Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the New Yorkers, a podcast by New York City Cop. I'm your host, Kelly Kopp, published photographer, New York City tour business owner, real estate, content creator, podcaster, and above all else, a New Yorker.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Ladies and gentlemen, the next Brooklyn bound train in Valheim.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: This is.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: With me today. I have Houston Watson. He's a business owner, computer engineer, DJ veteran, and the best dad in the world.
Says Jay. That's awesome. And. But even above all else, he is a New Yorker and a proud Brooklynite. Hey, Houston, welcome to the show. How you doing today?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: I'm great, great. Thank you. Thanks, Kelly. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: I'm so happy to have you here. We are so happy to have you here because.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Thank you very much.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Your son is Jay.
Your son is Jay. So we have Houston Watson, and you are Houston Junior. Houston Junior.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Do you want to tell. Tell the audience where my nickname comes from? Yeah, yeah. So the nickname is actually J spelled J, A E. And I'm a huge comic book fan and one of my favorite artists is Jay Lee. Is an artist named Jay Lee.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: And so I never liked the idea of someone being called Junior and you know, and.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: And actually him being named Houston Junior was actually even itself was kind of like, oh, yeah, he's a Houston, you know, because we had a bunch of different names prior to him being born. And so I didn't like Junior, so I said, you know, we'll just call him J. And then I. Well, not J as just J a Y or just the letter J, but J. And actually it should be actually pronounced yay, but.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: We've always called it just J.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: Well, nice. I like that. Now I know the story of your. Your life, Jay.
So, Houston, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, what you do.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: A little bit about myself. Wow.
So I'm old right now too. So a little bit about myself.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: We're both.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: It goes pretty far, so. But I'm actually. I was born in Brooklyn and Bed Stuy. Brooklyn. Actually, I had to rep Bed Stuy, so I had to wear my Bed Stuy shirt today. Coming here.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I like it.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: And I actually had to make sure that I put on my Brooklyn hat because I always have to rep Brooklyn. Wherever. Whenever I'm wherever.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Well, what year were you born? Can I ask you that?
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Sure. I was born in 1961.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Nice.
So go ahead.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: So, well, I was born in 61 here. We stayed here for About a year or so, because my mother was actually running away from a hurricane in Belize. So we came to the United States where her mother was someplace so we could have somewhere to stay. And we came. I was almost born in Miami, but my mother just forged on and said, no, we got to go to New York.
And so we came here and we stayed for about a year or so before. Before we could go back to Belize. They cleaned it up and such an air airplanes were now flying back again. And so we went back to Belize and I was there for about another five years or so. And then we came back to New York and we came back to Brooklyn. It was the place my mother knew, and it was the place you wanted to come back to, though.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: That's very cool. And then how you did you live in Brooklyn? Did you move around New York City, or did you stay in Brooklyn?
[00:04:16] Speaker B: So, no, when we came back, we stayed in Brookly. We were in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn pretty much from the time we gave back got back. I was like around 5 or 6 years old by the time we came back, until I ultimately just moved out of Brooklyn and joined the military, essentially.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Well, well, what was childhood. What was your childhood like in Brooklyn? You know, because I'm picturing, you know, I. My mind's eye of Brooklyn is, you know, the neighborhoods in New York City.
You know, Brooklyn is. Is pretty fun and pretty safe as well. I mean. Yeah, let us know. I'm curious.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Yeah, Brooklyn now is safe. Back then, it was gang riddle, if you will, and the gangs were. Were numerous and out and about and was constantly recruiting. And it was really a. Kind of a tough time to grow up in that area because the. The. The thought of a future a lot of times wasn't something that we really thought a lot about. And I mean that. To say that most of the people, the grownups, as I knew them at the time, they got up to about 18 years old, if they made it that far. A lot of them died before 18. A lot of them ended up in jail before 18. You know, once you got past 18, it was almost like, wow, I made it. Now what do I do? So it was really kind of a tough time seeing these. These guys out there fighting and. And trying to make it to school. Myself going to Catholic school at that time and in that neighborhood was really kind of like not the thing to be because I was kind of like the only Catholic schoolboy going to school, walking to school, and the gang members were just out and about, and they used to bother me all the time.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: So this is the 1960s and 1970s, correct?
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Yeah, mid to late 60s, into the. Into. I would say into the mid 70s. The. The. It was. It was. It was kind of crazy.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: And how were your parents? Were they concerned, worried? I mean, did you still go out and play all the time and do your thing, you know, as a child, or were you aware of gangs or aware of violence or how did that work?
[00:06:30] Speaker B: So it was kind of like a bit of both. We went out and played. Thankfully, the. The block I lived on, the. The people who are around my name, my age, and possibly maybe just a bit older, were still kind of okay. They were kind of dealing with the gang situations themselves. A friend of mine, the gang wanted him. Him in their gang very badly. He tried to stave them off. Unfortunately, they ended up breaking his mother's arm, breaking his sister's arm, beating his brother up very badly to the point to where his eldest brother and his father had to go after some gang members with guns to try to get them to leave his son alone. It was. It was that kind of a situation in some cases. But we still went out and did our thing. We still went out and played basketball. We still went out, played stickball. We still did a lot of things, played a lot of games, you know, and. But the gangs came around. We disappeared. It was almost like, you know, when you turn the lights on and the roaches kind of just disappear, the gangs.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Would come around and so interesting.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: We would just disappear. We would run into the houses, or we'd all just kind of end up in one spot.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Do you have any friends that you keep in touch with from when you were a child, you know, or that. That era of your life?
