Wow...I don't even REMEMBER the K-Train! Let's see...1986 - graduated HS, started my 1st semester of college downtown, so I would've taken the A or E from Penn Station to W. 4th.

What a shite-hole 42nd Street used to be though!

March of '86 was the first time I ever visited the city. Flew up to visit my sister for a few days during spring break from grad school.

My first sight of the city was the Port Autthority in the evening, after taking the bus in from EWR. What a dump. Junkies and vomit, oh my.

Then there was the subway, oy! I'd probably have been pretty freaked out by its decrepitude if I'd already seen Jacob's Ladder.

But security theater had not yet grabbed hold. Visiting places like the observation deck atop the WTC, the observation booth at the old commodities exchange, etc. was almost painless. And the Strand. ZOMG!

[1] I never knew there was a K train either.

It's amazing the extent to which the MTA solved the grafitti problem.

On the subject of subways - George Tooker died yesterday at the age of 90.

His most famous painting "Subway" hangs in the Whitney.