This is the Poughkeepsie Train Station, which I think of as “The Train Stain” since the time Birmingham accidentally called it that in front of his friends. We all had a good laugh at his expense, and now it’s stuck. This particular station is the last stop on the Metro North Hudson Line, unless you live in the Hudson Valley and you consider our region’s biggest metropolis the first stop on the way to Grand Central Terminal.
The station was opened in February of 1918, designed by the firm Warren & Wetmore, who were given the task to build a station that would prove to the world that the city of Poughkeepsie was a cosmopolitan place worthy to play with the big boys. Inside the station it looks like this:
Chestnut benches, chandeliers, extensive natural light from the five bay windows, restrooms (more on those later,) a ticket booth, and vending machines (which I believe came post-1918.) It’s a great place to relax while you wait for your train with your hula monkey. The city of Poughkeepsie was happy with their train station, and the local paper reviewed it thusly:
Poughkeepsie woke up Sunday and rubbed its eyes when it visited the new station of the New York Central Railroad, and gasped. Was this Poughkeepsie or a station in the Bronx? The new building certainly surpassed anything dreamed of by the present generation of Poughkeepsians and no more will travelers get a poor impression of the place by what they see when they alight from the railroad trains.
I believe the title of the article was “Poughkeepsie, finally as good as the Bronx!”
Little known fact: the train station was modeled after some church in Italy and Grand Central Terminal. Can’t you see the resemblance?
I guess if GCT was made of wood and only serviced 1,633 people a day, the similarity would be more distinct. If you’re dying to read more about this fine train station, let me direct you to the Wikipedia article from which I lifted all the above facts. I love in depth research!
But what about the restrooms? They are (or at least the women’s room is) extremely clean and modern, with some throwbacks to an earlier era. That being the era before liquid soap:
Ever since my Mom and I both had the same problem with The DaVinci Code’s bar soap in the Louvre scene, I get a little thrill the few times I see it in a public restroom. I’m weird, I guess.
Since I was already at the train station, I went ahead and bought a ticket and took the train to the city. (That’s our kickball bar viewed through the train window, there, by the way.)
And why did I go to the city last night? Because awesome SisterAlyson had free tickets to Crybaby: the Musical! As I texted to my friend Chachi later, if the theatre-going me of the early 2000′s knew that the me of 2008 would only see one Broadway play a year and that Broadway play was a bad musical adaptation of a bad movie, she’d be sad. But, really, the me of 2008 is a less harsh critic than the girl who ran follow-spot for the original production of “Urinetown” and was the wardrobe supervisor of a critically acclaimed off-Broadway theater. That girl would have been all, “The follow spot operator kept missing the actress’face. I’ve seen Johnny Depp play this role, and this dude is no Johnny Depp. Really? Is that set change the best you can do? The colors of these costumes don’t do a good enough job differentiating the two groups of characters. The wacky, campy ending was not earned by the beginning or middle of the show, which were way too earnest.”
But the current, non-theatregoing me was all, “Wow! How did they memorize all those lines? What a spectacle!”
As we walked to the train after the show, SisterAlyson agreed to pose for a picture, like so many tourists, to prove that the Hula Monkey was there.
We parted ways at Grand Central, where she got her subway home, and caught the 10:12 back to Poughkeepsie. Before saying goodbye, she expressed some concern that our parents and I are going fly to California together on Friday and that if we crash, she’ll have no one left except her boyfriend and Lola. I told her that if that happens, she can have Micki the cat.
“Do you promise?”
“Yeah, take her.”
“Okay, before you get on the plane, write it on your body!”
She’s a little bit nervous. But she shouldn’t be. Nobody else in the world wants to take care of Micki.
Posted by Dutchess of Kickball on May 7, 2008 at 9:05 am
Just because we forget to take care of Micki doesn’t mean we don’t want to.
You missed the pictures of the newish metal pergola thingy with the Poughkeepsie cutouts. I really like that thing.