[00:07:53] Speaker B: So actually, one of my. Two of my very best friends that I still know today and are still two of my very best friends. One, we went to school together at the Catholic school together, and the other one I had met not too far from where I lived. We actually both ended up going to the same church. And so him and I, Steve and Mark, we stayed in touch with each other, but all of us having to deal with these situations in the neighborhood.
Mark thankfully, to a certain degree, got away from the neighborhood, and he had moved up into the Bronx, I think it was, initially. But they thankfully were able to move away from the stuff around where we were. It wasn't so much better up in the Bronx where they went by that time as well, but it was still better than where we were, where he was, I should say. So, yeah. But we still Keep staying touch. These two, they're actually the uncles or, you know, the godparents to my kids now as it stands, because we've, we've stayed close and stayed in touch and it's kind of funny. So my, also, my brother in law, him and I went to high school together. We didn't actually live in the same neighborhood at that time, although we did come to learn that he actually lived down the block from me. Later in life I learned he used to live down Jefferson Avenue on the same street that I was on, but on another block. I'm sure he dealt with a lot of the same things I had to deal with with the gangs and the such. But one caveat to that gang thing, though, I gotta say, not really, really sure what it was about me in particular, but there was one gang member who was the head of one of the biggest gangs in the area that the Savage Hellcats, what they were called. He threatened me that I had better not ever join a gang or be associated with any thing like that, or else he would take care of me. And it was. I was like, okay, you know, that's. But he was, he was very protective of me in that way. And I don't know what it was about me that he saw because he kept saying to me, oh, you're different, you're different kind of thing. But.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: I'm not really sure what he saw, but it was, it was good that he, he put that out there on me because, you know, they, they would come after you. They. They really were.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: What a fascinating story.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: This is why I want, you know, Jay, your dad on here, you know, he's a real New Yorker. Telling my childhood was not like that.
And these New York stories that you have right now, it's. It's fascinating to hear. And so then you ended up going into the military, you said.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah, ultimately, after high school.
After high school, I worked for about a year or so. My mom was getting on my case. He was thinking that I really wasn't doing anything, which is kind of funny, actually. I was working for a messenger service at the time. Right. And I was actually making pretty good money working for this messenger service.
She did not see that as any kind of a future, and she kept getting on my case about it. So finally, you know what? I had thought about and planned on joining the Air Force as it was. And so I just went ahead and did it and, and moved on.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Oh, good for you. So how long are you. Were you. Well, technically, you're still in the air Force. I would, in a sense.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I. So what I did was I, I did my time, as they say. He did my.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: I, I did four years as. Six years as. As active duty, and I had six years of reserve. So once I was done with all of that, I'm now not. They don't call retired because I didn't do 20 years, but.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: Well, you're a veteran. United States veteran.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Yeah, veteran.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: And thank you for your service.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Of course. No, you're welcome.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Truly. Thank you.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: You're welcome.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: So Houston, from what I understand, you were based in Japan as well when you were in the military.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: Yeah, so I was actually just temporary duty, they call it. But I was there for actually six months, but it was temporary duty. My base, my home base was Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. And we would go what they call TDY or temporary duty to a whole bunch of bases.
We had.
I'm trying to think of the right word. We were to help protect our overseas assets, if you will.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: So we had bases in Japan. We had Clark Air Force based in the Philippines. And, you know, so we would show force overseas in certain areas.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: And what years was this as well?
[00:12:41] Speaker B: So from 80 to 86. Yeah. And so.
Yeah, so that's. That was what. What we had to do and why it was called temporary duty. But we were. We were mostly based in. In New Mexico.
Let's take a quick break.
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[00:13:32] Speaker A: And how does that tie into you owning a club in New Mexico?
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Is that true? So. So the tie in actually to that starts in. Starts in Brooklyn, Starts in New York. When I was in New York, I was a DJ and a pretty darn good.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Before you went to the military?
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Before I went in the military, Basically, I was DJing. I started DJing when I was about 14 or 15.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: Really?
[00:13:56] Speaker B: Something like that. Yeah. I started out, really. I had all of a sudden a fascination with. With loud music. Right. And so we had this old stereo in our home that wasn't working. It just sat there for years. And so I had always been a tinkerer of electronics and so I tinkered with.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: That's what they told me, that.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: And I ultimately fixed it. I used to fix a whole bunch of little things, blenders, mixers, irons, things like that. And so I went into the stereo, kind of figured out what was going on with it, and I got it working. So then I started with that. I started playing some records on there. And my friends and I were always my. One of my best friends, Steve, again, we were both very interested in music and such. And so him and I would go to our other friend's house where his father had a huge music setup. I mean, he had speakers and turntables and all this other stuff all over his home. And so we would go there and we started practicing mixing on his setup. And so ultimately, because I was working and. And such, I was able to buy my own, ultimately bought my own turntables and mixers and such and speakers I built myself because it just didn't make any sense for me to buy. And I. That's kind of how it started. I started dj.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Here I am. We're pretty much the same generation, right?
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: And I'm picturing you, you know.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Scratching the record and everything.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Oh, that's amazing.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Everything.
So fast forward.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: This past birthday, my wife took me on for my birthday gift was a DJ lesson on latest equipment and such. This place in Brooklyn, I forget their actual name, but they're teaching kids, high schoolers, middle schoolers, how to dj. And they literally have turntables. And then they go from the turntables all the way up to the latest equipment. Wow. Which is really, really quite interesting to the point to where I was actually trying to figure out how I could buy one.
