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History of Tribeca Buildings
Seen & Heard: Extensive Underground Passageway
••• An interesting point from S.: “Has anyone noted that since the reopening of the E train entrance at the World Trade Center, it is now possible to walk underground from the Chambers and Church A train entrance all the way to either Fulton Center or Brookfield Place without paying a fare, the equivalent of 8 to 10 blocks?”
••• The city started cracking down on “love locks” attached to the Brooklyn Bridge, so we’ve seen them pop up on a garbage can and now a tree…?
••• “Just called and Pupculture said their Hudson Street location is opening after next Tuesday,” reports Greenwich St Neighbor.
••• N. says that Pop Karma, the popcorn store at Fulton Center, has closed.
••• Thanks to N. for the tip that Spring Street Finest Deli (at Greenwich and Spring) has opened.
••• The sales office for 443 Greenwich has left 174 Hudson (at Vestry), and there’s signage for both Hudson & Broad (a showroom for retail fixtures) and Brilliant Bicycle Co. I spoke with an owner of Brilliant, who explained that the company had been working out of the basement, and then the sixth floor, and now it and Hudson & Broad are sharing the space:”Hudson & Broad is showing their displays and we’re what’s being displayed.” Right now, the plan is for it to be offices and showroom, with perhaps a limited retail component in warmer weather.
••• February 18 at Poets House: “Poet, novelist, and biographer Brad Gooch discusses the life and work of Persian poet and Sufi mystic Rumi. Author of the new biography Rumi’s Secret, Gooch unearths the mystery behind the legendary poet and his devotion to a ‘religion of love.’ Gooch will read Rumi’s poems, along with his co-translator Maryam Mortaz. Join Gooch and Mortaz as they decode the life of one of the most enigmatic poets of the last eight centuries.”
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And WITH a Metrocard it is possible to go indoors and underground from 230 Vesey Street on the West all the way to William Street (at John and Fulton) on the East.
In the days long before 9/11 it was possible to walk great distances underground and not just involving the subway. Many buildings throughout Manhattan are connected below street level by passages that were available to the public. I remember in the early 1990s New York Magazine did a story about the underground passages with maps. If I recall, the longest such route was in midtown and you go walk about 30 blocks or so. It was pretty cool, but then public access was blocked because of security concerns.
there’s an article about the midtown subway passageways here:
http://observer.com/2014/01/reopen-the-forgotten-hilton-passageway/
there is also a passageway that connects the canal st. a/c/e station to an exit outside of tribeca park cafe on west bway. it was closed in the 90s.
Yes, it let you enter and exit close to the end of North Moore Street, avoiding crossing Sixth Avenue.
Yes, my son Max has been telling me that about the passages, so last week we took a tour from Chambers and Church to the Oculus, east to Fulton, and West past completed PATH.
Still can’t figure out if there will be an additional entrance to #1 from street level plaza, and not just Oculus. Also, it is strange how it was designed with escalator up to (and down from) the viewing “balconies,” but nothing the last bit up to street level. It seems kind of silly.
And for that matter, there seems to be no stairs from balcony level of the western end of the Oculus down to the lower level & PATH entrance. Did we miss them- we had to cut through Apple store to get down.
To answer your last question: You didn’t miss any stairs. You have to walk around to the north or south side of the Oculus to get down (but using the Apple store is a good idea).
The stair/escalator situation is bizarre throughout. When you enter from Vesey, for example, there are two levels with escalators, and in between them is a section with only stairs. (But at least there are stairs! I prefer stairs to escalators, so taking those narrow escalators to Eataly drives me nuts, as does the fact that there’s no set of stairs leading up to Brookfield Place from the WTC/PATH.)
There will be entrances to the #1 from the memorial plaza–the staircases are already there. I don’t know if they will also lead into the public areas or just into the subway. There will also be one from the south balcony shopping concourse–you can see where that one is still blocked off. I think the biggest design flaw is that there aren’t enough street level entrances into the public spaces for the size of it and with those east and west street-level balconies always crammed with tourists I can’t imagine that it has sufficient exits for the inevitable evacuations that will happen.
I’m thinking there will also be connections to tower two in addition to the tower three one that’s already there but not open yet, and to the performance arts center.