There’s no way Micki’s heart would survive a day around your dog. Or any dog, for that matter. I never think to go to the area with the cutouts! I’ll have to get over there some other time.
Posted by lizgwiz on May 7, 2008 at 9:12 am
That is a lovely train station. We don’t have train stations in Tulsa. That would be primarily because we don’t have passenger trains. Just scary freight trains, which tie up traffic at the most inconvenient times, and some of which are apparently sentient, given the bright yellow signs at some of the crossings that say “some locomotives in this area are operated without engineers onboard.” (Okay, they’re apparently remotely-controlled, but I like thinking they’ve developed independent thought.)
That is indeed scary! Nothing worse than being stuck behind a long-ass freight train, I agree.
Posted by Hope on May 7, 2008 at 9:44 am
Ahhh Crybaby…my favorite John Waters film as it was filmed in my middle school which, in the 1950′s during which the film was set, was the high school my dad went to. I’m sure the musical did not compare to the movie as it was not taking place in such a high class location as Reisterstown Maryland, but…I’m still jealous that you got to see it.
Camp is camp…and sometimes the more poorly executed the better.
May we all grow up campy and spend our days “painted up like trash.”
The problem was that it wasn’t campy enough. I liked the movie much, much better.
Posted by -R- on May 7, 2008 at 10:02 am
Write it on your body? That cracked me up.
She is a card.
Posted by courtney on May 7, 2008 at 10:11 am
That is one pretty train station! I love those chestnut benches. Down South we don’t have much in the way of rail travel, so I don’t see many train stations.
I guess that’s just one more reason that you should come North sometime. Or, at the very least, continue to read my blog.
Posted by alexa on May 7, 2008 at 10:14 am
i’m really really liking what you are doing with these last few posts! how many places are you going visit? 50?
also that train station is beautiful! cleveland doesn’t have anything like that.
poughkeepsie – 1
cleveland – 0
ps. i’m sorry you didn’t win the contest, and losing 4 thats rough. i’m thinking a big win is in your future. go buy a lottery ticket or something – stat.
The plan is 30 activities, but not in 30 days, since I’ll be gone from the state for a while. The lottery may be in my future, indeed.
Posted by nancypearlwannabe on May 7, 2008 at 10:27 am
Your sister is even more nervous than mine. Did your sister ever throw up an omelette on a man in a business suit while sitting in first class with you?
That sounds like a very specific story that did not happen to my sister. But speaking of throwing up, she told me yesterday that’s she really nervous about having to throw up at work while she’s pregnant. When is she planning on getting pregnant, you might ask? No time in the foreseeable future. But she’s nervous anyway.
Posted by Jenn on May 7, 2008 at 10:44 am
I like “write it on your body.” Before each flight I make an updated list of people to call in case I die and who gets what. Unfortunately, if the plane catches fire, that list is worthless.
Maybe I need to tattoo this….
Yeah, I have one on my computer, but I’m bringing my computer…
Posted by 3carnations on May 7, 2008 at 10:51 am
The first thing I thought when I saw the first picture was that it looks like a church. I guess I DO see the resemblance.
It’s all in the ceiling, I think.
Posted by Jozet at Halushki on May 7, 2008 at 11:12 am
““Okay, before you get on the plane, write it on your body!””
Now that’s being practical!
And I adore train stations. Yours is especially lovely. I’m not sure how it compares to the Bronx, but I see the church resemblance.
I love them too. I like arriving early and waiting for people, it’s fun to watch them come an go.
Posted by The Modern Gal on May 7, 2008 at 11:27 am
I’m envious of your northern train stations. That’s something I hate that the South doesn’t have.
And that monkey gets around. I’d like to introduce him to a Beanie Baby monkey named Schweetie that used to travel far and wide with me. I bet they’d hit it off, being all worldly like.
I bet they would get along. They’d sit together and chat all day.
