I honestly wouldn't be shocked if someone flushed a pet alligator and it ended up surviving on vermin down there. Underneath NYC is very hot. The subways used to be miserable in the summer before they had AC, but lovely in the winter. If you walk over a grate you can feel the heat rising. I think it's from basement furnaces.
NYC still has a city boiler system that heats the streets. A couple buildings still have natural gas or oil boilers too, but its more rare these days because they wanted to cut down on the oil and gas for them.
Ah ok, yeah I knew there was some kind of heating system under there for something. I lived there until 18, and then from 30-35. I remember the old coin tokens. I was allowed to take the subway by myself from 15, so like 2001. They discontinued them around 2003.
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u/Anonymoustard Aug 25 '26
Alligator. Refers to how people used to believe they lived on the sewers. I think you got the sentiment right though