So anyway, open up a new club again. Open up a new club. So I started DJing in New York. It was a huge DJ group, actually. This is what year this was in again. Like mid-70s, 78, 79, 77. Somewhere in that range there where we started. And I did this all the way until I went into the military in 80. And so for four years, we were all over New York, all over the Bronx, all over Queens.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Going and playing parties and DJing here and there and the kind of a thing. And that also had its own dangers. I'll just put that out there. That was kind of crazy.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Like, Gavison, can you maybe tell us.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: A little, really quick story? My friend Steve and I, we did a party and For a young lady. And throughout the night, my speakers kept turning off and someone Would come over. Your speaker over here is off. Your speaker over there is off. And that very rarely happens. And so as I was going through and I learned that the wires are being cut, and so I would repair them, turn the speaker back on, Speakers off over here. Finally, I saw someone using their shoe, going over to where my speaker wire was laid on the side and using his shoe to cut the wire. And so I confronted him and I told the person whose party we were actually doing that he was doing this. She got on his case or whatever. He was annoyed at the whole thing. Long story short, Steve and I are leaving. We're packing up the car, we're putting all the records player. Putting stuff away. And here comes the guy with a gun and his friend with another gun. And they're, you know, try to stick us up to get the money that we had just made. And then we're going to try to, I assume, take our equipment as well.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: But the young lady whose party we had just done, she happened to walk out at the time and what's going on? What are you doing? Started cursing the guy out and screaming on him and leave them alone. What's the matter with you? Kind of thing. So, yeah, that's happened a couple of times, at least. Wow. Steve and I different.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: You know, what if they made a movie about your life? I'd go watch it.
And I think our listeners would do, this is really good stuff. And so let's jump to when you met your wife and you created this awesome family that you have.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Oh, so I met my wife in 79, actually. And it was. So I was actually supposed to be going to Coney island with another friend of mine who I had been trying to see. We always had issues whenever we were going out. Not fight or anything, but familial stuff, Right. So her parents always wanted her little sister to be with us always. And so sometimes we would go out, sometimes we wouldn't. And so one time it came up, we were gonna go out, and she called me at my friend Steve's house, having a party for him one day.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: We gotta meet Steve now, too. Yeah.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: Very interesting person, I gotta tell you that.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Gotta be if he knows you.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: So I told her we were supposed to go. She couldn't go again. My date couldn't go again. And so I was like, you know, I told Steve, him and his friends, they can just go on. I'm not gonna go. But Steve's girlfriend's sister, he. She. They insisted that I go, but then they asked her sister before they asked me whether or not it was okay to ask her to come as opposed to, you know, me not going at all, if. I hope that made some sense.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: It did. Yeah.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Okay. So they asked her. When they told me that they had asked her, I was a bit annoyed because then I was like, well, I don't want to go. You know, this is ridiculous. And, you know. And so. But I went anyway, and the next day I met her, and. And so, to say the least, the. The rest is history, really. Yeah.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: The first date, you're like, it wasn't.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I can't say it was love at first sight, but it was certainly, like, at first sight, for sure. And I totally enjoyed her company. I totally enjoyed just the conversation. It was. It was kind of like it was relieving to talking with someone who you didn't have to. Constantly looking out for the sister, looking out for someone else coming on, someone else coming in and breaking up the conversation. And it was. There was a whole lot going on with that other thing or the relationship, so.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: This was kind of very relieving. And she was aware of the fact that I had, I guess, just, I don't know, the lack of a better term, broken up with my old girlfriend. So she wasn't wanting to come, be a downer, if you will. She was really wanting to be up and. And helped me to have a good time. And so not sure if that was totally part of it, but it went on, and we dated and. And we separated, you know, and she went to college, and I went to the military. And.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: What does she do? What does your mom do, Jay? Or what does she do now?
[00:20:54] Speaker B: She's a doctor. She's a radiologist.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: Right. At Columbia, right?
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Columbia. Yeah.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: I'm happy. I'm very happy to have met your wife and your mom, g. Too. So.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's. That's how I met the wife.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: Very cool.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: And. Yeah. And we had some wonderful kids.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Really, really wonderful kids. I'm. I'm so, so, so proud of my children. I can't begin to tell you. And part of this is funny because my friend Steve and I. And my other friend Thomas, my old friend that's married to my sister, now we talk. And when we talk sometimes, like we just did this last few times for Christmas, Tom and I were talking about the situation, and Steve and I just. The last time we were speaking, which was about a week or two ago.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Well, tell Steve what's up.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: All of us can't believe that the positions that we're in. If you had asked me when I was 18 years old, 17, 16, even, maybe even 21, that I would be where I am today, I would. I would. I would have laughed in your face and told you, you know, definitely crazy, and go and lock this guy up, you know, because I had absolutely no idea that I. That I could, number one, have such wonderful kids, have such a wonderful wife, have such a family that's so giving and together and. And loving, and it's. It's amazing. You know, it's funny. I tell them all the time. I said, I'm thankful and grateful all the time for them. All the time. Every day I wake up, I thank God for them. Every night before I go to bed, if I remember, I pray and thank God for them as well.
It's just. It's because I feel so blessed.
It's. It's. Again, it's. It's hard to imagine. It's hard to even. Even. We take a break.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Of course. Of course, my friend. Really, this is an amazing conversation. So thank you, truly. I. This is going to be a really amazing.
This is so good.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: Gosh, I'm sorry, Kelly.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: Don't apologize. I love it. I love it. This is awesome.
You're making me drip a little.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: This is supposed to be fun.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: It is fun, and it's amazing. People want to hear this, too. This is awesome.
