New York Home Page

Coming late March: Manhattan Revisited!

 Much has been said for New York’s public transportation system and we decide to put it to the test by relying exclusively on rail for our brief stay.  Will this be a true power chair destination?  Yes, but with some big caveats. 

 Southwest Airlines can get you to Long Island for a mere $99 each way from the West Coast.  To get this rate, go to Southwest’s web site and sign up for their e-mail internet fares which frequently have coast-to-coast $99 deals. 

 Our home for this trip is Stamford, Connecticut which has a great rail connection via the Metro North Railroad into the heart of Manhattan.  Our room at the Grand Chalet, while billed a suite (it wasn’t), was nonetheless roomy with “grab bar” accessibility in the bathroom but no roll-in shower.  Service here was good and the price reasonable.  It also included a decent continental breakfast. 

 Each day, we would commute in on the Metro North.  Many trains leave from here running from early in the morning to past midnight.  The Stamford station is accessible with elevators on each side, not all stations - in fact most of them - are accessible like this.  Neither are 
all cars on the train are accessible, you need to look for the wheelchair symbol on the door to see which car you can sidle up too...not an easy task if you’re not next to it on their very brief stops. 

 The fare is $7.50 each way non-peak.  Peak times will add a couple of dollars to that. The train will deposit you at Grand Central Station in Manhattan. 

 As you can tell by doing the math, this trip gave us exactly 2 full days to see New York. Whether we did it properly, I will leave to you but here’s how it went: 

DAY ONE: Fog in Chicago put us into the airport very late and in our hotel even later.  An 11:00 wake up meant a late start so we get right down to business.  Two trains are leaving from the Stamford station when we get there, a 12:36 local and a 12:58 express.  We opt for the express and head on in. 

 35 minutes later, we exit into Grand Central’s beautiful lobby.  Being our first time in New York, we can’t help ourselves and quicky run out the door for our first glimpse of Manhattan’s famous skyline.  A sense of vertigo envelops us...we have no idea where we are...and we see the familiar sight of the Chrysler building and the Met Life building. 

 We head back in to continue on our way to Brooklyn and Coney Island.  We set ourselves up for quite a challenge.  The MTA’s web site says that 33 of the city’s subway stations are accessible.  Armed with our $4 fun passes (a one day pass that gives you unlimited rides on the city’s buses and subways), we feel that nothing can stand in our way. 

 Plotting this out on the excellent, free subway map we got at the information booth, we see that the B line (which goes to Coney Island) stops at the Lexington Ave. station near Central Park and also has an access symbol on it.  The 4-5-6  lines go from Grand Central to the 
Lexington Ave. station.  We decide to take the 4 up to Lexington and then switch over to the B. 

 Two things come up wrong with this plan.  First is almost immediate and has to do with looking at our map a little closer.  Although the Lexington Ave. station is accessible for the B line, the 4-5-6 line part of the station isn’t.  Whoops.  We cheat a little and take the escalator up 
to the B line station. 

NOTE: The proper, all rail way to do this would be to take the 4, 5 or 6 up to Lexington and 51st station, then walk the remaining 7 blocks to the B line station by Central Park or take a bus up 
from Grand Central. 

 Once on the B train, problem number two crops up, although compared to the first problem is relatively minor.  The B train turns out to be a local, stopping at every station along the way.  It will take forever to reach Coney Island.  On the other hand, we occasionally see a D train, the Coney Island express, stopping across the platform from us.  We quickly decide to transfer at the West 4th Street station and continue on. 

 Eventually, we get to Coney after a scenic ride through Brooklyn (the D line goes elevated here).  Brooklyn looks a lot like East L.A.  The Coney Island station was built in 1919 and is certainly showing its age.  It’s dark, dank, even a bit scary looking inside.  But it has that 
very welcome accessory...an elevator. 

 We emerge onto the corner of Stillwell and Surf, directly across from our lunch destination, Nathan’s.  Nathan’s has been here for eons selling their world famous hot dogs.  We grab a few and are not disappointed.  They are very tasty.  This Nathan’s is also very popular for its seafood.  Some of the locals there swore by the fried clams.  This bit of legendary New York cuisine sets us only $10 for the three of us. 

 Unfortunately, Coney Island’s famous amusement parks are closed for the season.  The son & I were hoping for a ride on Cyclone, revered as one of the world’s top coasters.  No ride today, only pictures. 

