I don't think that the subway lines got alphabetic designations until 
well after WWII.  When I moved to NYC older NYers still referred 
to "the West side IRT", "the Lex", &c.  One friend erupted with scorn 
when I referred to riding the "F" train, as somehow depersonalizing -- 
if subway lines can be people -- bureaucratic, at least.  He wanted to 
hear "the 6th Avenue Express".  I objected that this was boroughist, 
since it identified a line that ran into three boroughs by its function 
in Manhattan.  Over the foot of the stairs to the "F" stop at Avenue X, 
in Brooklyn, was a sign identifying it as "the Culver Line", since in 
that part of Brookyn it followed a line established in the late 19th C 
by a beach developer named Culver.

But I don't have another suggestion for the meaning of that line.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern 
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: NYHISTLED <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, February 18, 2005 9:42 am
Subject: Re: Sidewalks of New York

> The following response was sent by Prof. Joel Schwartz
> <[log in to unmask]> 
> 
> Moderator, NYHIST-L
> 
> 
> 
> The G is a reference to the G Train--which was an express train going
> to the end of the line.-
> 
> 
> 
> ---- Original Message -----
> 
> 
> From: Glenn Estus <[log in to unmask]> 
> 
> Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 11:34 am 
> 
> Subject: "Sidewalks of New York" 
> 
> 
> > In the song, "East Side, West Side" there is a phrase 
> > in the 3rd verse: "Things have changed since those 
> > times, some are up in "G" 
> > Others they are wand'rers but they all feel just like 
> > me" 
> > 
> > What does "some are up in 'G'" refer to? 
> > 
> > Glenn Estus 
> > 
>