Brooklyn, New York
March 14, 2019
On Thursday I went to at least part of all four basketball games. They didn't start until 1 pm, so I had time to visit the Transit Museum first. The hotel had a decent breakfast buffet, so I didn't really need any lunch. The museum turned out to be near where the team was staying, and not a bad bus ride from my hotel. The museum is housed in an old Court Street subway station, so down on the platform level there are subway cars from many decades. The upper level (still below street level) has exhibits concerning the building of the subway. So while I didn't see any coneys on Coney Island, the Transit Museum does have an actual transit such as they used in surveying for construction.
The now-closed City Hall Station was built to be a showplace for the IRT Line.
Fare boxes over the years: The one on the right is in use today. It is what I used for my fare card when boarding a bus.
There was a long line of cars on both sides of the platform. You can enter most of them.
This is a fairly modern car. I rode in one like it during this trip.
It was Day Habilitation Day at the museum. There were special programs for the disabled. Everybody was invited to participate.
Here an actor portrays a sandhog, someone who dug to tunnel beneath the rivers, and explains his work.
Some of the audience took the term too literally.
A caboose from the Long Island Railroad, a commuter train:
Elevanted station diorama
Fiftieth Street Station tiles:
A pump car, used in emergencies when the regular pumps can't handle the flooding:
Tokens over the years: I remember using ones with the cutout Y.
And then I headed over to the arena to watch that day's games.
I had read that Junior's cheescake was rated in the top 15 best in NYC, so I went to their original location, not too far from the arena, for an early supper between the afternoon and night games. The food in general is regular diner food, which is pretty good. My main complaint was with the giant quantities. They first brought me a bowl of picked beets, which were great, and a bowl of slaw with three dill pickle wedges. I ordered "Something Different," which was slices of brisket between potato pancakes. It turned out to be at least 5 inches high. I managed to eat nearly half of it, barely saving room for the cheesecake. The cheesecake was not as good as what I had in Greenwich Village in 2006, and certainly not as good as that at Kofina's in Charlotte in the early 1970s. But it was still better than any I've had around here in this century. In future years I may go back there, but I will be more careful about what I order.
Davidson played on Friday and Saturday, so I didn't do much other than to go the games and the parties before and afterward.
Sunday: Brooklyn Bridge and MoMA ->