Huge Underground Clues

[fairy dust]

If you have time check out the New York MTA subway public art. There are so many Storybrook connections that I could fill an entire blog. Start with the Canal St Station and check out The Gathering. Then go back and watch the episodes that show Mary Margaret’s brick wall with the ad for the original grate polish with the black bird. Listen to what they are talking about in those scenes….then listen for the double speak…things that pertain to that episode but are also hints to Emma and Neal’s relationship.

Next check out the Alice and the Way Out mosaic…notice we have the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, Alice, another little girl, a mother, the Queen of Hearts, an egg (Dreamy?) the five of diamonds...and at the very end we have Alice pulling back a curtain. Everything is done in shades of dark and light except the hearts and diamonds are red, very much like the way The Doctor ended. In this scene we could possibly see a clue as to where Cora hid her heart ( it could be the same place as the mosaic or another thought of mind is that it is in her sceptor or in the fat part of her mask). Remember in the episode where Emma is debating Sidney and she peaks out of the curtain…. yep…I think that is a nod…also possibly to the wizard of Oz.

There are too many clues to even begin to list and I’m going to hold off posting my pictures to give you guys a chance to go on the hunt and have the same fun I’ve been having for this last week.

I think you will be amazed. It is possible the subway art is coincidental but I really don’t see how that could be with all the art nods in Neal Cassidy’s apartment. If it is coincidental it has to be the biggest one ever.

Link to New York’s MTA – http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.d2082a3983eda7e15a75cdb601c789a0/
Link to New York’s MTA Arts for Transit – http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct

[Grimmsister]

Crabs! I’m so sad I live far away from New York now. But I will await you posting those pictures in great anticipation.

[fairy dust]

@medchen wrote:

Crabs! I’m so sad I live far away from New York now. But I will await you posting those pictures in great anticipation.

Here is a link that will let you explore the art on all the subway lines. The link does not show all the displays at each station – http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct

Here is a really good site that will give you more of the art at each station. – http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork

The Canal St. station is the closest station to neal Cassidy’s apartment.

[gypsy]

Fairy dust –

MTA is not the name of NY City’s subway.
It stands for Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
They oversee all transportation in NY City –
Subway system, buses comapnies…they regulate fares and oversee bridges and tunnels, etc.

The fact that Peter Pan was mentioned in the MTA pic you posted (in your other theory about this),
makes me think the clue is more slated towards the Peter Pan Bus Co. rather than the subway.

The PP Bus clue goes hand in hand with the ‘Further’ bus that the real Neal drove from San Fransisco to NY City and is referred to in the Grateful Dead song as the bus to Never Never Land.

[schmacky]

I think this is too much stretching. If you search hard enough, you’ll find what it is you’re looking for. If this art was shown in the show when Neal was walking home, I’d be more inclined to accept it.

[fairy dust]

@Schmacky wrote:

I think this is too much stretching. If you search hard enough, you’ll find what it is you’re looking for. If this art was shown in the show when Neal was walking home, I’d be more inclined to accept it.

I can see how some would think it is a stretch but when we look at Neal Cassidy’s apartment it is stuffed full of communication arts items. These items are not there accidentally. We have graphic arts, music cover arts, advertising arts, metal pottery arts, object arts (the phonograph horn elbow on top of his shelf) and we even have a nod to the graphic arts project called The Donut Project. Two of the posters (the red hand and the bike) are graphic arts designs from Aesthetic Apparatus. In the subway you will find a red hand in two places…and you will find the bike.)

In the episode Broken we are not given Neal’s name. All we know about him is that he is a “NewYorker.” When you put “NewYorker” and graphic design together you get a man called Christoph Niemann….and his wonderful art….including his delightful book on the Subway and the New York Times blog Boys and the Subway.

Lots of people think that Neal is Baelfire…including me…and what was all over Baelfire’s home…art sketches made by his mom. Many of the set backgrounds are echos of the MTA Art for Transit. There are too many connections and these writers have done an excellent job in layering the various art forms together.

There are also countless “underground” references and nods sprinkled throughout the entire series. Just recently we saw Belle peaking in on Rumple who was underground…we had Henry going to the underground rail tracks searching for clues…we have an underground vault…we had a hidden dragon underground…these are just a few of the many, many references. We even have the town symbol with the underground part of the tree showing.

We have Neal who has not been connected to the Enchanted Forest…I believe the subway connects him in a powerful way.

[abowlingball]

@Schmacky wrote:

I think this is too much stretching. If you search hard enough, you’ll find what it is you’re looking for. If this art was shown in the show when Neal was walking home, I’d be more inclined to accept it.

How right you are Schamcky. This poster goes overboard on everything. Somethin just ain’t quite right.

[gypsy]

By the same token, the Aesthetic Apparatus/Red Hand poster can be linked to Stephen King…Aesthetic Apparatus is a printing compny who also did the poster for SK’s “The Shining”.

As with the dream catcher…also can be linked to SK’s “Dreamcatcher”.

The keyhole pattern on the desk, again, SK’s “The Wind Through the Keyhole”.

The cameras…..Sk’s “The Sun Dog”…which is about a haunted camera and characters in the book are referred to as ‘The Mad Hatters’.

[schmacky]

I completely understand looking at the clues WITHIN the show. You want to know who Neal is? Yes, look closely at his apartment and one might be able to figure it out. But when you have to start looking at sketches NOT on the show.. that’s digging too deep. That’s not a clue from the creators. That’s just pure speculation (informative speculation though it may be).

When you put “NewYorker” and graphic design together you get a man called Christoph Niemann

Why would anyone put New Yorker and graphic designer together? Because he has art in his apartment? What about when you put “NewYorker” and watch maker/collector/fixer/etc? What about when you put “NewYorker” and mp3 player? What about when you put “NewYorker” and vintage? I mean.. there are so many variables and so many clues IN the show.. to search OUTSIDE of that is not feasible.

Give me one instance in which the show gave us a clue NOT in the show to the extremes you’re presenting now?

[fairy dust]

@medchen wrote:

Crabs! I’m so sad I live far away from New York now. But I will await you posting those pictures in great anticipation.

I’ll be tied up for the rest of the day but I’ll post some of them tomorrow. Trying to ride the MTA with Neal has been a fun bit of digging.

[Author]

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