This is. This is a beautiful moment. I love it. This is really cool.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: So I guess what I was thinking, what I was saying was that if you had asked me back then that I would be in this situation that I am right now, I would have definitely told you that you were crazy. I cannot begin to imagine that I would have been this blessed and so fortunate to have these children and just to be fortunate to have been in a position that I was in, to actually watch them grow. You asked me earlier about my mom and my family, my mother and father. So I didn't grow up with my father. It was just my mother. And my father was really not in the picture at all.
He was in the picture. When he would call, he would be intoxicated, and my mother wouldn't allow him to talk to us. And she would tell them all the time, don't call here when you're intoxicated. She used other words. And.
And so you're not going to talk to them in this condition? You want to talk to them? You. You call here straight. And I'd hear these come, and all of a sudden, you hear this door, you know, phone slam. And that kind of a thing. So all of this came from my mom, right?
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: My sense of family, my sense of the fact that I have these children and had the opportunity to actually watch them grow. I, that was one of my. You know, it's funny, I actually, I think this was a goal of mine was to see my children grow. And if that sounds strange.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: No, I don't think so.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: You know, it, it's because there's, there's such that. That whole thing about black men and not being around with their kids and they want to be there for their kids and, you know, all they want to do is have them and then they disappear or whatever the case is. You know, that was, that was the furthest thing from my mind. You know, I was so looking forward to having my children once I got past this 18 year old thing and figured out I had to do something else with my life here, you know, understand.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: And then the children started coming along that was like, this is fabulous. This is wonderful. I'm so happy that this is. And then I had the opportunity where I had a job that would allow me to work from home and watch my kids grow and do the things that I could do with them. Taking them out, going here and there. Jay. I would get off work and come home and pick up Jay and God knows where we'd end up. I'd take him and we'd end up all over the place. Taking them all over Brooklyn, all over Manhattan, taking them all over into Queens. We'll go to Far Rockaway, to the beach. You know, we would jump on a train and all over the place.
And I really totally enjoyed doing all that stuff with Jay, with Corin, my other daughter, Charlotte Lloyd. It's really.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I, you know, when I met Jay, I thought he was an, you know, a special person too, which is because of you and your wife. And I met you all too, that day at my, you know, when Jay was moving out.
Yeah, both times.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: Yeah, both times.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Yeah. And I, I was, I, I loved all of you. I thought you're all amazing, you know, been friendly. And I'm like, these are great. You know, my friend Jay is great people and his family is great people. And, you know, this is basically how the, you know, real quickly at the podcast started because, you know, Jay was, you know, a great roommate and I was actually super, really sad that he was leaving. He's one of the best roommates I've ever had. And, and we continue to be friends, you know, which I've never Really been friends out with a roommate who moves out afterwards. You know what I mean?
[00:26:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: I'm like, this is a cool guy. He's a, he's a good, upstanding person. One of the best people I've ever met. Then the podcast situation came up, our conversation. I said, I've always wanted you a podcast. And then he's like, that's what I do. And I'm like, what? You know, anyway. But anyway, so I'm blessed to know you all. You know, it's just to have good people in my life. You know, I live in New York City and I don't have many. You know, I'm older and I haven't, you know, my focus isn't to make good friends either. In a sense, you know, when you're younger, that's important to you, but, you know, I'm my career and everything. And then Jay comes in to the picture in my life as a great friend and he's such a great addition. He's making me a better person, you know?
[00:27:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: So go ahead. I'm sorry, I didn't.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: No, no, no, that's, that's. But, but all of that is what I'm so proud of. Yeah, you know, that's, that's, that's the idea, you know, so it's kind of funny. When we were growing, when the kids were growing up, I've always been very intentional in things that I do.
It may not seem like it, I like to have a lot of fun. I like to joke, I like to play and such, but I've always been very intentional. One thing was that I've always wanted my kids to be able to take care of themselves. And so in their growings up, I, we, the wife and I both, we would do that. We would train them, we would teach them how to do things, you know, because they have to be learned how to be self reliant. Right. You know, and so. But we had friends that we were, you know, part of our growing up group who thought that I was the sternest and the meanest. You know, they used to call me Sergeant Watson kind of a thing really. You know, but.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Because words have never even come out of your mouth to me, to me.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Because, you know, because I was, I. Because I was teaching them how to do their laundry and insisting that they make their bed, you know, insisting that they take care of their hygiene, insisting that they take care of each other in terms of, you know, we're taking. We have to clean. Everyone has to clean. If you make a Mess you have to clean and things of that nature. Those were very intentional because, again, we're not going to be around all the time, and they have to be able to take care of themselves.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: And so some of our. Our. Their friends didn't really. Or I should say their parents anyway, didn't see, you know, what I was doing as. As the right thing, if you will, because they would. They would allow their kids to not do anything. I mean. And I mean, in some cases, literally anything. And so they would looked at me as being this, you know, this gestapo, I guess.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: You know, I've never heard anything like that from Jay ever about his parents. But nothing but positivity.
So now, Houston, I'm interested in hearing about your job at Merrill Lynch. Can you tell us about that?
[00:29:43] Speaker B: Certainly.
