# Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets

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**Borough:** Brooklyn  
**URL:** https://standing-on-history.com/hoyt-schermerhorn-streets

A cavernous Brooklyn junction where abandoned platforms double as Hollywood backlots, and traces of a lost department store still line the walls.

## 1. "Can you dig it?" Hollywood is here.

The abandoned outer platforms at Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets serve as a stand-in for the New York subway in movies and TV, from The Warriors to countless crime dramas.

**Why it matters:** For many viewers around the world, this is their very first subway ride—on screen, right where you're standing.

**Source:** Carr, Nick. "Goodfellas to Ghost: A Movie Scout's Favourite New York City Film Locations – in Pictures." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 May 2015, www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/may/13/goodfellas-ghost-movie-scouts-favourite-new-york-film-locations.

## 2. These tracks have heard the clang of TV's most famous gavel.

In 1990, the very first episode of Law & Order, "Subterranean Homeboy Blues," used Hoyt–Schermerhorn's closed outer platforms to stage a tense subway shooting, away from the disruption of active trains.

**Why it matters:** It was the opening scene for a series that would become a New York institution.

**Source:** Carr, Nick. "Goodfellas to Ghost: A Movie Scout's Favourite New York City Film Locations – in Pictures." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 May 2015, www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/may/13/goodfellas-ghost-movie-scouts-favourite-new-york-film-locations.

## 3. This station celebrated its "opening" a year late.

In 1937, it was chosen for the ribbon-cutting that launched the new G train between Bedford–Nostrand and Bergen Street, even though the A and C had been stopping here since 1936.

**Why it matters:** Its size and location made it the easiest place for riders, officials, and press to gather for the celebration.

**Source:** "CITY SUBWAY LINK IN KINGS IS TESTED." New York Times, 27 June 1937, p. 31.

## 4. One of Brooklyn's grandest stores once had its own subway entrance.

In 1938, a passageway linked Hoyt–Schermerhorn to Loeser's, a five-floor, 500,000-square-foot department store known for its Art Deco style. The store closed in 1957, but its elegant details still grace the station today.

**Why it matters:** The store closed in 1957, but its elegant details still grace the station today.

**Source:** Young, Michelle. "Daily What?! Remnants of a Lost Department Store in Brooklyn Hoyt-Schermerhorn Subway Station." Untapped New York, Untapped New York, 3 Mar. 2021, www.untappedcities.com/daily-what-remnants-of-a-lost-department-store-in-brooklyn-hoyt-schermerhorn-subway-station/.

## 5. Hoyt–Schermerhorn once had a ticket to one of the fastest rides in the subway.

On race days, special trains stopped only three times—Aqueduct Racetrack, here, and 42 St–Port Authority. In 1981, they became the "Train to the Plane" to JFK Airport.

**Why it matters:** Later replaced by wider subway and AirTrain service so more New Yorkers could reach the airport.

**Source:** Crist, Steven. "JOHN HENRY AND 8-1 TIMELY WRITER WIN." New York Times, 11 Oct. 1981.