December 15, 1950: The Port Authority Bus Terminal Opens

December 15, 1950: The Port Authority Bus Terminal opens at 625 8th Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets in Midtown Manhattan.

There were several bus terminals in Manhattan up until that point. The best-known one was at Pennsylvania Station, mentioned by Jack Kerouac in the 1947 section of his novel On the Road. Greyhound Lines continued to use that terminal until the original Penn Station was demolished in 1963. Only then did they move into Port Authority, finally consolidating all long-distance bus service into one complex.

The opening of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1937 brought increased road traffic into Midtown Manhattan, leading to the need for a new Midtown bus terminal, to handle both commuter and long-distance traffic. The original building occupies an entire block, from 8th to 9th Avenue, with entrances on both, and from 40th to 41st Streets.

It was named for its operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which also operates the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal; all the New Jersey-to-New York City road connections: The George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the Bayonne Bridge, the Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing; the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail system, connecting Manhattan with Jersey City, Hoboken and Newark; and 5 airports: John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia in Queens, Newark Liberty International and Teterboro in New Jersey, and Stewart International in Orange County, New York.

As early as 1965, "Port Authority" (nobody calls it by its full name) was seen as outgrowing its original building. But, as is so often the case in New York City, what was needed took a long time to put together and build. Finally, on May 15, 1981, the North Wing opened, between 41st and 42nd Streets, and going halfway down 42nd in the direction of 8th Avenue.

The Governors of the 2 States have their names on both dedication plaques: New York's Thomas E. Dewey (1950) and Hugh L. Carey (1981), and New Jersey's Alfred E. Driscoll (also the "father" of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway) and Brendan T. Byrne.

By that point, the Terminal was much like the City itself: A horrible mess, loaded with dirt, poverty and crime. Homeless people were everywhere. Just walking through its retail space on the ground floor was enough to sicken some people. Going into its bathrooms meant risking your wallet, or even your life. My mother recalled seeing a naked woman using a bathroom sink to bathe herself.

The 1994 Crime Bill was the turning point. Within a couple of years, the Terminal was safe again. But no less annoying for commuters.

And you don't get just how big the place is until you finish a long day in the City, come out of the A/C/E Trains stop on the Subway, go up 2 flights of stairs just to get inside the Terminal itself on the ground floor at 42nd & 8th, and then cross over to 40th, walk all the way to the 9th Avenue side, and then take 3 flights of escalators to the top deck to Gate 417 to take Coach USA (formerly known as Suburban Transit) back to East Brunswick, and then have to wait on a long line, hoping there's at least 1 seat left out of the 49 on the bus, because you don't want to stand on line for another half-hour waiting for the next bus -- you might as well stand on the one you've got.

To paraphrase John Mellencamp, "I fight Port Authority, Port Authority always wins."

UPDATE: In December 2024, the Federal Transit Administration approved the New York City Planning Commission's plan to replace the terminal, to be built on the same site. On May 29, 2025, ground was broken for a temporary terminal on Dyer Avenue between 37th and 39th Streets. The new terminal is currently scheduled to open in 2032. It's gonna be a hard 7 years for Greyhound riders, and for commuters to New Jersey and the west bank of the lower Hudson River.

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December 15, 1950 was a Friday. It was December, so there was no baseball. It was a Friday, so no football. There were no NHL games scheduled. And just 1 NBA game was played: The Minneapolis Lakers beat the Indianapolis Olympians, 82-71 at the Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. George Mikan scored 32 points for the Lakers. (The Fieldhouse still stands. In 1966, it was renamed the Hinkle Fieldhouse, after longtime Butler University coach and athletic director Tony Hinkle.) 

May 9, 1980: The Sunshine Skyway Disaster

May 9, 1980: The Japanese cargo ship MV Summit Venture crashes into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, causing 7 vehicles, including a Greyhound bus, to fall into Tampa Bay, killing 35 people.

The ship's pilot, an American, was soon cleared of wrongdoing, because he was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis, and would eventually die as a result of it.

One of the cars on the bridge actually landed on the deck of the ship, and the driver survived. Among the drivers who weren't hurt, and got out to help, was Granville "Granny" Hamner, the shortstop on the 1950 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies, a.k.a. the Whiz Kids.

The original Sunshine Skyway, which became the northbound span, opened in 1954. The southbound span opened in 1971, and had to be completely replaced after the accident. The new southbound span opened in 1990, and a new northbound span in 1993.

It carries Interstate 275 and U.S. Route 19 over Tampa Bay, between St. Petersburg and Palmetto. In 2005, it was renamed the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, after the Governor of Florida who presided over the 1990 and '93 bridges' design and construction, and later served as a U.S. Senator,

The Sunshine Skyway should not be confused with the W. Howard Frankland Bridge, which also carries Interstate 275, further north, over the Bay between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Named for the Tampa businessman who proposed it, it opened in 1960, with a 2nd span opened in 1990. Traffic on that bridge is so bad (How bad is it?), it is known as "the Howard Frankenstein Bridge" and "The Car-Strangled Spanner."

(UPDATE: In 2025, a new southbound span opened. The former southbound span of 1990 was switched to northbound, and the 1960 northbound span was demolished.)

Just to the south of the Frankland, the Gandy Bridge spans the Bay from Tampa to St. Petersburg, carrying U.S. Route 92, with a 1924 span replaced in 1975, and a 1956 span replaced in 1996. George S. Gandy was the original bridge's designer.

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May 9, 1980 was a Friday. This was also the day the 1st Friday the 13th film premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

Football was out of season. The NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs were both underway, although no games were played on this day. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2 at Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry outpitched Jerry Koosman. Bob Watson went 2-for-4 with a home run and 5 RBIs.

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Craig Swan outpitched Steve Rogers. Lee Mazzilli doubled home a run in the 3rd inning, and Steve Henderson singled a run home in the 5th.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. 

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. George Brett went 1-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4 with a walk. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 against his former team, and Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a groundout. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 15-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Richie Zisk hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Diego Padres, 4-3 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Willie Stargell only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 6-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Each team scored a run in the 9th. In the top of the 10th, Jason Thompson hit a home run to give the Tigers the win.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* And the Oakland Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at the Oakland Coliseum. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 22. The Jays won the opener, 6-2. The A's won the nightcap, 5-1. Over the 2 games, rookie Rickey Henderson went 2-for-5 with 2 walks, 2 stolen bases and an RBI.