Spike Lee purchased a Penn Station metal sign at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s subway item sale in south Brooklyn on Sunday.
The two‑day market, open on Sunday, drew an estimated 4,000 visitors, each given a 45‑minute window to scour items that once lit up daily commutes. The price spectrum was wide: a medium‑sized sign cost about ₹500, a larger one over ₹1,000, and the familiar orange plastic seats—now rare collectibles—sat at roughly ₹900 each.
Among the crowd was 61‑year‑old Nori Juba, who found a Grand Central sign with the lines he rides daily engraved on it. “It smells like a subway station, but there’s something about it that makes it real New York, one of a kind in the world,” he said, clutching the metal relic. Meanwhile, two friends from Brooklyn, Trinyce and Ijeoma, approached the stalls with a modest ₹70 budget, hoping to snag a MetroCard—priced at ₹6—for their apartment décor.
The event was born five years ago, Paul Dvoskin, MTA program director, told reporters. “We called it a grab‑and‑go sale at first, but it ended up being significantly more popular than we ever thought it would be,” he recalled. Dvoskin added that the success spurred the MTA to open the sale to the public, turning an internal clearance drive into a community‑facing marketplace.
Highlighting the sale’s quirky charm, Spike Lee, who grew up riding the subway, joked to the press, “I never jumped the turnstile either. Let the record state!” He added that the Penn Station sign, tied to Madison Square Garden and the Knicks, was a nostalgic piece of his hometown’s history. The sale also offered retired yellow magnetic MetroCards, once a staple of daily travel, for ₹6 apiece.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced that the event will return next year, expanding the range of items and aiming to raise additional revenue for transit upgrades. Attendees will again queue under the same 45‑minute rule, ensuring every shopper a fair chance to claim a slice of New York’s subway past.