So my job at Merrill lynch came kind of. Kind of oddly, if you will. So after leaving the military, it took a while for me to find a job. I was with what's called an avionics technician when I was in the military. And what that. What's very simply what that is, is someone who fixes all the avionics stuff that comes off of the F15 aircraft.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: And. And that included its. Its computer as well. And so I couldn't find a job doing anything like that. And in civilian world. And a friend of mine got me a job driving a car. All right. So I was driving a car for Chase Bank. Had to drive and drop off some. I don't even really know what it was around Brooklyn, Manhattan, Brooklyn. I had this little route around the city. And so that led to another job because they liked me. And they said, oh, you're the type of person. We could use you to do this. And so that job was driving a van for Merrill lynch in that. It was. It was a shuttle van that went in between various buildings that Merrill lynch had. And so I was driving a bare van. It was about 12, like, 12 passengers or so, and through New York. So then Merrill lynch opened a branch out in. In New Jersey. And so they said, do you want to drive that? We like the way you do. You work, yada, yada, yada. It's more hours, more pay, but, you know, you got to drive out to New Jersey three times a day. All right? So I did that. And so in doing that, I was. I was dropping off. They would give me mail along with the passengers. And so I would go drop off the passengers in Princeton, New Jersey. And then I would go and drop off the mail down into their mail center. So one day I went in there and dropped off the mail in the mail center. And the mail center person who was there was highly annoyed that there was none of his employees there to receive the mail from me. Highly annoyed. So he made a comment about, you know, can he get good people to work for him kind of a thing. So I said. I just said to him, I would do it, you know, I would work you fine and, you know, whatever. And so he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I left and went about my business. And so when I came back on my third trip, he approached me instead, asked me if I was serious, whether or not I'd really want to work there. And I said, sure, I'd be. I. I'd work there.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: And what year is this?
[00:32:19] Speaker B: I would say this had to be like, around 86, something like that.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Yeah, 86, 80. Yeah, about 86, 87, I think. I was just finishing up. I was just finishing up my.
My tour, I think. Yeah, like 86, 87. Somewhere in that range. And so I started working in Merlins there, started working in the mail center there in New Jersey. And they liked the way I work. And so a new building was opening in New York, and the person who was there at the time asked me if I would like to come and work in the New York building. And I said, sure, I would love to do that. And so ultimately, I came and worked in the New York building as a supervisor, actually. And it went from there. I joined the company as a mail clerk or, you know, work, and worked my way up.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Where was this building that you got hired at? What building was it?
[00:33:17] Speaker B: That was in. That was in New Jersey. Oh, that was New Jersey. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: And then you came to New York.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: So then I came to New York when they opened up the new building on Vessi Street, 250 Vesti street, right down the block from the World Trade Center.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: And so that's where I ended up. And I ended up being there for the next, like, 17, 18 years or something like that. Something that range I had, yeah, 20 years there, ultimately. And so it was. It was a wonder that the job that I did in the military actually, ultimately ended up doing at Merrill lynch, because I was the head of the distribution services at that point. And another position opened up for the computer center. And so I went into that position thinking it was one thing, but it was something else, actually. But it turned out to be wonderful because it put me in charge of all of the computer departments that we had at the company at the Time. And so I was right back into my element. And so I was doing that for, like I said, another. I think when I took that over, I had like another 10 years or so that I was working at Merrill, So.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: So now let's lead up to September 11, 2001. So you are working in what building? Where were you that morning?
[00:34:41] Speaker B: So I was. So that morning.
So that morning I was at Vessi street, but that morning it was. It was. The whole thing started oddly. So I had stopped taking the train to work, I'd say, months before, because I got really tired of going down onto the platform, waiting for the train. By the time I would wait on the train, get the train, the express train, by the by, that was the A train. By the time I would get to work and get there, I could have walked there. It became.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: So I. I just got tired of. I started just walking to work every day. By the time I was going through the World Trade Center.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Were you walking from, like. Where were you from?
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Brooklyn. I was in bed stuff.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: So you walked to Brooklyn Bridge?
[00:35:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Wow. Every day to work?
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. They're at home.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: Even home.
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Some days if I was really tired, I wouldn't walk, but, yeah, for the most part, I would walk.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Wow, that's fascinating.
[00:35:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. I had just. It was just too much. I got tired. Actually, one of my other colleagues that I worked with started doing it with me.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: Oh, that's pretty cool.
[00:35:46] Speaker B: Pick him up. And then we'd keep walking and we'd walk to work and walk home.
[00:35:50] Speaker A: It was good.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: It was nice. Yeah, it was really good. But I was on my way over and I had already gone through World Trade center, and I was about. And I was going across the North Bridge that crosses from the. I forget which one, the Four World Trade, I think, and goes across west street over to the.
The Financial Center. I was on that bridge and I just started across the bridge and all of a sudden I heard this shaking and booming and rattling and I hear glass falling and everything. I'm like, oh, my God, what's going on? You know? And so I continued on through the bridge and went on over to my building at Vesey street and it was. It was the. Almost the last building just before the water. And so I. I got there and. And I told one of my colleagues that something happened in the Trade Center. I don't know, but. Because I. I explained what had happened. I. Coming across the bridge and all of a sudden heard all. I felt a big vibration and then all this Glass falling, I could hear it. I didn't see any glass at the time. So I went over and I told him so he wanted to come outside. And we, we came out and as we walked outside, we came around the. The world. The World Financial center has an outside atrium where they, they launch boats and stuff like that. And so we had walked outside there and as we're looking up at the Trade center, we see. I. I'm not sure if it was one or two. Whichever one I got hit first. The very top of it, we're looking up at it and it's burning, and it's burning, and it's burning. And it's looked like a. Like when you have the eye of a stove on and you can see the, the way the flame is just like, like bellowing up and.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Right.
