Jumpgate

Fascinating discoveries on a slushy grey afternoon, and I didn't even make it past the subway station.

My plan was to get off the train 2 stops early and hike home through the picturesque snow from the park's eponymous station at the intersection of Flatbush and Ocean Avenues. Discovering that the snow had turned to drizzle, I decided to "do" the station instead...





...especially after encountering this
"gorgeous mosaic" on the mezzanine. It's called "Brighton Clay Re-Leaf Nos. 1-4, 1994" and was made by artist Susan Tunick; turns out the MTA has a nice web page for every piece of its subway art.
Unfortunately, the rest of this 1905 station is less sparkly and inviting, despite ambitious attempts at renovation over the years; I would have photographed some radical peeling paint, but the knot of surly young persons congregating in front of it deterred me.

The turnstiles are in an above-ground station house whose entry plaza remains awkward and forbidding despite this lovely gateway with its inviting reminder of the nearby Prospect Park Zoo.

The entrance is flanked by a zoo-fantasy mural that must have radiated childish charm when first painted, but is now flaking and graffiti-scarred. Even the decals for the B and Q lines are peeling off, and some enterprising can scavenger has stowed his or her cart in the cul-de-sac.

This karma of failed gateway grandeur extends like a mild curse to the surrounding area at the park's southeastern border. The Bond Bread clocktower, now a ruin, presides over a beer distributor and "Phat Albert Warehouse." Around the corner, in what should be a prime location opposite the park, is a cheesy furniture outlet; nearby, Empire Boulevard presents a vista of fast-food outlets. And of course, just blocks away stand the dismal apartment houses that replaced the holy ground of vanished Ebbets Field. It is as if Flatbush Avenue, having marched proudly between the green flanks of Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, sort of slumps into a gritty urban crouch as it enters Flatbush proper, before soldiering on southward to the sea.

And of course, it was at this very stop that the most hideous accident in New York's subway history took place--the Malbone Street wreck. And that is a story for another time.

Comments

[Area Resident]

I encourage you to go back to this stop and get off at the Lincoln Road exit instead. There is the darling K-Dog and Dunebuggy coffee shop and Cafe Enduro - a tasty and charming Mexican restaurant.

[Brenda from Flatbush]

I'm sure the coffee shop and Mexican restaurant are very nice, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens is a good neighborhood getting better. I deleted the puzzling racial non sequitur in your comment...Intelligent comments welcome, but civility will be enforced by your bloggeuse. See you in the park...