Subway Underworlds

In Jonathan Lethem's memior, he described 'his' subway stop, Hoyt-Schermerhorn, as "...a functional ruin, an indifferent home to clockwork chaos, from the fact that it was, in objective measure, an anomalous place." To him, his subway stop is a place where he grew up, and watched it change throughout his life. Subway stops represent a space that ties peoples personal space such as their home, to the rest of the city- the subway stops are a transitional space. Along with the author, many people in the city are able to associate a subway stop with thier everyday life. They know the space by heart, and no matter how long they have been living in the city they have memories with the certain stop they use the most often. The subway stop is a transitional space in the sense that alothough it is a public space, many people who go to 'their' stop everyday start and end off their day at the stop. It is a gathering place for all different types of people, all with different agendas and memories and attachment to their stop.