 We take the D back to Manhattan to the Herald Square station, which is accessible (but the elevators are very hard to find and no one there seems to know where they are).  A short walk over to Grand Central and we hop back on the 4 train southbound to the Brooklyn Bridge.  This time access works as planned and the elevator deposits us directly across from the walkway over the bridge.  Here we get an unforgettable walk with great views over this old, historic span. 

DAY TWO: Today is our Manhattan day.  Maybe we shoulda done it yesterday too, but we just had to see Coney Island. 

 We retrace our steps to the Brooklyn Bridge station and start walking towards the Battery. It’s Columbus Day and we stumble onto a sidewalk festival around Bowling Green Park.  We eat a lot of strange and colorful food and wash it down with some beer. 
 
 Arriving at Battery Park, we head over to the water to see the Statue of Liberty.  It’s amazingly small.  Much smaller than we were prepared for, but still, it’s one of those things you want to see.  It reminds me of how everybody has to see Hollywood when they get to my hometown, only to be amazed at how dirty, depressing, and disgusting it is.  At least the statue is just small...none of the other bad things can be said of it. 

 The wait for the ferry is several hours.  We already know that the statue itself is not accessible, so we content ourselves by gazing at it from the shore.  We do want to get a closer look, however, and NYC’s public transit system again comes to the rescue. 

 The big yellow boats of the Staten Island Ferry will take you right by Liberty Island on a scenic, free, and accessible cruise over the bay.  Even close up, the statue still looks small.  The view of Manhattan from the fantail is what postcards are made of, though. 

 Back at the Battery, we walk a few blocks up to the World Trade Center.  New York’s tallest buildings are actually a big complex of buildings atop a mall and a sprawling subway station.  The map here shows several lines are accessible.  The station master told us only the E line was.  Lacking any other obvious signs of access, we boarded the E line to Penn Station, which our map said was accessible. 

 Penn Station, at least on the E line, turned out to have stairs...no elevator.  Doing it over, we would take the E a little bit farther to the Port Authority station where there is an elevator. We work Tim up the stairs in relays with him and his chair and proceed down 34th Street to our next destination, the Empire State Building. 

 Along the way, hungry for lunch, we decide to try some New York pizza.  We find a little hole-in-the-wall called Spinelli’s and have a few slices.  Yes, New York pizza is delicious and, yes, you need to fold it to eat it right. 

 We find the usual handicapped entrance to the Empire State Building on 34th is closed but a maintenance worker quickly directs us around the corner to the entrance on 5th Ave.  Although not signed as such, an accessible entrance does indeed reside there between two revolving doors. 

 We are directed to an elevator to go to the basement where the ticket counter is.  Like Disneyland, you skip the line here and go right up to the counter to purchase tickets for the observation deck.  Adults are $6, kids $3, and handicapped are comped. 

 Next, an ear popping ride up to the 80th floor followed by a another quick ride to the 86th floor deck.  An additional elevator goes up to the 102nd floor but was closed this day.  The deck we were on is the one you see in “Sleepless in Seattle”. 

The view from here is amazing.  On a clear day, as ours was, 50 mile views are possible. Even a jaded kid like Tim was impressed by it.  After the obligatory visit to the gift shop for miniature versions of the building, we headed uptown (by foot) towards Central Park. 

 Along the way, we swung through Rockefeller Center to see the ice rink and the Today set and then up 5th Avenue by Tiffany’s to the park. 

 We just did a quick loop through the southern end by Tavern on the Green and Wollman Rink to see what it was like.  As it was getting dark, we headed south to Times Square. 

 At the end of the evening, it’s a short walk east to Grand Central Station for our train home. 
 

Subway matters: Find more information on New York’s public transit system, including buses and commuter rail line, at MTA’s web site, www.mta.nyc.ny.us 

Grand Chalet offers on-line reservations at www.grandchalet.com .  The Stamford, CT location suited us fine but we have also have terrible experiences at other locations in this chain, particularly in Boston.  If you can afford it, it would also be better to stay in Manhattan.  Try Jan. 2 - March 31 for best room rates.  Also try to get close to Grand Central Station because it has the best access of any station.  Hotels nearby include the Grand Hyatt, Waldorf Astoria, Helmsely East,  and the Roosevelt.