Fans paid tribute to the undisputed “Queen of Soul” with a series of graffitied signs and messages in Tribeca’s Franklin Street subway station.
“ARETHA” was scrawled in white marker above “Franklin Street” signs on the 1 train platform on Thursday, while a set of stairs on the southbound side of the station were adorned with the message, “Aretha makes me feel like a natural woman.”
“I work in Times Square and I had to come down to see,” said Madison Kalson, 23, who saw the acts of admiration for the 76-year-old singer on Instagram. “I saw yesterday that she was sick and I was really sad about it. The city just comes together in beautiful ways sometimes and this is a nice touch to show her some respect — pun intended.”
In a nod to the Detroit-raised diva’s hottest hits, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and “I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING” were also slapped along station walls under Franklin St. tiles late Wednesday night. By Thursday, they had been removed.
Straphangers were tickled to see the singer celebrated in an only-in-New-York way.
“I think it’s fantastic. It’s the type of urban tribute you only get in a place like New York City,” said David Schaffer on Thursday.
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The 56-year-old attorney said he got off the train to see if any tributes were left after seeing them on the news.
“It’s very sad. I saw her duet with Tony Bennett for his 85th birthday celebration at the Met Opera house,” he added.
Others were mindful that the graffiti was technically vandalism.
“If it’s a tribute to raise awareness of her life, I think it’s great. I think graffiti is a statement of art,” said Greta Anderson, 23. “It can be a form of vandalism, I understand that — it depends how the person intends it. This adds character to the city.”
Hudson Leroy said he grew up on Franklin’s tunes and said her music was far-reaching.
“Her music was across all platforms. It reached many people. It wasn’t black, white, mixed, other — it was just the music. For all people,” the 58-year-old said.
He added, “I understand both sides of removing the writing — it’s a tribute but writing on stuff … everybody has a job to do.”.
Construction worker John Johnson, 40, said he noticed the “ARETHA” scribbles on the downtown platform early Thursday morning. They’d been taken down by the afternoon, but the ones along the uptown side remained.
“I figured Aretha Franklin died, I knew she was sick. It’s kind of funny – Aretha Franklin Street,” Johnson said. “It’s cool the MTA left it up.”
The underground honors — which were put in place ahead of Franklin’s death on Thursday morning — are similar to tributes that inundated the Prince St. station after Prince died.
Fans plastered purple stickers of the eclectic icon’s face and signature symbol and “RIP” over a Prince St. mosaic. Others left behind notes on purple Post-its.
MTA officials said they had no immediate plans to take down the memorials to Franklin.
When asked for comment, the agency’s spokesman Jon Weinstein aptly replied, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”
Additional reporting by Danielle Furfaro
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