Posted by Laurel on May 7, 2008 at 11:42 am
I love the Poughkeepsie train station. We sometimes take Metro North there and then rent a car to get to Albany. It’s a nice trip that way.
So, not so much with the Cry Baby, eh? I have conned AS into taking me to South Pacific on my bday!
Cry Baby’s okay, if you have free tickets and aren’t expecting much.
Posted by apollocreed on May 7, 2008 at 12:22 pm
train stain I think sums up the NY subway system quite nicely.
Except my beloved A Train!
Posted by SisterAlyson on May 7, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I don’t like that picture of me. I look bored.
(“get-home-safe!”)
It’s only because you’re too cool for school.
Posted by Aaron on May 7, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Writing it on your body isn’t going to help if you’re incinerated. Just, you know, saying. (Or if your plane crashes on a zombie infested island, and they eat that part of your body.)
Sorry. I shouldn’t be allowed to interact with the world.
Also, bars of soap in a public restroom, while charming, seem gross. Maybe it’s just me?
They do seem a little gross. Kind of like the idea of being eaten by zombies.
Posted by Allie on May 7, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Aaron’s quote made me laugh. Hard.
I loved that little history lesson about “The Train Stain.”
I usually have to call my closest friends to tell them I love them before I get on a plane, you know, just in case. So I get where Syster Alyson is coming from (yes, I spelled sister wrong, but I think the double y’s look cool, so I’m not fixing it.
Her name really isn’t SisterAlyson, anyway, so you can probably call her whatever you want.
Posted by Brando on May 7, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Digging this series of posts.
And sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the spectacle. Being all nitpicky is so 29.
I’m glad you’re enjoying them. Yeah, once you get into your 30′s, trying to be cool by hating on stuff becomes less important.
Posted by jennifer on May 8, 2008 at 2:04 am
I enjoyed this so much. I would enjoy watching the musical, bad or not. Sister A is really pretty. A real trooper doing the tourist pose!
Tell me more about Hula Monkey. Can you link me to posts about her? And would she enjoy a play date with The Traveling Geisha? (who is miffed at me right now cause I shelved her Thursday 13 post to participate in something else. That’s Blog-Biz, baby) They can spend time making fun of the traveling gnome.
Hope you have a happy day.
Jen
The Hula Monkey is from the dollar store. I think he’s a he, only because he was purchased in order to play “Eric” in my re-enactment of “The Ruins.”
Posted by Ann on May 8, 2008 at 2:13 am
I have to confess that spatial relations are not my best skill. It seems to me like sometimes Hula Monkey is HUGE and other times, well, not so much. I suspect Hula Monkey has a huge spirit, but I’d love to see him photographed with some common household items so I can fix the scale in my mind. (Is Hula Monkey bigger than a breadbox? Does anyone beside my in-laws even have a breadbox anymore?)
It’s because I photograph him in perspective like “Lord of the Rings.” I think he’s about 3.5 inches high, but is currently sitting on my dashboard, so I can’t measure him right now.
Posted by Sadie on May 8, 2008 at 7:41 am
Hurray for RSS! I got so busy and out of my routine that I haven’t even been reading! glad you’re still writing. I have a lot to catch up on (and i’m looking foward to it).
Welcome back! Please forgive me if any of my posts are heinously boring. I went through a rough patch in the winter.
Posted by Carrie on May 8, 2008 at 9:22 am
That station is absolutely gorgeous; it’s like straight out of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” or some other grand old movie from yester-year.
It’s true, the place makes me want to wear a hat.
Posted by mickey on May 8, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Wow! What a comprehensive post! I love your train station. In it’s defense, it doesn’t want to be GCT. It has it’s own cool, and I dig it.
At least you have trains. We’ve got tracks all over the place around here and zero passenger service. Progress.
Posted by stefanie on May 9, 2008 at 10:11 am
“Wow! How’d they memorize all those lines?” Hee. I much prefer the easily impressed, 2008 you.