REDBIRDS RETURN
Transit Museum celebrates the iconic subway car
By Jessica Parks Take a trip through time!
The iconic crimson
subway cars that once
dominated the subway system first
launched 60 years ago, and the
New York City Transit Museum
is celebrating the anniversary
with a new exhibit. “Reign of
the Redbirds” takes visitors on
a trip through the almost halfcentury
during which the beloved
red-painted subway cars were
synonymous with New York City,
according to the museum’s curator.
“People have a very strong
affection for the Redbirds,” said
Jodi Shapiro. “To have something
like this in your life for 40 or so
years, they are sort of like an old
friend.”
“Redbirds” is the nickname for
nine different models of subway
car that were easily identified by
their bright red paint. The boxy
trains were first introduced in 1959,
shortly after New York City’s three
rail companies unified under the
New York City Transit Authority.
The fleet of 2,000 cars
thundered along the subway
tunnels prosperous years and times
of fiscal crisis, until they were
decommissioned in 2003. Shapiro
likened the trains to a longtime
resident of the Big Apple.
“They have kind of seen it
all,” she said. “They are sort of a
surrogate for a person who has lived
in New York… all that time.”
One surprising fact about the
Redbirds: they were not always
red! When the fleet launched, the
trains were painted blue, and they
were — unsurprisingly — known
as Bluebirds. The
blue subway cars
ferried riders to
Flushing Meadows-
Corona Park for the
1964 World’s Fair in
Queens, and became
well known because
of that event.
“There are a lot of
photos in this show
about people using
the bluebirds to get to
the World’s Fair and
just showing how they
became a big part
of the culture back
then,” Shapiro said.
“All the wayfindings
said ‘Follow the blue arrow to the
World’s Fair,’ so it made it easy for
people who had never been to Queens
before to find their way.”
Vintage values: The Redbird trains on display at the
Transit Museum still have advertisements from the
1960s. Photo by Jessica Parks
In 1984, the entire fleet was
painted red, and the Redbird name
was retroactively applied to the train
models. Redbirds were eventually
phased out in the late ’90s by the
New Technology Trains, the first
to feature pre-recorded voices
announcing subway stops. Redbirds
finally stopped riding the rails in
2003, but they have not entirely
vanished, said Shapiro. Several
are preserved at museums, while
others were hauled into the ocean
and scattered along the Eastern
seaboard, to serve as makeshift
coral reefs.
“Fish really dig the Redbird
reefs,” Shapiro said. “Other types
of the subway cars that were reefed
did not last as long as the Redbirds.”
The exhibit features
photographs of the trains
COURIER LIFE, N 52 OVEMBER 15-21, 2019
throughout the decades – including
the graffiti-covered 1970s, the
refurbishment of the 1980s, and
their new home under the sea. The
museum also has several preserved
Redbirds that visitors can step
aboard while learning about the
cars’ lengthy history.
“So many people love the
Redbirds, but some people may not
know what they were before they
became Redbirds, what happened
to them after their useful service
life, and some people may not
know how long they were around,”
Shapiro said. “It’s a good story
about the resiliency of our subway
system.”
“The Reign of the Redbirds”
at New York Transit Museum
in Downtown Brooklyn 99
Schermerhorn St. at Boerum Place
Downtown, www.nytransitmuseum.
org, (718) 694–1600. Open Tue–
Fri, 10 am–4 pm; Sat–Sun, 11 am–5
pm through Sept. 13, 2020. $10.
TBy Bill Roundy he modern world is a
frightening and confusing
place, and we are
sick of it! This week,
we are going back
to a simpler time
– starting with the
1980s!
S a t u r d a y
night, you can
celebrate one of
the best films of
the Reagan Era, at
“The Princess Bride:
An Inconceivable Evening
with Cary Elwes.” This event, at
the Kings Theatre (1027 Flatbush
Ave. between Tilden Avenue and
Duryea Place in Flatbush, www.
kingstheatre.com) will feature a
screening of the film, followed
by a discussion with the evercharming
actor behind the Dread
Pirate Roberts, as he reveals
stories about his favorite
scenes and secrets
from the making of
the film. The show
starts at 7:30 pm,
and tickets start
at $29.
