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Greg - 2006-12-01 17:19:54
NYC Subway Kooks are practically sectarian in that despite many of them having no home/no destination on any particular line, they remain particular to specific lines. F Train Kooks are very rarely seen on the R Train, whose Kooks are very rarely seen on the A, or the D etc. The F train has had some wonderful weirdos in the nearly 15 years I've been using it--people that I actually look forward to seeing, and miss when they're absent.
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Greg - 2006-12-01 19:48:40
My favorite F Train people, and I won't call them kooks, were two identical twin sisters. They were older gals, probably somewhere upwards of 55. They had identical jet black beehives, wore identical outfits right down to stockings and shoes, and white gloves. They sat side by side every morning holding hands, somewhat surreptitiously under an unfolded newspaper. I never saw them speak. I don't know where they boarded the train or got off. Just so exquisitely sweet and together... really together. Very touching.
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Adam - 2006-12-02 01:24:15
OK Greg. I "knew" those ladies. They & I used to hang out in the same public spaces when I worked in Midtown in the nineties. Simultaneously charming & creepy.
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iwombat - 2006-12-02 09:54:09
wow, identical twin sisters, two words; "The Shining"
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Greg - 2006-12-02 12:47:15
Hi Adam--I understand the "creepy" aspect because it's so incredibly uncommon. I know that conventional wisdom would label it unhealthy, but I don't know that I can adhere to that. When you say public spaces--do you mean they used to cruise bars together? Just kidding... sort of. Wombat--I like you and I want you to stay forever and ever and ever.
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Greg - 2006-12-02 12:52:09
you know... I wish the World Famous Pontani Sisters would ride the F train every morning. I have such a crush on the three of them. Just thinking about them makes me joyful.
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Adam - 2006-12-02 14:06:33
Greg-- I may have a low threshold for creepy. Vaguely remember them looking after a child or two. The Midtown public spaces are a concession from skyscraper owners to open up their ground floors to the public. Chairs, tables, sandwich kiosks, often a fountain. One place has a baby grand piano.
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Greg - 2006-12-02 15:49:31
Just as possible that I over-romanticize oddness, Adam... Do you recall the Alien Sax Player on the trains? His spiel was that he was raising money to repair his spaceship, and then he'd blast off some skronks that inspired people to pay him to stop. He raised a lot of money and a lot of ire as well, but continued the same act for years. I absolutely LOVED that guy, from the top of his antennae to the bottoms of his grubby tennis shoes. He would get no awards for his playing but if there were trophies for funny and fearless, he'd win every time.
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Baby Party - 2006-12-03 13:25:54
There used to be a guy on the L train who sold the Village Voice for a buck, even though it was free. He had a pony tail, and a very business-like spiel that never varied. But I haven't seen him in years. I sometimes wonder if he's still alive.
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Greg - 2006-12-03 19:46:30
BP--you have to have real talent to sell people free things! He's probably got a seat on the Stock Exchange.
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Alan - 2006-12-04 12:10:52
I hate proselytizers with a passion. Wiccan, Moslem, Mormom, or Christian, all will be devoured last when they return.
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Tom Ronca - 2006-12-04 12:48:04
Watch this instructional film about THEIR return here: <>
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Tom Ronca - 2006-12-04 12:48:41
Or rather, here -- http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/trailer.html
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