Soho to Penn Station

Viviane suggested that I blog this information, so here goes. She wanted to know how to get from our office at Broadway and Houston to Penn Station, buy a NJT ticket, and get on her train. I've optimized this route to pieces, so here it is.

1. enter the Broadway Lafayette station at Broadway and Houston
2. Go all the way down the first set of stairs past the turnstile to the BDFV Uptown platform. wait just behind the stairs
3. Get on the first train that comes and go 1 stop to West 4th
   
4. When you exit at West 4th, the escalator that skips the mezzanine is right there. Get on it and go to the ACE Uptown platform
5. walk down to the other end of the platform. take a C or E train.
6. exit at 34th Street/Penn. you will be very close to the turnstiles, go out them and down the half flight of stairs
7. you're now on the lower level of NYP Station. Walk straight ahead, and take the first corridor that goes off to the right. That corridor starts off with LIRR tracks, and the NJT tracks are at the far end
8. Near track 6ish or 4ish, there's a set of ticket machines that will rarely have a line. Buy your ticket there.
9. There are NJT monitors nearby- watch them for your train. You will see the track announced 10 minutes before it will leave NYP

Bertrand's Island mural at Mt Arlington

The murals are an homage to the Bertrand Island Amusement Park, along Lake Hopatcong, which drew visitors to the area from the early 1900s to its closing in 1983.

Flanking the station’s entrance are two large bas-relief tile murals depicting carousel horses in teal blue, yellow and pink. A tunnel to the station is lined with hand-painted tile murals of photographs from the park’s heyday. In one from 1930, people ride on a spindly-looking Ferris wheel. Another shows visitors wading in Lake Hopatcong in 1907, when the area was known as “Little Coney Island.”

The park had about 20 rides, but one of the most treasured was the carousel, which was created by the designer Marcus Illions, said Marty Kane, president of the Lake Hopatcong Historical Museum.

- article in NYT

Wow! I used to ride that carousel when I was a tiny little kid, and one of my earliest memories is of riding it late in the evening on the weekend that my little sister was born. It was right on the lake shore, and we still sail past where it used to be. This new train station is about the same distance from my house as the train station I use now, so I might have to drive over to take some pictures some early morning.