Not early
enough for you?
Good grief! Okay,
on Sunday afternoon
you can go back to the
’60s, at a live adaptation
of the 1965 animated classic
“A Charlie Brown Christmas,”
complete with Lucy’s psychiatry
booth, Snoopy’s dog house, and
Charlie Brown’s pathetic little tree.
The live musical runs at 2 pm
at On Stage at Kingsborough
(2001 Oriental Blvd. at Oxford
Street in Manhattan Beach, www.
onstageatkingsborough.org).
Tickets are $13.
And on Tuesday night, you can
reject the modern world entirely
with a visit to the 19th-century
world of gypsy women and
Spanish soldiers, at a production
of “Carmen” from the Regina
Opera Company (5902 Sixth
Ave. between 59th and 60th
streets in Sunset Park, www.
reginaopera.org). This free, sneak
peek production, starting at 7:30
pm, will feature the full cast,
with costumes, elaborate sets, and
English supertitles, but with piano
accompaniment instead of the full
orchestra (for that, you will have to
come back on Saturday!).
The best reads
— handpicked by
some of the best
Bklyn bookstores
Word’s picks: “The Great Pretender,”
by Susannah Cahalan
This book centers on one specific
cific
973
ent,cts
an
he
is
-
r
study: David Rosenhan’s 1973
“pseudo-patient” experiment,
which saw eight “healthy” subjects
committed to various American
psychiatric institutions. But at the
heart of “The Great Pretender” is
Cahalan’s dynamic and thoughtprovoking
attempts to decipher
the history and validity of highly
consequential terms such as
“sane” and “insane,” “physical”
and “psychological,” “(mis)
diagnosis” and “cure.”
Be prepared to question
the fundamental components of of our our modern
modern
psychiatric system.
— Althea Meer, Word 126 Franklin St. at Milton Street in
Greenpoint, (718) 383–0096, www.wordbookstores.com .
Community Bookstore’s pick:
“Godless Utopia,” from Fuel publishing
This latest entry in a series
devoted to the art of Soviet posters
follows a volume on the dangers alcohol, and the heroic sacrifices
of Soviet space dogs. Through
this collection of essays — and
plenty of sumptuous full-color
reproductions — you can explore
the world of Soviet anti-religious
propaganda, a medium in which
radical design wrestled with
state control. For fans of art
history and Bolshevism alike!
— Samuel Partal,
ers
of
s
e
s
venth Ave.
Community Bookstore 43 Seventh between Carroll Street and Garfield Place in Park Slope,
(718) 783–3075, www.commu nityb ookst ore.net .
Greenlight Bookstore’s
pick: “Nada,” by Jean-
Patrick Manchette
e s
nand
Nada, first published in 1972 and
recently re-issued by the New York
Review of Books, is a pitch-black
French crime novel that reads like
a communiqué. Chronicling the
botched kidnapping of a United
States ambassador to France
with lean prose and an array
of acronyms, Jean-Patrick
Manchette contemplates the
fog of political disillusion
plaguing a post-1968 Paris.
ork
ck
ke
e
d
— David Gruber, Greenlight ht Bookstore Bookstore 686
686
Fulton St. between S. Elliott Place and S. Portland Avenue in Fort
Greene, (718) 246–0200, www.greenlightbookstore.com .
Brooklyn is going back in time!
/www.greenlightbookstore.com
/www.kingstheatre.com
/www.kingstheatre.com
/www.onstageatkingsborough.org
/www.onstageatkingsborough.org
/www.reginaopera.org
/www.reginaopera.org
/www.wordbookstores.com
/www.commu
/www.nytransitmuseum
/www.nytransitmuseum
/kingstheatre.com
/onstageatkingsborough.org
/reginaopera.org
/www.wordbookstores.com
/www.commu
/ore.net
/www.greenlightbookstore.com
