24 hours a day, 7 days a week the subways pulse with life. New Yorkers constantly pass through the turnstiles of the Metro Transit System, but do we ever notice the vibrant mosaic tile artwork covering the walls? As I was coming home from a friends house I made my way into the 23rd street subway station at the base of the Flatiron Building, once called "23 Skidoo". I, like most New Yorkers, anxiously wait for the train that somehow never seems to arrive fast enough. As I pace back and forth along the platform something catches my eye, a hat. first one, then 2 and 3. As I continue down the platform more and more hats of various colors and shapes make their presence know. Men's, women's and children's hats, every color of the rainbow. As I stare at my new discovery the train hurdle's itself into the station, of course, at the same time I realize I want to take pictures. I speed down the track looking like a tourist who never seen subway art before. Clicking wildly, hat after hat after hat. Content with my catch I quickly enter the train just as the doors were about to close, take a seat and review the images.
A little digging uncovered that this permanent mosaic installation inside the 23rd street station is called " Memories of Twenty-Third Street " By Keith Godard.
Turns out that from the 1800's to the 1920's, 23rd street was a major vaudeville, entertainment and cultural destination in the city. Godard's mosaic hats represents the famous people who once frequented the area in that era. Celebrities like Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Houdini and Winslow Homer.
Goddard says, " Passengers waiting for the subway train might try to picture people on the opposite platform " wearing " the hats they are standing beneath!"
I can't say I have tried pretending a stranger was wearing a top hat but I can say I will be going back to 23 Skidoo to complete my hat collection.
^_^
