I'd like to tell you I'm thinking seriously about the travel
business this Monday morning but it would be a half-truth at best,
maybe even a lie. Like a lot of people born and raised in New York,
I'm thinking "subway series." The issue is how to write about it
and pretend the piece is about travel.
Actually, there is a travel angle to any World Series. The
annual event usually is a boon to the local economy, pouring
millions into hotels, shops, taxis, theaters and sightseeing
attractions.
This year, for the first time since 1956, the entire World
Series is taking place in New York City but the truth is the two
ballparks that house the games are in different worlds.
Yankee Stadium, about a mile south of where I grew up, is in the
midst of a residential neighborhood in the south Bronx with a
distinct Latino beat.
You can do a little sightseeing around the area. If you're so
inclined, you can walk just a few streets and see the Bronx County
Courthouse, a majestic building that was featured in the film
"Serpico," with Al Pacino. Several scenes in that film, about a New
York cop who blew the whistle on police corruption, were filmed
with the courthouse in view.
On the east side of the courthouse is the Grand Concourse, once
the proud avenue that was the symbol of upward mobility for
Bronxites. It lost its luster over the years as the neighborhoods
around it fell on hard times but you can see the vestiges of what
it once was.
Shea Stadium in Queens is a familiar sight to travelers who have
used the adjacent LaGuardia Airport. If you want to combine your
interest in aviation with baseball, you can sit at Shea and keep
track of some airlines' schedules by checking the takeoffs and
landings.
Shea is a bit more removed from the nearby residential
neighborhoods. It was built in the area that was used for the 1964
World's Fair, some remnants of which can still be seen close
by.
Also nearby is the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium, the site of the
famed U.S. Open. If the main parking lots are filled, you may be
forced to park at the tennis stadium and walk back to the
ballpark.
One common denominator of the two venues, as the phrase "subway
series" might suggest, is the proximity of subway stations.
Actually, the stations at both ballparks, to old New Yorkers like
me, aren't subway stations at all. They're "elevated" stations.
You arrive outdoors, not underground, although Yankee Stadium
has both elevated and underground subway lines that converge at the
park.
You can see the elevated stations from most seats in either
ballpark and the fans can see the stadium the moment their train
pulls in.
When I was young, there was no more thrilling sight for me than
to arrive at Yankee Stadium coming up from Manhattan. I would stand
at the front of the train to watch it emerge from the tunnel
leading out of the 149th Street station into the daylight of the
161st Street station with the imposing ballpark looming on my
left.
That sight defined my life for many years and thinking about it
again this week still gives me a thrill.