Brooklyn’s got its share of MTA subway trains. While many people wax poetic about the literary F or root for the underdog G, my affections lie with the fast, reliable Q. It’s more of a functional relationship than one filled with drama and passion, but hey, maybe those are the ones that last anyway.
My vote for the Q is based mainly on two great features:
- neighborhoods traversed
- express status
The Q stops at a lot of my favorite neighborhoods as it snakes its way through the borough of kings. The DeKalb stop is a pleasant walk from Fort Greene and Clinton Hill (and across the block from Junior’s for all your cheese cake/egg cream needs) and Atlantic Avenue is a Brooklyn transportation hub and home of clothes and home improvement genius Target (what do you say to that, Manhattan?). The 7th Ave/Flatbush stop is perfect for reaching both Prospect Heights and Park Slope. The next two stops take you to the North and East sides of Prospect Park, and then you get the Brooklyn College area, the lettered avenues (Avenue Q!), and finally Coney Island.
Even better than the diversity of neighborhoods crossed is the speed with which the Q gets you to them. From DeKalb to Union Square is just 2 stops! Want to visit Pearl Paint for some art supplies or get dim sum in Chinatown? The Q will get you there from Park Slope in 15 minutes. And for some reason the Q seems to have a lot less construction delays than some of the other lines.
So if you’re in the market for a new Brooklyn rental, consider making proximity to the Q train high up on your list of requirements.
Forever 22 
Anne, as I’m sure you know, Avenue Q hasn’t existed since soon after World War I, when it was renamed Quentin Road in tribute to Theodore Roosevelt’s youngest son Quentin Roosevelt, who was shot down in France behind enemy lines. According to the Forgotten NY website, he is buried in St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France, alongside his brother, General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who died of a heart attack the day after D-Day in 1944. President Roosevelt had never recovered emotionally from the loss of his youngest son, and died in 1919 a year after Quentin’s death.
If you get off at the Kings Highway station at the East 16th Street exit (where you can get the B-100, B-2 and B-31 bus lines which go to, respectively, Mill Basin, Kings Plaza and Gerritsen Beach), Quentin Road ends right there. It picks up later. I think it actually crosses Kings Highway twice, but I’m not sure.
When I first started taking the Brighton line to Manhattan when I was around 13 in 1964, the express was the Q train, but by 1969, the Brighton express was the D train and eventually the M was the local. Now actually I’d say the B is the Brighton express and the Q is the local, isn’t it, in Brooklyn?
There used to be, back in the 60s, two Brighton locals back in the day when the expresses were designated by one letter and locals two letters. There was the QB and the QJ (or maybe the QT?), if I remember correctly, with the QBgoing to Manhattan over the Manhattan Bridge and the QJ taking the Montague St. tunnel.
I’m partial to the B and N trains. I like the Q, but only for the first few stops in Brooklyn.
Thanks for the Avenue Q information, Richard. I always enjoy learning snippets of Brooklyn’s history through your childhood anecdotes–I read the piece you wrote on Ocean Avenue (and exploring Brooklyn by bus) a few days ago.
And Michelle, you’re right, I never really went past the Prospect Park stops of the Q either. But it’s nice to know Coney Island’s there when you need it!
“But maybe those are the ones that last anyway?”
I don’t quite know how to take that.
The Q train starts to get fun (and scenic) only AFTER Prospect Park!
Without its stop at Avenue J, how would pizza lovers get to DiFara’s? And there’s not really any other train that takes you to the bus (or walk) to Brooklyn’s best beach, the incongrously named Manhattan beach. It’s the only Brooklyn beach not currently “unsatisfactory” on the New Yorkers for Parks report card.