Home Brooklyn T-Shirt of the Day: A Brooklyn subway landmark

T-Shirt of the Day: A Brooklyn subway landmark

by Benjamin Kabak

Miss Wit Tees is selling these for $14 a pop. That’s one way to fight a Bruce Ratner-inspired naming-rights deal. The protest language:

You can tear the buildings down, and run folks out of town, and spin your tales of heroism. Billionaires come, and billionaires go. Names change, streets are bulldozed, neighborhoods divided, but these coordinates remain the same. Change is great, destruction ain’t. When the name becomes Atlantic/Housing Way we might sing a sweeter tune. You can call it the Barclay’s whatever, but I’m Still Calling it Atlantic Avenue Pacific Street!

This ain’t the first time I’ve heard these sentiments. Based on the city’s collective experiences with the Triborough Bridge renaming, I have a feeling the discarded Pacific St. moniker will live on well beyond its elimination from the subway map.

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45 comments

publicadmin031568 June 25, 2012 - 5:41 pm

stand up for your rights!

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Todd June 27, 2012 - 5:47 pm

…or just buy a funny t-shirt.

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MaddMatt June 25, 2012 - 5:41 pm

dam, that site is down, wanted to see if they had more cool tees.

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Gordon Werner June 25, 2012 - 6:11 pm

I still call 200 Park Avenue the Pan Am building

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Christopher June 25, 2012 - 11:28 pm

Me too!

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Adirondacker12800 June 25, 2012 - 6:25 pm

The B, D and F trains run under which street in Manhattan? Avenue of the Americas or Sixth Avenue…….

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pea-jay June 25, 2012 - 9:56 pm

And speaking of that avenue, what about the Sixth Avenue IND stop at 47-50 Sts Rockefeller Center? That’s had a private development name since like forever. Where is the outrage?

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David June 26, 2012 - 9:13 am

The sixth avenue IND was built after Rockefeller Center so it makes sense–they didn’t change the name of an existing stop like they’ve done with Atlantic Ave.

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Evan June 25, 2012 - 10:28 pm

Personally, I’ve always called it Sixth Avenue; didn’t know it was called Avenue of the Americas until a few years back.

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Kai B June 26, 2012 - 12:14 am

Some subway maps from the 60s and 70s actually show that the MTA actually tried to go along with the whole thing, calling it the “Avenue of Americas Line”. You can still find some older in-station exit signage with that name.

But they’re back to “6th Avenue Line” and “6 Avenue” on the exits.

As far as I know, only the NYT still awkwardly uses the name.

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Jim June 25, 2012 - 7:05 pm

Off topic- this was spotted today on the 23rd street b’way line- COUNTDOWN CLOCKS! but does anyone know if this is a preview of what is to come or ? http://instagr.am/p/MT77EEJzBe/

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BoerumBum June 26, 2012 - 9:14 am

That is awesome! @Ben… do you have additional info?

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Phantom June 25, 2012 - 7:28 pm

I will never call anything by a phony naming rights name.

As far as I am concerned the Mets play in ” the new Shea Stadium ”

And tge N and the -RR- go to Pacific Street, and Pacific Street only.

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Jeff June 26, 2012 - 6:20 am

Since when did this site become a surrogate of the DDDB?

The arena is built now. Move on with your lives.

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Phantom June 26, 2012 - 8:11 am

I was in favor of the arena.

I vehemently oppose corporate hijacking of our longstanding placenames, including by the many who will never set foot in ” Brooklyn Stadium ” or whatever you call it.

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Eric McClure June 26, 2012 - 9:47 am

The arena may be under construction, but the hole in the MTA’s budget, created in part by the shameful sweetheart deal the MTA cut with Ratner for the Vanderbilt Yard — and which they seem to keep restructuring to his additional favor — will be with us for a long, long time. And Ben is right to keep covering that.

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Andrew S June 26, 2012 - 10:53 am

If the MTA hadn’t sold the air rights to the yard the MTA wouldn’t have the same hole in their budget? I thought the budget issues were a result of Albany taking funds away from the MTA.

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Phantom June 26, 2012 - 8:15 am

or better said

I vehemently oppose corporate hijacking of our longstanding place names. Most who pass through that station will never set foot in ” Brooklyn Stadium ” or whatever you call it. ” Barclays Station ” does not exist, and will never exist.

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Kid Twist June 26, 2012 - 9:28 am

I still call it either Atlantic Avenue or Pacific Street.

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Al D June 26, 2012 - 9:37 am

I think that in exchange for the naming rights, many more improvements should have been extracted from the developer.

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Andrew S June 26, 2012 - 9:50 am

Wasn’t this what happened? The arena paid the MTA to use its name on the station. Now the MTA has more money and can spend it to create improvements if they desire.

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John-2 June 26, 2012 - 9:46 am

As long as the Pacific Street tiles stay on the wall, it’s going to remain Pacific Street for regular users of the station, R-160 automated voices or not telling them otherwise.

The MTA probably should have done what the TA did back in its final days in early 1968, and just added Barclay’s Center signs to the walls without altering the station’s name, as they did at Penn Station when Madison Square Garden relocated down from 50th Street. The IND and IRT stops have kept their original names, but anyone wanting to know where MSG is doesn’t have a real difficult time figuring that out.

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Larry Littlefield June 26, 2012 - 10:42 am

Anybody know where the “Joe DiMaggio Highway” is? Anybody?

I think they should rename Broadway-Nassau-Fulton “New Amersterdam Station,” but that’s just my opinion.

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Bay Ridge Guido June 26, 2012 - 11:43 am

That’s the West Side Highway.
I agree with your opinion on Fulton Street. The name is evocative of “Olde New York.”

