local tracks/platforms.

On October 9, 1936, a public hearing was held to discuss the construction of a passageway between the station and the Loeser's Department Store. In November 1937, the city Board of Transportation approved the construction of a 250-foot (76 m) passageway between the station and the department store. Due to low ridership, the Court Street station was closed and the shuttle was discontinued in 1946. All Fulton Street service was routed via the express tracks at this station to Jay Street – Borough Hall. This eliminated any use for the local tracks and they have been out of service since. The outer platforms were also closed until 1959, when the Aqueduct Racetrack special service began. Service ran from the lower level of 42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal to Aqueduct Racetrack via the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Fulton Street Line, and IND Rockaway Line. Like the lower level at 42nd Street, the outer platforms at this station provided a convenient place to segregate passengers who had paid the extra fare required to board the special trains. Consequently, Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets was the only stop between 42nd Street and the racetrack.

Since the elimination of the Aqueduct service in 1981, the outer platforms have remained out of revenue service. The abandoned parts of the station are used occasionally for film shoots—for example, The Warriors and The Taking of Pelham 123—and other special functions, such as a public display of the R160Bs on November 29, 2005.

Following the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, New York City Council member Letitia James advocated renaming the station in Jackson's honor and hanging a plaque at the station to commemorate the filming of the video for "Bad" there. However, James's proposal was met with resistance from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz explained that the agency is currently developing guidelines for station naming-rights deals in order to raise money. In addition, naming stations after individuals could confuse riders who are traveling to a specific location or street near Hoyt–Schermerhorn. The MTA also declined to put a plaque in the station, due to MTA guidelines banning such an action.

Station layout

This wide station has six tracks and four island platforms. Each platform is 660 feet (200 m) long, while the entire station is approximately 143 feet (44 m) wide from north to south. The centermost pair of tracks belongs to the Crosstown Line (G). To the east (railroad north), they run under Lafayette Avenue while to the west (railroad south), they turn south and merge with the IND Sixth Avenue Line to form the IND Culver Line under Smith Street. The next pair of tracks from the center are the express tracks of the Fulton Street Line (A and C). Trains using these tracks open their doors on their left, to the inner island platforms, not on the right, to the outer ones. To the east, the C diverges to the local tracks and all four tracks continue under Fulton Street. To the west, the express tracks curve north under Jay Street and continue as the IND Eighth Avenue Line. There is no track connection between the Fulton and Crosstown lines.

The outermost pair of tracks—the Fulton Street local tracks—and the outer two island platforms are no longer used in revenue service. To the west, the tracks continue under Schermerhorn Street to the decommissioned Court Street station, currently the site of the New York Transit Museum, in Brooklyn Heights. Though it may be difficult to see in some of the unlighted portions of the station, a tile band is present on the trackside walls - similar in color to the Crosstown Line stations north to Flushing Avenue, and the Fulton Line stations east to Franklin Avenue - Lime (Nile) Green with a medium Kelly Green border, set in a three-high course consistent with many IND express stations. Captions reading "HOYT" are present in white lettering on a black background, with no mention of "Schermerhorn". On the eastbound (southern) side, some of these captions have been stickered-over with different station names as required for film and TV shoots, though both sides have been used for filming. Both northern platforms have green-painted steel I-beams, while the beams on both southern platforms are tiled. Much of the ceiling at platform level is peeling due to water damage.

Due to its width, the southern (railroad eastern) half of the station had to be built under private property on the south side of Schermerhorn Street. The station's mezzanine, located over the northern half of the station and under Schermerhorn Street, contains a New York City Transit Police substation where the operations of NYPD Transit District 30 are headquartered, and several New York City Transit Authority offices.

Exits

From the mezzanine, there are three staircases to each active platform, a turnstile bank, a token booth, and two staircases to the streets. One leads to the northeast corner of Schermerhorn and Hoyt Streets, is built within the front entrance of 250 Schermerhorn Street, and connects to fare control via a corridor. The other staircase leads to the northwest corner of Bond and Schermerhorn Streets and is built inside a building housing the Goodwill Store and Donation Center.

There are numerous sealed stairways and exits in the mezzanine, including a sealed passageway from the Bond Street exit to Livingston Street one block north, which had a direct entrance to the former Loeser's Department Store. Part of the mezzanine tilework at this location still features navy blue and gold Art Deco designs, including large plaques bearing the store's logo. These had previously been shop windows. A control tower is located at the eastern (railroad south) end of the outer southbound platform, and is staffed at all times except late nights.

In popular culture

The Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station was featured in The Wiz (1978) in which the characters find themselves in a strange Emerald city subway with evil monsters such as chomping trashcans and subway columns that move and try to trap the characters. The station's mezzanine was the main setting for the filming of Michael Jackson's music video/short film for his hit 1987 single "Bad", as well as "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody, "Fat". In 1990, the station was also featured in the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America, where the main character boards an E train, as well as in the Paul Hogan adventure comedy Crocodile Dundee II. It was used as the subway stop for City Hall in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The opening scene of the Law & Order episode "Subterranean Homeboy Blues" (1990) was filmed in this station, with Cynthia Nixon's character, Laura di Biasi, boarding a train. In 1991, the station was featured in a shootout scene for the Michael J. Fox and James Woods buddy cop movie The Hard Way, showing an A train and a background with the Nostrand Avenue stop. The Warriors (1979) and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) have also filmed at Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets.