96th Street (Q)

This stop straddles East Harlem and the Upper East Side, two of the most socioeconomically disparate parts of Manhattan that meet on here on 96th street and 2nd avenue.

Taken from 97th street, looking south towards the wealth of the Upper East Side. There’s a touch of graffiti to remind you that you’re on the Harlem side.  

And you can really feel this meeting of worlds on 96th. South, you’ve got cute bars, restaurants, and cafes, like Madame Bonté, and luxury apartments for the elderly. North, you have giant public housing complexes, bags of trash on the sidewalk, and people of color milling around a hospital I doubt a white English speaker would elect if given a choice.

I can’t help but notice that the station, newly constructed in 2016, has its major entry point on 94th - just a little farther into the white area, where the money is. Heaven forbid we build to make public transit more accessible for the non-wealthy and non-white in mind!