Bedford Avenue L Subway Station

Should i be embarrassed to say this was the first subway station I ever entered in Brooklyn?
If the L train is definitely the hipster train, this is its Penn-​Union Grand central station to the middle of that universe. Every time I look up a place I want to go in Brooklyn, it seems like Google maps directs me to exit here.
Crowded (especially crazy packed cars on a weekend night coming from Manhattan) and loud, I never had a problem with the trains not coming on time here
Watch that swell of oncoming human traffic once the doors open…

At least they finally installed real turnstiles on the Driggs side. But there need to be more ticket machines on Driggs side. Right now there’s only one. Some fans on the platform wouldn’t hurt either.

I don’t like that the train station does not have signs on the platform indicating which side goes to Canarsie — Rockaway Parkway and what side goes to 8 Ave — 14 St.
Extremely crowded on weekends because of all the events going on, Smorgasburg, Brooklyn Flea, Artists & Fleas, etc. So crowded to the point where you cannot even exit the train station without having several standstill beforehand.
A hot and sweaty mess up in here!

In all of New York’s transit stations Bedford Station stands out for possessing an extreme degree of – and unique talent for – foulness. It is foul like an overflowing urinal. Wet, grimy, cold; crumbling concrete. Narrow, cramped staircases. Tortuous ingress and egress. Strewn – from first to last – with soggy litter, sticky chewing gum, mucous, tissues, and phlegm.
Every inch of it appears stained, scraped, charred, chapped, cracked, beaten, fractured, blackened, pulverized, corroded, and dripping. The trains are stiflingly hot even in winter; & the platforms frigidly clammy (in summer, the reverse: platforms then become human ovens). Emerging from this station feels like narrowly escaping the blades of a medieval abattoir. Just the damp, rancid air of this place makes your skin want to crawl right off your body.
And what the hell is that bellowing, thundering, berserk, mechanical crescendo which fills the station? It was so loud –on my visit – I thought I was going to lose my mind; bleed from the eardrums; curl up in a fetal position to try to escape. Is this a *natural* feature of this station? A massive, gear-​gnashing, inhuman screech of metal-​grinding-​on-​metal? Does the MTA *know* about it? Did they *intend* something to roar like this? It sounds like the station is erupting; being shredded into little bits, being raked by a disintegrating ray. Yet commuters just lean against the i-​beams, unconcernedly, as always.
You inch your out of the station –step by plodding step, packed in on all sides by other bodies – and guess what. There’s no respite from the mongrels you just rode with on the train to get here. Climb up to topside and you find the sidewalks are just as thronged as the station below.
Ground-​level Williamsburg around this station is a weasel-​warren of thin streets crawling with losers and riff-​raff; their bicycles, skateboards, & their snotty attitudes. It is enough to make one shriek. You want to race down to the wharf and hurl yourself into the river just to get 4 damn inches of clear space between you and the rest of this surly, snooty, lip-​curled horde. Disheveled, slovenly curs – contributing nothing to society – yet daintily attired in oh-​so-​carefully configured, color-​coordinated, designer clothes and accessories.
So. Welcome to Bedford Station, your first stop in Williamsburg. Not a genuine, ordinary, human being in sight. Brings the gall right up to the back of one’s throat. Second on the list just below my revulsion for Manhattan Island (#1 most hated) I devoutly pray that Williamsburg is someday blown to smithereens by terrorists, foreign powers, I don’t care who – just nuke this place. I will applaud. Its like a mixture of Park Slope’s ‘elitism’ and a dung-​covered termite mound you might find in a zoo exhibit.

Next stop, Bedford Ave. Entering the hipsterville mothership land of Oz!
Dang, I have been to this subway stop many times over the years when venturing into Billyburg to explore some fun bars, shops, and eateries. The station itself is nothing much to look at. A basic MTA grungy subway station. Can get pretty hot and sweaty in the summer. Usually some sort of musical act is hanging out on the platform strumming a guitar or some other instrument.
Manhattan and Brooklyn bound trains seems to run pretty consistantly here. Pretty quick run back into Manhattan as it’s only a few stops. As far as a subway station goes it serves it’s purpose.

The heart of Hipsterville. It’s too hot, gets crowded & isn’t very nice of a station. Maybe Bloomberg will get with the program and have this cleaned up. Look for performers getting on your L train into Manhattan from here; it’s even funnier if there’s a cop in your car. I once saw these Latino men with an accordion high tail it out of there when they saw the police on our car, who followed them out the door.
At least you can get the Manhattan or Brooklyn bound train on the platform & won’t have to pay more money if you go into the wrong entrance.

Oh lord how I hate this subway station. Every morning, self important hipsters shove their way into the L train here. Other annoying «performers» populate the platform. Also, this seems to be the main changeover spot for annoying on car performers to move from a Queens bound train to a Manhattan Bound one. Good lord I hate this station.

Your first stop for the Hipster zoo.
Subtracting this, one of the cleaner stations.

If you’re a wannabe hipster or just want to know what a ‘hipster’ is. Just hop on the L train towards Brooklyn and get off at the first stop: Bedford Avenue. Once you get out, you’ll experience a whole new New York. Nope, this ain’t Manhattan or Queens, it’s Williamsburg of Brooklyn. The L train comes pretty frequently at this station and the area around the station is filled with restaurants, cafes, vintage clothing shops, and bars. You will have a blast in this part of town after you get off this station!

This subway station is
*Hippy
*Cool
*Offers a oppportunity to enjoy different kinds of music
*Old and needs renovation
This is one of the busiest subway station in Brooklyn outside of the borough’s central business district, as well as the busiest station served solely by one line in Brooklyn. If this would not been the L train stop I would have definitely given it four stars. But since L train sucks it just gets three stars.

I know people will complain about irony… too cool for skool and the hipster factor.
Still there is a wide variety of music to be had on this here platform, and a lot of good looking people besides. I’ll take that any day over the meet packer district!
Bring a sandwich and skip a train or two and enjoy the sights.

I like this station because it’s filthy and dingy. It’s clearly up for renovation soon, but it has been for awhile. I also really, really like that the platform is between the inbound and outbound trains, *the way it should be.* That way, if you take the wrong train by accident, you can get off and wait to come back on the returning train.
The first year I was in the city, in fact, I went to the Third Avenue L station (it was the LL, or Lousy Local, then) and asked the guy in the booth if I could get to Canal Street from that station. He thought I said «Canarsie» and motioned me toward the tracks. I took the train over to Bedford Avenue, realized my mistake, and came back. Learned my lesson, I did.
There are usually street musicians busking for money in this station because of the trains going in both directions. And they’re often pretty good. You’ll see hipsters here whether or not you want to.