A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from July 13, 2005
Fare-beater
"Fare beaters" are those people who jump subway turnstiles and don't pay the subway fare. New subway technology has cut down on some types of "fare-beating," but it still exists.

19 February 1977, New York Times, pg. 21:
Chief Garelick was told to take the men from his 200-man fare-evasion unit which has been guarding the turnstiles against fare-beaters - a program he has called a cornerstone of his anticrime efforts,

20 January 1979, New York Times, "About New York" by Francis X. Clines, pg. 24:
Another fare-beater, a suspected courier in some branch or not-quite-organized crime, was found to be carrying $30,000 in cash.

Whatever the turnstile dragnets turn up, the clerks in the 42d Street booth scoff at Chief Garelik's claim that the volume of fare-beating has been cut from about 4 percent of ridership to less than 1 percent.

18 January 1985, Washington Post, "New York Chafes at Criminal Image" by Margot Hornblower, pg. A3:
Much of what sets the tone are things that seem trivial, like subway graffiti. Farebeaters.
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Workers/People • Wednesday, July 13, 2005 • Permalink


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