So, NPR had a story this morning on Billy Strayhorn's classic, "Take the A train." The song was record for Duke Ellington 67 years ago today.
Fitting that on such a day, the A Train is all messed up for us uptowners in Manhattan, forcing us to take the shuttle bus after Sugar Hill.
The song was Duke Ellington's hallmark for years. The line, which is 31 miles long, is the longest subway line in New York City, stretching from 207th Street in Manhattan (yes, the island goes that far north), all the way to Rockaway beach. It's the only train I know of where you can spend two dollars to go from high mountainous bluffs with bald eagles, along the shores of the Hudson in Inwood and Washington Heights, to snady Atlantic beaches where you can surf in Far Rockaway.
When the train opened in the early 1930s, it connected Harlem with central Brooklyn, offering a wealth of opportunities for Harlem's African American community, connecting them with the outer neighborhoods where people could actually grow grass and plant flowers in their backyards.