[00:37:29] Speaker B: And ready to cook. Whatever is sitting on top of it was how the flames were coming out. And we're looking up there and I'm seeing this and, and we're seeing these dots, you know, in, in the air, that, that all of a sudden there's all these dots in the air and we're like, what, you know, what, what's going on? We just thought all this was burning and disburning. And then we saw an airplane coming in, the other plane coming in. But when I saw that plane coming in. So you have done so being in the military. And I have seen a lot of things with airplanes. I've seen them do a lot of stuff with airplanes. And so when I saw this plane coming in, I thought it was a water plane, because I've seen those. And I saw the way it was coming in.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Understood.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: And I said, oh, it's a water plane. That was my first thought. But then I looked at it again and thought the angle is all wrong. I said, his angle is wrong. He's not gonna. And before I could think I could finish the thought, he slammed into the building and of course it exploded. And the scientist in me all of a sudden took over and I'm with my friend and he's like, oh, my God, he started. He's like, come on, we gotta run. We gotta run. And I'm like, well, we don't have to because the building's not gonna fall. You know, I can see that because of the way how he hit. It's not going to fall. The angle is wrong. If anything, it's just going to. It's going to burn. But, you know, right. And he's. What do you, what do you. You know, come on. And he's grabbing my arm and, you know, running, because everyone around us just scattered real quick.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: The dots. I'm sorry, what were the dots?
[00:39:04] Speaker B: The dots were people to learn.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: Later on, as I realized the dots were people jumping out of the building, falling out of the building, whatever it was.
And so at that point, I was like, okay, we got to get our people out, you know? And so I got back to our. My building, and by the time I got back there, they were. They had already had to evacuate going on, and it threw out the building. Evacuate, evacuate. So as we're leaving, one of the security. The actual one, the head of security of that building, him and I know each other very well. He asked me to take a corner to guide the people, to tell them where to go, where the fallout was, which was at Stuyvesant High School, which was down the block in Chambers, not too far, right. So I took a corner, and people were coming out, and I was telling them where to go, where to go. Come this way. You got to go this way. You got to go this way, you know? And so I saw some of my other employees who, at the time I had several buildings that I was in control of.
Some of my employees from one of the other buildings that I was in control of, they were being evacuated, the same area that we were. And I saw them, and I told them, all right, yeah, we got to go this way. You got to go over here. So they was asking me, well, what's going on? And they started walking back towards the Winter Garden area. And I'm saying to them, no, don't do that. You know, come back. Don't go. Don't go. But they went anyway. And, you know, and I'm. But I'm still instructing other people to go to the. To the other building. And about, I don't know, maybe five minutes later or something like that, they are coming back from the Winter Garden area. And the one who wanted to go see it so badly, they're basically carrying her because she's, oh, my God. Oh, my God. She's, oh, my God. And that's all. And they're holding her up, and. And I got so angry immediately. I told her, I told you not to go back there, because I knew what they were. I knew what they would see as I was standing there, as a matter of fact, telling people where to go. I'm looking up Vessi street, and. And I'm seeing the building, and I'm. And there's explosions going on and things going on in the World Trade Center. And. And all of a sudden I. Boom. I. There's a big boom and I see a person gets blown out of the building. And I could tell right away it was. It was a fireman, because I could see his. His garb. I could see everything. He literally even still had the ax in his hand as he was blown out of the building.
He was falling. And I'm like, this is.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: What were the explosions from the plane?
[00:41:33] Speaker B: I really don't know. I think it was just whatever was going on with. Inside the buildings themselves. And this was in the first building that got hit. So whatever else was, whatever, when it hit, that hit reverberated all the way down the building and all the way across that bridge. And that's what I felt. And so my guess is that whatever that caused it could have caused all kinds of different reactions within the building itself and such. And so, because. Because I had heard also, too, that about the various little explosions that were going on in the building at the time. But. So, yeah, so the guy coming out and. And then so we're finally emptying out in the buildings, finally clearing out, and this police officer comes running from around the corner and he's, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go. The building's coming down, the building's coming down. Like, oh, my God, are you kidding me? And we run, run, run, run, run, running, running into that. To that building, to Stuyvesant. And we're just about to go into the building when as. Just as we're getting in, the building's coming down, and we get in there, you know, and. And then basically downtown disappears because all the dirt and dust and everything that, you know, fell and. And so we ultimately, thank God, got caught in that building. We were there for about an hour, hour and a half or so, something like that. Made about an hour or so before it really cleared. And then people started to leave and we finally decided, you know, we're going to. We're going to try to make it back over to Brooklyn. Because at the time I was living in Brooklyn, we kind of left there, you know, the devastation was. Was. Was crazy. I mean, just all the way up there to that. To that school, all the dust and the dirt and the dust and that. It was all over the place. And so we tried to make it back to Brooklyn, ran into this one lady, was just totally, totally out of it and kind of guided her to a policeman who guided her over to an ambulance that was sitting there with some other folks who seem to be totally out of it. Ran into another colleague of mine as we were in that building. And so she didn't know how to get back to Brooklyn from where we were. We had to guide her. We walked up to which. Not, not the. So the Brooklyn was closed, Manhattan was closed. The Williamsburg.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: Oh, so the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges were closed?
[00:43:57] Speaker B: Yeah, they were closed.
[00:43:58] Speaker A: They closed to pedestrians too?
[00:44:00] Speaker B: Yeah, completely.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Oh, I didn't know that.
[00:44:01] Speaker B: Yeah, both of them were completely.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: But the Manhattan was open.
