Subway Riders Find Oasis in Siberia

Getting to Siberia has never been easier. Just take the New York subway to 50th Street.

This particular Siberia happens to be a bar, and it sits inside a subway stop just a token’s throw from the turnstiles below Broadway. Recently opened, it’s the only bar in the system’s 468 stations. (The Metropolitan Transportation Authority does not rent to taverns, but Siberia is technically in the building upstairs.)

Siberia--the name comes from a tale that KGB agents used the subway site for Cold War-era drops--has already attracted a steady crowd from the thousands of commuters.

“The thing I like is you never know who you’re going to meet in here,” said customer John Murray, a bail bondsman. The crowd ranges from would-be actors clutching publicity stills to businessmen knocking back the house specialty, chilled shots of Tarkhuna Russian vodka.

The ambience is garage-sale chic. A vintage off-white refrigerator contains beer in the lower level and vodka in the freezer. A couch rescued from the owner’s Queens beach house rests against one wall. Paintings by a local Russian artist cover the walls. A jukebox plays loud music, competing with the screech of subway trains.