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Pneumatic Tube, with Candelabra
The subway was originally supposed to be an asthetic experience.
The first subway, an invention of Alfred Beach, was a pneumatic
tube which ran for one block west of City Hall in the 1870's.
To lure people underground, Beach outfitted his invention with
elegant candelabra and a piano. Liberace might have felt right
at home here. People dressed up, as if to go to the theater.
We live in a less formal age. No one dresses up any more.
And going underground has a different meaning now,
more Dostoyevski than Beach, but still theater nonetheless.