[00:44:04] Speaker B: But, yeah, Williamsburg was. Was open. So we had to. Make your way to Williamsburg Bridge and walk across the Williamsburg Bridge.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: What was going through your mind? I mean, obviously you're, you know, you're trying to help people and the building falls. I mean, this day, I mean, for the world was, you know, horrific. But you're in, you're in it down there at World Trade Center. What were you thinking? Like, so you know, what was going through your mind?
[00:44:29] Speaker B: So I think.
So.
It's. It's hard to say that it. My, My training kicked in, so my military training kicked in. We, we. We've had to have been into some situations when I was in the military where all of a sudden something comes up and you have to be at your best or you have to stay within your mind. And so that's kind of. I think what happened to me was that this was something that was going on. I was going to do everything I can to clear away from it, get safe, and then think about it.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:45:06] Speaker B: It wasn't a matter of thinking about what's happening right now as it's happening. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
[00:45:11] Speaker A: Were you scared?
[00:45:13] Speaker B: You know, No, I don't think I was. I got scared later. I was. At the time, I wasn't scared because like I said, I think it was my, my military training kicked in. The, the. We have to act, you know, we were always told, you don't. You don't react, you respond. And so that, I think, is what was. Was with me. I was responding, I wasn't. I wasn't reacting. And so I didn't, I didn't get scared until later on. I didn't get scared until later on when people are telling me they couldn't get in touch with me. And, you know, definitely my mom was like, oh, my God. You know, I heard what happened and, you know, all those kind. That's when I kind of got scared. Even though the cell phones and nothing like that was working at the time, and I accepted that and understood it.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: And it didn't and things like that didn't bother me. It was just that, you know, here's a situation. We have to respond to this situation that's going on. And you know, you know, I'll. I'll get scared later or, or I'll. I guess, I don't know.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: You know, when you think back and, you know, and every year when 911 comes back around and our memories come back to that day for everybody all over the world as well, what comes to your mind?
[00:46:24] Speaker B: I get very sad. I get very sad, and I get really.
I get upset as well.
Part of my feeling for 911 is that we weren't at war.
The idea of us being at war wasn't there. There was another country that we were staying that we were actively, you know, at war with, if you will, in the early late 60s, early 70s and such. We had to do these fallout shelter drills and things of that nature because there was a. There was an active threat if the Cold War.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: Right, right, right.
[00:47:01] Speaker B: And so if I'm in the military, I'm expecting this kind of a thing. I'm expecting people to die, I'm expecting people to get hurt and things of that nature, because we are all in this military and we're all fighting for this country.
But the thing about 911 that hurts me the most is that these were normal, regular, everyday people just trying to make a living just like any and everybody else in the world.
And so that's what saddens me the most, is that here you are, a civilian, deciding that this is how you want to live your life, and someone else decides that they want to involve you in something that you have nothing to do with and had no inkling to be a part of.
Right. I mean, I joined the Air Force. Right, right. So, all right, so there's some expectation that I. All right, so fine, I. Something may happen to me. I may run into some folks somewhere at some point, and they may decide that they want to end me because of. Of what I decided to do.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: You signed up for that? Yeah, I signed, you know, civilians, people didn't.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: They're going to work. They're just trying to do their thing with their family, friends and things of that nature. And so, yeah, 9 11, I get extremely sad.
And, and I, And I feel. And I get. And I get. Feel vulnerable at those times. I have some friends who call me up and they're like, you know, he would, you know, I've gotten. I feel better about it, actually. I'm not even sure if that's the right Statement.
[00:48:32] Speaker A: Right.
[00:48:32] Speaker B: I think I could handle it better at this point is probably the more truer thing. I can handle it better, but it's still extremely. It's so sad, you know.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: I mean. Yeah, I'm sorry. You have these images in your mind that none of us have experienced on 911 that you have been there. So I can't even imagine.
[00:48:52] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I mean I couldn't have imagined it either myself, to be quite honest. And, and to bend and to tell you my time in Merrill, there were some really crazy things that happened there. You know, some really crazy stuff. I mean that'd be another podcast, to be quite honest with you, but nothing like this.
[00:49:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:12] Speaker B: Nothing like this at all. Even the aftermath, I was part of this, this move back team that we were trying to get back to Merrill, back into the area.
Part of that became where we would have to go to certain buildings to see if everything was still okay.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:49:29] Speaker B: And that kind of a thing, you know.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: Are you concerned about health issues from that day? You know, because, you know, you see on the news.
[00:49:38] Speaker B: I guess I should be. You know, it's funny, my, my, my wife is always, you know. Did you sign up for the 911, did you sign up for the 911 thing? You know, I had a friend of mine who decided to sign up for the 911 thing and he had to pay some pay like 30 something, 40 something dollars to put him. His name on a list.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: Really.
[00:49:55] Speaker B: And I thought that sounds cheesy. You know, there's something not quite right with that. You know, I shouldn't have to put, you know, pay for something to. And to put my name on a list kind of thing.
[00:50:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: And I learned that it had, it was really not. There wasn't a 911 list, if you will, this. There were various different lawyer firms who were, you know, putting that kind of out there.
[00:50:14] Speaker A: Have you been to the 911 memorial?
[00:50:16] Speaker B: I have not been able to get there.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: Right, understood.
[00:50:19] Speaker B: I have not been able to and I've been in the area, but I have not, I have not been able to pull it together to actually go there and see it.
[00:50:31] Speaker A: You know, I wasn't here during 911 and obviously, you know, I saw it on TV and everything, but I. The only building I will not go in in New York City to this day is One World Trade. I. I won't go in it. Yeah, I think it's a beautiful building. I personally cannot get myself to go in it. I just don't feel comfortable.