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TH June 26, 2012 - 11:25 am

I for some reason don’t mind the RFK Bridge. I still call it the Triboro all the time, but if I’m texting or emailing directions to someone I’ll use RFK because its quicker, and it what the direction signs mostly say now anyway. But it has a nice ring to it, something that “Avenue of the Americas” severely lacks.

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B Train June 26, 2012 - 11:40 am

Oh yes Andrew, and fairies will come down and give us bags of refunds. 2 million dollars over 20 years, is a virtual penny in the bucket. A steal for steel. The MTA will always find ways to squander money, and raise your fare. While the “arena” is going up, the proponents fought for housing, and a community project. Justin Bieber and a British based bank, do not Brooklyn make. Let’s move on, and let this happen again and again. Hooray.

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SEAN June 26, 2012 - 12:09 pm

What does Justin Bieber have to do with this discussion anyway.

As for sponcership & naming rights deals go, that’s how large scale development projects will get done in the future since corporations have the money to fund them while many local & state governments do not.

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Matthias June 26, 2012 - 12:14 pm

Guess what, signs still say Atlantic Av-Pacific St, conductors still say Atlantic Av-Pacific St, and automated announcements still say Atlantic Av-Pacific St. I wouldn’t say the name has changed yet.

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Josh June 26, 2012 - 12:34 pm

It was more interesting when they did this with Shea, which was a name with significance that recognized the role of Bill Shea in bringing National League baseball back to New York. These are just street names where the station happens to be.

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B Train June 26, 2012 - 3:41 pm

Sean, ask yourself why doesn’t the government have the funds? Oh right because corporations get insane tax benefits. They buy this advertising and somehow we still pay all the fares, and fight for a mere minimum wage increase. That was not always how big projects were made, not PUBLIC projects that abuse eminent domain. And at that 2 million is nothing. If you lived on the blocks that don’t exist anymore, I beg to differ that the street names have no significance.

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SEAN June 26, 2012 - 7:46 pm

No need to get sarcastic, you made my point in reverse. Of course the corporations have the money do to tax policy. As a result, governments don’t have the nessessary funds to function properly.

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BoerumHillScott June 26, 2012 - 6:58 pm

A number of other stations are named for present or past private entities. The difference in this case is that the MTA made a bit of money off the naming.
I don’t see what all the outrage is about.

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Phantom June 26, 2012 - 9:20 pm

Our historical memory is not for sale.

I wish the Nets and the Arena well, but I reject the phony name, and the scummy arena name sale business.

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BoerumHillScott June 27, 2012 - 6:50 am

The Pacific Street name really should have been taken away when the two stations were combined into one fare control area. Pacific is a minor residential street, and can’t compare to Atlantic.

I still don’t see why private names attached to subway stations in the past (Rockefeller, Penn Station, Yankee Stadium, etc) are OK but ones today are evil.

There is no doubt that Barclay’s Center will be a destination for thousands of people, so I think a case could be made for a name change even without sponsorship.

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Phantom June 27, 2012 - 7:01 am

Yqnkee Stadium is a real name . Barclay’s is a rent a name. When the contract expires, they’ll rename it ” McDonalds Arena ” if the bid is ten cents more. Some stadiums in the US have changed names repeatedly due to corporate bankruptcies ( Enron Fiekd ) or mergers. I refuse to use a synthetic name.

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Alon Levy June 27, 2012 - 6:26 am

Times Square is a recognized landmark nowadays. Barclays Arena isn’t. One of these namings explains to riders where they can go; the other is advertising.

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jj June 26, 2012 - 7:11 pm

Occupy Subway !!!!!

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John Doe June 26, 2012 - 9:23 pm

I’m still saying Interborough Parkway, guess I’m dating myself….

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Asher June 27, 2012 - 3:09 am

Personally, I on my next trip to New York I plan on flying into Idlewild airport and then going over the Triboro Bridge.

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Alon Levy June 27, 2012 - 6:30 am

It’s still Triboro Bridge.

In general, I think the practice should be to only name things after politicians that are appropriate to their actions. So, Moynihan’s name should be on a burned-down building in the South Bronx, Cuomo’s name should be on a half-completed bridge (full completion delayed indefinitely due to cost overruns), Bloomberg’s name should be on the ghost 34th/11th station while the 7 extension is shut down to expedite building the more useful 41st/10th station, Pataki’s name should be on the mezzanine of the ESA cavern together with a list of the line’s cost trajectory, etc.

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Phantom June 27, 2012 - 2:23 pm

I propose that we outlaw naming any public space after a politician, except after a waiting period of 300 years,and that anyone proposing to name a public place after an athlete be executed.

On the corner of Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street.

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Bolwerk June 28, 2012 - 5:41 pm

So I can’t name my crack house after Ronald Reagan?

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B Train June 27, 2012 - 1:27 pm

BoerumHillScott the difference in this case is that they made almost no money. 2 million dollars over 20 years? At that price you could have Bloomberg Station at every corner. What Alon said! Where does it end? Welcome to McDonald’s Elementary School?

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B Train June 28, 2012 - 9:13 am

Perhaps this might convince people. Maybe the name should be Atlantic Av/Systematic Greed Center
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi.....732820.stm
http://news.sky.com/story/9536.....atic-greed
Barclays: Osborne Slams ‘Systematic Greed’

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The Pacific St. Edition of ‘What’s in a Name?’ :: Second Ave. Sagas September 5, 2012 - 12:26 am

[…] has been updated, and the IRT FIND displays are sporting some decidedly low tech decals. Even as protest t-shirts spring up, the station is now, for better or worse, Atlantic Ave.-Barclays […]

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