Gothamist: Found on a Subway

jason

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 03:43:28 -0500

I once lost a hat in the London Underground and in search for it was thrown into a history of the Tube's Lost and Found. Culturally significant they have rows and rows of "brollys" (umbrellas) and spectacles. During World War II they actually had more lost army helmets for civilians during the blitzkreig than they could store. And only once was a large cotton candy cart left in the underground. Suffice to say they sold it.

Autumn Ward

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:09:50 -0500

For real, my aunt once lost her coat on Amtrak and got it back. But I'd rather talk about the MOST compelling MTA poster: bewildering gay '90s baby chickens. This thing has been on the 6 for more than a year, and it still makes no sense. http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mta/news/newsroom/images/high-res/aft_car_lg.jpg

missdona

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:44:02 -0500

I lost my wallet on the LIRR years ago. It was found and the kind folks at the LIRR Lost & Found tracked me down. I think I only had $6 in it. To the poster who thinks they see sperm on the MTA poster-- it's yarn.

Jim

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:28:44 -0500

the MTA occasionally sells their lost & founds...I can't find it now, but a friend pointed out that you could buy a box of "lost" women's undergarments.

Doug

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:42:17 -0500

I once lost my cell phone on a MetroNorth train. The next day I got a call at home from the lost property office at Grand Central. A conductor had found the phone and turned it in. Thankfully, I had an entry called "HOME" in my cell's phonebook, so the office called it and was able to get in touch with me. I picked it up that afternoon.

Rachel

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:40:32 -0500

My mother left a small bag on the SuperShuttle a couple months ago. It had a really old crappy digital camera, her hotel reservations, and a piece of cross-stitch in it. The driver of the SuperShuttle called the hotel to let her know he'd found it and that he'd be bringing it by on his next trip around...but he never showed up and we never could get ahold of anyone. I can't figure out why he apparently decided to keep it--he had to look in the bag to find the hotel reservations in the first place and must have seen the camera then. Why call and then not show up?

amy

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:32:08 -0500

haha, i saw this sign on the n train one day and on my return home that evening someone actually reported that he 'lost' his snake. how coincidental. i guess he should have checked w the lost property unit. our train was held at 59 street,followed by police arriving on scene and then the train with the drunk snake owner, cops, and mta personnel went all the way to coney island leaving us straphangers shaking fists or rubbing eyes in disbelief.

miss

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:27:25 -0500

i once found a vegetable grocery bag (the thin kind) full of old polaroids from a family in the 50's .... i went to return them to the photobooth- that woman CERTAINLY didn't want them. she said she could only take things that fit through her little window opening and she didn't want them 1 by 1. i was supposed to go to the lost and found office somewhere in times square but forgot. this was 5 years ago and i was young and irresponsible. i think i know where they still are in my house.. i've never wanted to throw them away... should i do some sort of commemorative art installation with them? post on craigslist? oh the vintage guilt that is coming over me...

keith

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:26:02 -0500

I once found a cop's hat and badge lying on the platform. Funny thing is, when I took it down to the booth clerk, he had the same reaction as the one in dude's experience, and asked, "What am I supposed to do with it?" And who says MTA workers don't deserve an 8% raise?

igor

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:14:19 -0500

See what kind of work people produce when all the creatives leave the area because they can't afford rent..food..garrrr!!!! ok..

Dan Dickinson

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:07:43 -0500

Don't forget the car on the right side - right next to what appears to be a UFO. Also, conveniently times AskMeFi.

smitty

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:56:31 -0500

i think the sperm is supposed to be a roll of yarn for knitting.

hmm

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:54:20 -0500

What is that thing in the picture on the left side below the crutches? It sure looks a lot like sperm.

lost + found

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:45:30 -0500

Brett, so that's where the plactic cactus went. Now if only I could find the prosthetic leg I lost...

MissPinkKate

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:42:05 -0500

Every time I look at that sign, all I can notice is that everything is set to scale, except the dentures. Who wears dentures that are bigger than a boom box?

brett

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:40:17 -0500

years ago I saw a large plastic cactus on the tracks. Gotta wonder how that got down there.

dorothy

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:39:12 -0500

my dad actually left my grandfather's dentures on the subway when he was going to visit them in the hospital. the mta returned them to him.

keith h.

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:28:12 -0500

i once left two individually wrapped CDs, which i had been planning to mail at the cortlandt street post office station, on a subway car seat. i assumed they would get thrown away, so i mailed new copies of the CDs to my family. surprise -- some kind new yorker spent his/her own money and mailed them for me.

shanon

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:20:59 -0500

Yeah, that sign puts me in a trance everytime I see it. I actually posted about it a few days ago. http://bamagirlbigcity.blogspot.com/2005/12/missing-on-subway.html

Toby

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:18:42 -0500

I once lost my camera (a nice 35mm one) on the Long Island Rail Road. They found it and I got it back at the lost property office at Penn Station. Funny thing was there was a picture on the roll of film of some LIRR back office. If you ever catch the Seven Secrets of Grand Central on TV (it may pop up on WNYE again) they show the Metro-North lost property office and some of the wierd stuff that they found, like an inflatable raft.