By Gus Saltonstall
A peculiar incident took place on the Upper West Side earlier this month.
On June 17, two people who appear to be teenagers or young adults opened a subway grate on Broadway, between West 91st and 92nd streets, and climbed into it, as video shared with West Side Rag shows. The specific block is where the abandoned West 91st Street train station, which has been out of service since 1959, once operated.
“A couple got inside the abandoned train station, which is located on Broadway and 91st Street,” an employee of a nearby building, who wished to remain anonymous, told West Side Rag. “I guess going underground has become a trend in the younger generations. Fire Department personnel got inside but didn’t find them, it’s a mystery where the young couple ended up.”
“We can remind MTA to do a better job at securing all these possible access points for underground,” the employee added.
Video shows the pair walking up to the grate, surveying the scene to make sure nobody was coming, and then opening the hatch and climbing down one by one. There was then a large police and firefighter response.
Here is the story through screenshots from the video. WSR had permission to take photos from the video, but not publish the video itself.
Somewhat unexpectedly, when reached for comment about the incident, an FDNY spokesperson said the situation was “unfounded, Fire/EMS wasn’t needed.” A spokesperson for the NYPD told the Rag that there was “no complaint report” connected to what happened.
The two people were not found.
An MTA spokesperson confirmed that the grate was the agency’s property.
“Confirming that this is MTA property and transit crews have welded the grate shut,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Rag.
Presumably, there are many other exit points for the duo.
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I do appreciate the fact that we welded the grate shut, even thought noone has confirmed they’ve exited. Gotta keep things neat and tidy.
Open it up, let Darwin be Darwin.
So there might be 2 teenagers trapped inside an abandoned subway station?
they probably walked up to 96th street or walked down to 86th street and got onto the platform and out.
They would never be “trapped.” You can use the inside walkway to get to the 86th or 96th Street stations – which is likely exactly what they did.
That’s what they did. I went in one time from the south end of 96th, which is actually 94th. No big deal.
And so then you can get TO the abandoned station from 86th and 96th too, then. Band Aid on a gunshot wound, welding the grate shut.
not even 96 street, more like 94th.
The important thing is that there was “no complaint report,” per the NYPD. One presumes that there’s no screaming being heard and no fingers frantically protruding for help thru the grate, but one can’t be too certain.
This used to be quite common in the 70s and 80s; teenagers getting to and hanging out at the old station. Mostly, they simply walked down the inside walkway from 86th or 96th. “Tagging” and other graffiti were common. Mostly people went there to just hangout, smoke pot and listen to a boombox (remember those?).
That said, welding the grate shut was a bad idea. Because those grates, and the ladders they lead to, are for exiting in an emergency. And depending on the type, and exact place of a given emergency, the permanent shutting of this exit could have VERY bad unintended consequences.
My thoughts exactly!
I agree entirely that that grate should not be welded shut, since it could be critical in an emergency. I presume the MTA left it there when they repaved the area because it is useful to them. Big mistake which I hope is reversed.
Tagging 🙂
Kind of an overblown reaction no doubt from the new addition to the neighborhood (the yuppie condos that were built recently). Gentrification is such a plague
How do curious teens relate to gentrification?
Based on the amount of graffiti in that abandoned station, they’re not the first. Part of me like Oh No, but part of me is like, I want to go down there too!
lol – I was thinking the same thing as I read this. This is exactly the type of thing I probably would have done as a kid had I known about it. Instead I had to settle for climbing around caves in my hometown.
“The two people were not found.”
Time travelers, perhaps? Could be the inspiration for a novel by Rebecca Stead
( When You Reach Me-2009).
Also reminiscent of Haruki Marukami’s “IQ84”, a great time-travel novel.
I forgot about that wonderful book – need to give it a re-read! Recommended for all Upper Westsiders, young and old!
That’s a great theory. The subway grate is a portal to another world.
Maybe they went home.
No, they just went underground.
Anyone raised in the UWS knows thats where we all hung out as teenagers. And the Amtrak rails that run below the West Side Highway.
They run below the Promenade and run in what was known as the Freedom Tunnel.
Just learned about an under-recognized NYC based photographer named Margaret Morton who photographed and interviewed people living in “The Tunnel”. She designed and published an incredible book with Yale Uni Press in 1995 eponymously called “The Tunnel”.
Anybody got a zither?
And she did it in shorts and flip flops. Neverwind the rats. 🙂
That takes “Get a room!” to a new level.
Reopen that station.
How can it be trespassing when it’s on stolen land?
Is that Tom Holland and Zendaya? Maybe another Spider Man premier tactic?
It’s a good thing that Upper West Side Karen was there to call the police.
I’ve been fascinated by that station for all the decades I’ve lived on the UWS. Now I know how to access it. Too bad they welded it shut! And too bad I am too old to even dream of getting down there!
This was clearly a spur of the moment thing. She is wearing open toed shoes. No one who would plan such a trip would be wearing that or white shorts. Even going on the NY Transit Museum City Hall tour are you not allowed to wear sandals. Also, there is no walkway or catwalk north of 42nd on the 1,2, or 3 or south of 42nd on the 4,5 or 6. So these two walked next to the tracks. At track level. Not a lot of clearance between the tracks and the walls.
Am I missing something? In this age of terrorism some young radicals can go down and leave a bomb there which nobody could see. Perhaps allow exits in case of emergency but use some kind of covering which isn’t aren’t an invitation for mischief?
It wouldn’t need an abandoned station. Shouldn’t we be as terrified as you are in every neighborhood? There are more abandoned stations.
I was commuting to Barnard in the late 50s, when the 91st street subway station was still functioning. I would board the #1 train at 59th Street on my to 116th. As she entered via the 91st station ,I often met another commuting student who became a friend. She lived on 91st Street. The closing of the 91st Street station ended her delightful convenience; she then needed to walk to 96th! I remember that situation!
MAYBE THE JUST WANTED SOME PRIVACY FOR THEIR TEEN AGE ROMANCE
I think they were a couple of ghosts returning to the ghost station at 91st Street, which is kind of a fascinating place (in photos, haven’t been there in the flesh). Wonder if the couple will turn up somewhere else? making the rounds?
There are easier ways to beat the fare.
Similarly, people in Brooklyn have removed manhole covers and climbed in the sewer system.
https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/us-news/bizarre-nyc-sewer-spelunker-incidents-may-have-simple-explanation-sources/
I would assume this is part of the tick tock trend of accessing abandoned and unlocked venues. “Influencers” are posting spaces all over and how to access them, including scaling abandoned fire towers (where a kid recently fell to his death). I guess one could say Darwin will simply have his way, but I guess if it’s your own kid, this might be agonizing to find out they’re doing this stuff.
Does anyone remember the part of Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” about “Injun (sic) Joe” and the cave, and how that turned out? I hope these two explorers are home safe.