Today’s posting is dedicated to the Green Number Lines of Manhattan, the 4, 5, and 6 trains. As the 2nd Avenue line is still under construction and political debate, the Green Number Lines provide the only North-South subway service in the borough east of 5th Avenue. The trains provide subway service to the East Side of Manhattan and all three lines run along the same tracks until leaving Manhattan. For this reason, the lines are heavily ridden and more frequent than other such lines throughout the borough. The 4 and 5 trains run as express trains above City Hall and local below City Hall while the 6 operates as a local above City Hall. Due to its demand and frequency, the Green Number Lines are probably Manhattan’s single most important subway family.
The 4 and 5 trains enter Manhattan near the Staten Island Ferry terminal at Bowling Green at the Southeastern Tip of Manhattan. They ride up through the financial district and wall street area along Broadway until reaching the Fulton Street Transit Center where they then turn along Park Row which is next to City Hall and the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. At this point, the 6 train begins service throughout the borough as the local train to the 4 and 5. Throughout the rest of the borough, the 6 makes 19 stops while the 4 and 5 only make 7 stops. The trains from City Hall run up Lafayette Street through the neighborhoods of Chinatown, Little Italy, and SoHo up to Houston Street. This section of Manhattan like I described in the posting dedicated to the J and Z trains is home to a large percentage of Lower Manhattan’s population with immigrant groups occupying midrise tenements followed by professionals occupying trendier lofts and 3 to 5 story houses. This area is also home to many retail stores, other centers of commerce, and NYU related businesses as the trains are in the vicinity of NYU and Greenwich Village.
At 14th street-Union Square, the Green Number Lines cross paths with the Silver Letter Line and Yellow Letter Lines. At this point, the Green Number Lines turn up Park Avenue which they travel along until reaching Grand Central Station. This area traversed is largely comprised of taller structures, many of which are over 10 stories and on the street is home to many commercial centers, businesses and restaurants. There are some residential apartment units above the street level which are amongst the most expensive in the US given their desirable address on Park Avenue. The neighborhoods traversed up to Grand Central Station include Gramercy Park, Murray Hill, and Midtown East. At Grand Central Station, the trains turn one avenue east and travel up Lexington Avenue. The stop at Grand Central Station allows transfer to the Metro North Trains and Purple Number Lines headed to Westchester, Connecticut, and Queens. One can observe the Chrysler building when getting off at Grand Central Station which is pictured above. The area of Midtown East along Lexington Avenue is comprised of tall buildings, some of which are financial business centers and some of which are hotels. This occurs up to 59th Street where the trains officially begin going Uptown.
After 59th Street, the trains cross into the Upper East Side which is amongst Manhattan’s most expensive and reputable neighborhoods. People who I’ve met that work in the businesses located on the Upper East Side have told me they have encountered some of the wealthiest consumers possible. The Upper East Side consists of taller buildings much like the ones previously described on Park Avenue on the North-South Avenues and private homes on the East-West numbered streets off of the Avenues. As I understand it, the Upper East Side’s residents wealth is based more from Business occupations and trades while the wealth of the Upper West Side across Central Park is based more from Artistic occupations and trades. I understand there is also some of what is considered “Old Money” present throughout the Upper East Side. Several artistic places of interest including the Frick Center and Guggenheim Museum are present on the Upper East Side on 5th Avenue while many other places of interest such as FAO Schwartz, the Plaza Hotel, various national consulates are present or nearby as well. The Upper East Side is bounded by Central Park and the East River up to East 96th Street which is the dividing line between the Upper East Side and East Harlem. The picture above is of the Avenues on the Upper East Side while the picture below is of a Street corner in East Harlem.
When looking at contrasting settings, East 96th Street provides one of the most divisive boundaries in America, the Upper East Side is amongst Manhattan’s wealthiest neighborhoods while East Harlem is amongst Manhattan’s poorest neighborhoods. East Harlem is sometimes known as Spanish Harlem due to it’s place in Manhattan’s history as the main Puerto Rican neighborhood of the borough. It was previously known as Italian Harlem as it was the largest Italian neighborhood in Manhattan until migration from Puerto Rico changed the ethnic character of the neighborhood. East Harlem generally consists of mid to high rise buildings, some of which are residential homes, some of which are apartments, some of which are tenements, and some of which are public housing units. East Harlem is separated from Central or Black Harlem by 5th Avenue which will be discussed when talking about the Red Number Lines. Overall East Harlem is the grittiest section of Harlem with higher concentrations of urban problems than the rest of Harlem or Manhattan itself for that matter. This is not to criticize those who reside within it but rather to illustrate to the prospective subway rider of what to expect if getting off on a Green Number Line station in Manhattan above 96th Street. The Green Number Lines end in Manhattan at 125th Street station and then split as they cross over into the Bronx.
Overall, the Green Number Lines traverse an extreme area of Manhattan in both wealth and poverty. They go through Manhattan’s poor to working class ethnic and immigrant communities, Manhattan’s wealthiest neighborhoods, Manhattan’s most well known shopping Avenues, and several other places of interest. This subway line was made famous by the 1974 film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and is frequently shown in other major films set on the East Side of Manhattan as well. As the trains service all of Manhattan East of 5th Avenue, they are very crowded but at the same time very frequent. One can often catch any one of the trains every 5 minutes at least when using this line. These lines to me are also the biggest reason for going forward on the 2nd Avenue line which is still incomplete. I personally am for the 2nd Avenue line being complete at some point in the future but I believe other subways should be built in the outer boroughs first. Until the 2nd Avenue line is built however, the Green Number Lines will continue to be used at the rate it is in Manhattan at least. I enjoy the express trains of this line as they get me to Yankee Stadium from Brooklyn rather quickly. Again, due to the area served and frequency of trains, it is safe to say that no other set of tracks controls so much of Manhattan at once. For that reason the Green Letter Line trains are arguably the single most important family of trains in Manhattan.
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