The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by an independent railway company, it was acquired by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and eventually became part of the New York subway system.
The first segments of the line opened in Manhattan in 1878. Service in Manhattan was phased out in the early 1950s and closed completely in 1955, and ended in the Bronx in 1973.
The Third Avenue El was the last elevated line to operate in Manhattan, and was a frequent backdrop for movies filmed in the city. Service on the Second, Sixth and Ninth Avenue El lines was terminated in 1942, 1938 and 1940, respectively.
Read more about IRT Third Avenue Line: History, The El in Popular Culture, Station Listing
Famous quotes containing the words avenue and/or line:
“Only in America ... do these peasants, our mothers, get their hair dyed platinum at the age of sixty, and walk up and down Collins Avenue in Florida in pedalpushers and mink stoles—and with opinions on every subject under the sun. It isn’t their fault they were given a gift like speech—look, if cows could talk, they would say things just as idiotic.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)
“One line typed twenty years ago
can be blazed on a wall in spraypaint
to glorify art as detachment
or torture of those we
did not love but also
did not want to kill.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)