Why Is The Myrtle-Broadway JMZ Subway Stop A Meme? The Online Fandom For An Unexpected New York Landmark Explained

Periodically on Twitter, an image showing a strip of three fast food chains — specifically, a Dunkin Donuts, Checkers, and Popeyes — will go viral seemingly out of nowhere. For example, earlier this month, a tweet asked, "There is a concept known as “thin places” where it is said that the veil between this world and the next is thin. You can sense the numinous around you, even if you cannot describe it. Where have you been that felt ‘thin’?"

A user responded with an image of those three fast-food restaurants and gained over 3.7 million views in two weeks.

Why is this spot so famous? Allow us to try and explain the magic of the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ Subway Stop in Bushwick, New York.

Why Is The Myrtle-Broadway Subway Stop A Famous Meme?

The Myrtle-Broadway JMZ stop resides smack in the middle of Bushwick, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. It's become a popular spot for young people moving to the city (which some people might uncharitably call "gentrifiers"), as much of Brooklyn's DIY dance clubs and art spaces are in Bushwick.

This also means the area is populated with local influencers and meme makers. Thus, local meme accounts devoted to hyper-niche memes for Bushwick teens, such as meetmeintranspecos, can gain tens of thousands of followers, and others in the area have attracted large followings online.

This brings us to the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ stop. The stop is an above-ground station above a busy street. Walking down the stairs of the stop, commuters are greeted by the Dunkin/Checkers/Popeyes combo blasting their various smells out onto the street. However, more than just being a popular local spot, the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ also has a reputation for being a surreal location for those who walk through it.

To put it mildly, the area has weird vibes. It has a reputation for being what is colloquially called a "K-hole," meaning an area where the drug K2, or "Spice," is prevalent. K2 is an incredibly powerful synthetic marijuana that is said to make people act in a zombie-like stupor.

In 2020, Big Boy Deli, located in the same area, was shut down by police for illegally peddling K2. Basically, the area has a reputation for hosting a population of people acting in zombie-ish ways, and as one can imagine, that vibe intensifies when one is, say, coming home from a DIY rave at 2:30 in the morning.

How Did The Myrtle-Broadway Stop Become A Meme?

The stop first started seeing widespread use in memes starting in late 2020 and early 2021. On December 14th, 2020, Twitter / X user @stopolive tweeted, "if u ever ate at the checkers on myrtle broadway, the vaccine ain’t gon work on u." On March 27th, 2021, Twitter user @flowrmeadow posted an image of the three fast food establishments under the stop and wrote "Them."

From there, the image of the Dunkin/Checkers/Popeyes combo became a popular meme for local meme accounts. On August 8th, 2023, Instagram user @joan.of.arca posted what would become arguably the most famous picture of the fast-food strip, and every few months since, that image has gone viral in various meme formats and tweet prompts.

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For the full history of the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ Stop memes, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.