Abandoned 63rd street platform & Mezzanine, Circa 2004

In 2004, Myself and a photoblogger (back when that was a thing) set out to get onto the abandoned platform at 63rd street.

The 63rd street / Lexington avenue station on the present day F line contained a set of platforms that was virtually unknown at the time. The station is actually an island platform, where the future second avenue subway would run on one side, and the present day F line runs today. The platform had a fairly permanent looking partition running down it’s length, hiding secrets on the other side.

This would need to be a stealthy mission, considering the high post-9/11 paranoia setting in amongst law enforcement. Indeed, there was a new NYPD post, with an officer stationed at the opposite end of this station, guarding the cross river tunnel.

We had heard plenty of rumors of workers hanging out back here, so our approach was cautious. Finding a train laid up here wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Creeping Closer

A random ladder went up into a utility space above the platform

Further down the platform was a makeshift work room

Apparently the NYPD had absconded with this area… or someone has a weird sense of humor

Not a whole lot could be found in this room

Though someone who frequented it definitely had a thing for Foxy Brown

At the opposite end of the room, someone posted another oddball sign.

We moved on to the end of the platform. Here we found an open door, with stairs going up. We peered up into the darkness. What was this place?

We knew we had to find out, but we had to be very quiet. Just opposite another door was the NYPD post. We could practically hear the officer breathing on the other side of the door.

We made our way up

Finding any of this was a huge surprise. It was basically a mirror image of the entrance on the west side of the station, only without tiles, escalators or elevators.

But there was another surprise – a mysterious long hallway.

The long hallway lead to a few rooms, all of which were empty. One included a shaftway

Moving back out to the mezzanine area, there were few lights, and the stairs up to the street ended at concrete slabs.

Will this station entrance ever see use? I guess we’ll see, when the second avenue “stubway” opens.