Historic Wooden OTIS Escalators [Floors G-9] Macy's Herald Square - New York, NY

Something that I have always wanted to experience was riding a wooden escalator. When I was a kid, I learned about this Macy's store and its famous 100-year-old wooden escalators. I made it a goal to come here one day and ride these. Well, I finally made it happen!!! During my time in New York, I made a special trip to this store and spent almost three hours exploring it. I filmed every escalator that I could find...and there are A LOT. To start things off, here is the main set of escalators located directly behind the big set of Marcato Elevators. This is the only set of escalators in this whole store that go from the basement all the way up to the top floor. Most of the escalators in this set had their steps replaced in the early 1990s. They have these odd metal replacement steps with a design that resembles the original wooden ones. A couple of the escalators have even newer OTIS steps. The top two escalators, however, are completely original wooden escalators, made of oak and ash. They are absolutely stunning pieces of machinery. While filming this video, I laid my eyes on a wooden escalator for the very first time. After riding these, I must say, they are as epic as I expected them to be. Love these things!
[Please Read] All of the wooden escalators in this store are set to be gone by 2027. This is a fact. I have spoken to a few Schindler mechanics who are part of this job (which is one of the biggest contracted jobs in the entire city) and they are indeed in the process of replacing every single wooden escalator. The reasons are just what you expect them to be: they are unsafe, very expensive to maintain, and replacement parts are very hard to find. It has been said by some that these are historically protected and that Macy's has fought to keep these escalators (since they are the last of their kind in the United States). I'm not sure how much of that is actually true, but time has run out for these. According to one specific mechanic I talked to, they are only keeping two wooden escalators and they will be "put on display" when the project is fully complete, whatever that means. It's heartbreaking to see history go, but all good things truly do come to an end at some point. Come enjoy this while they're still here.

[@thomasthetrain2]

The memories will live on with these beautiful escalators

[@davidng2336]

Not surprised. However? It will be sad to see these go. Thankfully your video will allow these to live on forever.

[@andrewdavis8709]

When I went to NYC with Sac City College Choir in 2012 for our performance at Carnegie Hall, I rode these on the last day we were there. These are so cool!!

[@VicElevators]

Those wooden steps are just so epic!

[@attipekkajames]

R.I.P!

[@johnelevator777]

I'm so sad that these are going

[@norcalelevators]

Hell yeah

[@PNWElevatorAviation]

I was gonna say about keeping the 2 for display, but they should also to the same thing like they did to the Wynyard Station in Sydney

[@upanddownadventures]

Did a mechanic tell you the steps were replaced in the early 1990s? I assumed the replaced metal steps (with the wide treads, like the wooden steps) were old replacements, likely from the 1940s-1960s, as the OTIS ESCALATOR nameplates are not original to my knowledge, and I assumed the metal steps were put in at the same time as the nameplates. Does the replacement project include every escalator with wooden sides (including those with metal steps)? Do you know what is meant by "put on display"? Decommissioned? Or still running as display pieces, but riding them being strictly prohibited, possibly for safety reasons? I tried to film every single escalator on my visit to this store too. The escalator layout is very confusing, hopefully I didn't miss any!

[@TheEscalatorChannel1]

Yes, according to him that’s when they were replaced. The project includes the replacement of every wooden escalator including the ones with metal steps. One of the escalators (with metal steps) in this video is actually getting replaced. Not sure what putting on display means, I guess we will have to wait and see what happens