--- title: The New York City Subway: Photos From the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s description: LIFE.com pays tribute to the Big Apple's subway system and the intrepid souls who test their mettle in the tunnels beneath New York. canonical: https://time.com/3746512/underground-scene-new-yorks-subway-back-in-the-day/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-10-23T18:50:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:02.604Z og:title: The New York City Subway: Photos From the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s og:description: LIFE.com pays tribute to the Big Apple's subway system and the intrepid souls who test their mettle in the tunnels beneath New York. og:url: https://time.com/3746512/underground-scene-new-yorks-subway-back-in-the-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa4d07dec09916c2/698783c53c1639b3db45247e/150316-nyc-subway-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: NYC Subway 1969 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The New York City Subway: Photos From the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s twitter:description: LIFE.com pays tribute to the Big Apple's subway system and the intrepid souls who test their mettle in the tunnels beneath New York. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa4d07dec09916c2/698783c53c1639b3db45247e/150316-nyc-subway-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Underground Scene: New York's Subway Back in the Day by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Oct 23, 2012 6:50 PM UTC  Scene on the New York City subway, 1969. Scene on the New York City subway, 1969.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Oct 23, 2012 6:50 PM UTC As difficult as it is to believe, the New York City Subway has not always been the paragon of cleanliness, courtesy and efficiency currently enjoyed by several million New Yorkers and out-of-towners each and every day. In fact, for several decades in the middle of the 20th century, what was then the world’s busiest subway system was actually something of a mess. Unlike today’s flawless high-tech marvels, cars back in the day were relatively rickety affairs, and frequently sauna-hot in the summer. Crime on trains and platforms was not unknown. Sharp-eyed travelers might occasionally spot litter. And while contemporary commuters can, and _do_, set their watches by trains’ arrivals and departures, the old subway’s schedules could often, to the initiated, seem arbitrary—nonexistent, even. Verily, New Yorkers today live in a mass-transit Golden Age. (Hint: Sarcasm.) And yet, looking back, the messy, old-school subway system can sometimes feels more . . . charming. More human. Romantic, almost. Fortunately, way back when, LIFE made a habit of chronicling the frenetic, surging underground scene (not to be confused with today’s skinny-jeaned, sockless, complicated-eyewear, fedora-wearing underground scene). Through the years, the magazine’s photographers routinely descended into the loud, dim underworld to document the singular sights found there. In the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, the likes of Cornell Capa, Ralph Crane, Eliot Elisofon and other masters found on the trains, on the waiting platforms and in all of the other areas associated with the subway a universe unto itself, where the behavior of the people below ground felt similar to—and at the same time slightly, indefinably different than—behavior encountered topside. Here, more than a century after the opening of the system’s first underground line (long after elevated sections of the Interborough Rapid Transit, or IRT, system had been introduced), LIFE.com pays tribute to the Big Apple’s vast, serpentine, almost incomprehensibly complex subway system; the army of men and women who, improbably, keep it up and running; and the intrepid souls who, every day, several times a day, in all kinds of weather, run down those well-worn steps — even though you _know_ you’re not supposed to run!—hoping to squeeze on to a crowded train in the last few seconds before the familiar, two-note “ding-dong” warning chimes and the doors, irrevocably, close. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Scene on the New York City subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Subway entrance, Times Square, 1942. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Teenagers trying to work the subway turnstiles with slugs instead of tokens, 1958. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  New York City subway, 1953. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  New York City subway, 1953. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Commuters reading of John F. Kennedy's assassination on the New York subway, November 1963. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Department-store titan Bernard F. Gimbel rides the subway, 1949. Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Young woman riding the D train, 1951. Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1952. Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1959. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene on the New York subway, 1958. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  New York City subway, 1944. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images The New York City Subway: Photos From the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3746512/underground-scene-new-yorks-subway-back-in-the-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3746512/underground-scene-new-yorks-subway-back-in-the-day/"},"headline":"Underground Scene: New York's Subway Back in the Day","datePublished":"2012-10-23T18:50:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:02.604Z","description":"LIFE.com pays tribute to the Big Apple's subway system; the army of men and women who keep it up and running; and the intrepid souls who test their mettle and their luck in the tunnels beneath New York.","url":"https://time.com/3746512/underground-scene-new-yorks-subway-back-in-the-day/","keywords":["photography","Transportation","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa4d07dec09916c2/698783c53c1639b3db45247e/150316-nyc-subway-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa4d07dec09916c2/698783c53c1639b3db45247e/150316-nyc-subway-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NYC Subway 1969","caption":"Scene on the New York City subway, 1969.","creditText":"Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/photography/","name":"photography"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3746512/underground-scene-new-yorks-subway-back-in-the-day/","name":"Underground Scene: New York's Subway Back in the Day"}}]}] ```