[00:50:50] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I, I mean I, I Feel you. Because I, I'm, I, I don't think it's the specific, the building itself, it's correct for me right now. It's just the, it's just the area, it's the memory, it's the, you know, I, I see some, some old movies and they have the Trade Centers.
[00:51:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:06] Speaker B: You know, it's like, wow.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: You know, I think for our generation, you know, seeing those towers just.
I, I can't even think of the word, what it is, you know, to see them in movies and TV shows. I mean. Yeah, this makes us sad, you know, so sad to see.
[00:51:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:21] Speaker A: You know, it's a different world. It was a, at that time a much safer world. And in our opinion, you know, I mean, it wasn't completely safe.
[00:51:29] Speaker B: No, I agree though. It felt that way at the very least anyway, you know.
[00:51:32] Speaker A: You know, Wow. I just couldn't imagine what, you know. So how long were you down there? That entire day.
[00:51:38] Speaker B: Ah.
So I think by the time we made our way out of there, it, I'd say in total because I think I got back to Brooklyn it was like after 12 o'clock in the afternoon. So from there early morning because I generally got like around 7:30, 8:00.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: Did you lose any good friends?
[00:51:57] Speaker B: Thankfully no. Actually, the crazy thing was that we actually had a meeting scheduled in that building at Windows on the World.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: That next day. But the, the, the day before I, we left work, we got note that someone couldn't be there. I forget who it was. And so we just kind of canceled the meeting and, and so that was it, thankfully.
[00:52:22] Speaker A: Has it changed your perspective on life at all?
[00:52:26] Speaker B: Ah, you know, that's a very good question. I would probably say. No, I, no, not, not at all.
I kind of came to learn that, that people will do as they will.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Well said.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: I can't, I can't, I can't put my actions, I can't worry about what someone else's actions are going to be.
So I've always been a pretty positive person. I've always tried to be a pretty positive person.
And I've always thought that people themselves are generally good, that there really aren't that many people out there that are really bad, if you will. When people do do bad things like that, I take it for what it's worth that this person, you know, whatever is going on in their minds, in their lives or whatever at the time is what they had to do. But it can't, it can't affect, you know, how I Think of things, how I think of people, how I think of, you know, the world in. In general.
So.
[00:53:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I like how your perspective. I like that it's true. Yeah.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: I just can't, you know.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: Well, thank you for talking about that with us and sharing that with us. I know that's emotional, and you were to be there that day, so I really appreciate that.
[00:53:48] Speaker B: Yeah, no, you're more than welcome.
So the wife had told me a while ago that I needed to get this out to a certain degree, you know, and quite honestly, this is really, like, the first time I can say that I really spoke through the whole thing of what happened, you know, and with my. My part in it and my, you know, my whole moving through that day, you know, I've spoken about it in piecemeal for the most part, but I've never really thought.
I never really did speak all the way through it. And, I mean, it's kind of funny, but it kind of makes me feel a bit more uneasy, more easy, I guess. I'm not really quite sure was. How to say that made, you know, what, what. That complete feeling I'm feeling right now. It's good.
I think it's. It's. It'll help me to be more coping, for sure.
Yeah. I don't know.
[00:54:49] Speaker A: Well, I truly appreciate you talking to us about it means a lot.
[00:54:53] Speaker B: Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Before we let you go, we here at the New Yorkers Podcast want to know what it means to you. Houston S. Watson, Senior.
To be a New Yorker.
[00:55:09] Speaker B: Wow. To be a New Yorker, it's, It's. It's empowering.
You go to places and people like, you're from New York and you're like, yeah. And they're like, yeah. You know, it's like an immediate cool. You know, it's like you don't even have to try, you know? So, yeah, it's. It's extremely empowering. And then to be from Brooklyn. Oh, yeah, it's like, oh, yeah. You just. You just hit the jackpot, you know. You know, you stepped up, like, two or three levels, you know, there. So. Yeah, no, I love it.
I've always loved New York. I love Brooklyn. I've. I. I really wish I had an odometer on my bike because I've biked around Brooklyn and New York and, you know, Central Park, Prospect Park. My cousin and I used to do a.
A Brooklyn marathon every. Every summer. We dried at least some, like, 40, 50 miles around Brooklyn, you know, I mean, I really wish. So. Yeah, no, it means being in New York is like the best.
You know, I don't care where you're from.
[00:56:12] Speaker A: Yep, I love it. I absolutely love that answer. That's a great answer.
Thank you for joining us today for this week's episode of the New Yorkers Podcast. Once again, I'm your host Kelly Kopp, also known as New York City Cop, all across my social media.
[00:56:28] Speaker B: Please like and subscribe to the New Yorkers Podcast and you can follow the New Yorkers on social media at the New Yorkers Podcast.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: You can leave a rating or comment to let us know how you are enjoying the show. We read through all your comments and DMs, so please, we would love to hear from you. Thank you Jean Byrd, Maria Cecilia Houlay and Joe Horn for your kind words on the last episode. If you want to be featured at the end of an episode, leave a rating on Apple Podcast or a comment on Spotify.
[00:56:59] Speaker B: And thank you Eugene Lazarev, Brenda Lashley and Cynthia Smith for your comments on Facebook.
[00:57:08] Speaker A: Have a lovely day my friends and we will see you next time.
[00:57:11] Speaker B: Goodbye.
[00:57:14] Speaker A: This is the last stop on this train everyone. Please leave the train. Thank you for riding with MTA New York City Transit.
