There's this old photo from 1955 taken by a then-17-year-old Sid Kaplan, who was documenting the Third Avenue El's slow dismantlement. This one photo shows a newsstand built into the subway stairs. It's adorable, and it's also one of the greatest space-saving design moments in NYC history, according to me, an expert (my apartment is the size of a freight elevator and I maximize every inch).

So why, I wondered after seeing this photo, don't we see more businesses tucked into and under public staircases? Certainly not all of them are structurally sound enough to shove a mini bodega into, but some must be... and I finally found one. At the 50th Street and 7th Avenue station, there's a teeny tiny newsstand right there on the platform.



(Photo by Scott Heins/Gothamist)

There's a similar subway staircase newsstand at Chambers Street, and a larger newsstand built into the staircase at Astor Place, in a space that used to be public restrooms, no less.

I reached out to the MTA to find out how much they rent these spaces out for, and will update if they reply.

If you spot a business that runs out of a staircase, please send me the location and a photo. Some people like cute animal pics, others like to look at compact businesses that run out of a functional design allowing you to access surfaces not accessible by other means.



(Photo by Scott Heins/Gothamist)