The MTA has a "subway stumper" it hopes someone in the city will be able to help solve.
Crews renovating the Bedford Avenue station in Williamsburg recently discovered graffiti on one of the original walls that could date back 97 years. The words "1922 HYATT" were found scrawled on a section of wall where the extended mezzanine will be when work related to the L train rehabilitation is completed.
Despite "a lot of internet-ing," the authority has not been able to figure out what – if any – the connection is between the word or name "Hyatt" and the station’s construction. The MTA is asking anyone who thinks they may know more about the origins of the graffiti to submit a tip online.
Built by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and opened in 1924, the Bedford Avenue station was originally part of the Fourteenth Street-Eastern District subway system. The station has since become one of the busiest in the borough, according to the MTA, with an average weekday ridership of 27,783.
Two new stairways opened at the station over the weekend as part of the L train rehabilitation project. When the renovation is complete, there will be a total of eight new staircases and new elevators in addition to the mezzanine extension.
