Mr. Ortiz, the MTA spokesman, conceded that many of the subway's 468 stations do bear the names of people: Astor Place, Rockefeller Center, Dyckman Street.
In fact, she got to name my mother, Dolores, because by the time my mother came along my immigrant grandparents, Sam and Molly, were running a dress shop and tailoring business in Washington Heights, Manhattan, near or on Dyckman Street.