The grit and hazard (and occasional glamour) of life within the New York subway: Nostalgic photos showcase the town’s well-known transportation community within the Seventies and Eighties
The gritty, harmful and generally glamorous lifetime of the New York subway within the Seventies and Eighties is captured intimately in a collection of images.
From 1977 to 1984, acclaimed photographer Willy Spiller, who lives in Zurich, Switzerland, captured the menacing, violent, humorous and pleasant contradictions of the town’s graffiti-infested transportation community.
From a person with a boombox standing perilously near the tracks to schoolgirls slumped of their chairs chatting, the photographs seize the uncooked vitality of the town and are paying homage to basic motion pictures like The Warriors and Wild Style.
Spiller, whose e book Hell On Wheels was lately reissued as a particular version, mentioned, “The New York subway system of the 1970s and 1980s was sometimes referred to as Hell on Wheels. This conjures up images of a steel prison rattling through the eternal darkness of the underworld.
“Then why have I never felt such freedom – freedom, desolation and equality – as in a subway in this legendary city?”
Spiller himself has all the time liked fairy tales and when producing the pictures he loved the concept that the story doesn’t all the time have a cheerful ending.
He added: “As a fairy tale lover, I was always captivated as I plunged into the rattling world of these mobile metal living rooms, like Alice in Wonderland, never knowing if the next moment would be menacing, violent or funny, frightening or delightful.
“Here I enjoyed observing and capturing the sprawling human menagerie of the metropolis.”
Schoolgirls on the A practice to Far Rockaway, New York, 1978. Acclaimed photographer Willy Spiller spent 20 years capturing the menacing, violent, humorous and pleasant contradictions of the town’s subway
Rush hour on Lexington IRT. Spiller mentioned: ‘Each car is a sweaty, rattling microcosm of the city itself – a loud, busy, colorful melting pot where everyone is pushed into other people’s enterprise’
Downtown Express 72nd Street Station, West Side IRT, 1977. Residents wait on the platform as a subway automobile races by
Jerome Avenue IRT Line, 1980. Passengers sit subsequent to the practice’s graffiti partitions. Spiller mentioned, “The New York City subway system of the 1970s and 1980s was sometimes referred to as Hell on Wheels. This conjures up images of a steel prison rattling through the eternal darkness of the underworld’
On the way to the office, Grand Central Station, 1983. Spiller said, “They seemed equally exposed and uninhibited, as if they’d checked in their private lives above ground—and were curiously indifferent to me and my camera”
On the Beat, police examine, 72nd Street Station West Side IRT Line, 1977
Dangerous Ride, Boy Clinging to a Subway, 1978. Spiller has all the time liked fairytales, and in producing the pictures he loved the concept that the story doesn’t all the time have a cheerful ending
Conversation on the A-Train, Subway NY, 1982. Two passengers conversing subsequent to a tequila poster
Riding Together, Subway New York, Unguided Tour Hell on Wheels, NY, 1977-1985. Spiller mentioned, “Always a lover of fairytales, I was always enthralled as I plunged into the rattling world of these mobile metal living rooms, like Alice in Wonderland, never knowing if the next moment was menacing, violent or funny, frightening or delightful”
After rehearsal, Columbus Circle, Subway NY 1982. Dancers wait on the platform to return to their houses as a practice rumbles by
180 St elevated station, Queens, New York, 1982
A practice to Brighton Beach, 1977. Spiller mentioned, ‘Then why have I never felt such freedom – freedom, abandonment and equality – as in a subway in this legendary city?’
Ghetto blaster man ready, 72nd Street Station West Side IRT Line, Subway New York. A person in orange pants stands dangerously near the tracks
Conductor Between Subway Cars, Subway New York, unguided tour Hell on Wheels, NYC, 1977-1985. A conductor friends throughout the platform
