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Recently, a friend of mine was tasked (by her very clever niece) with the unenviable task of “collecting” her friends’ favorite buildings in New York City. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to pick just one. But I did get it down to 5(ish) and Grand Central Terminal was always on the top of the list.
Growing up, my mom was fond of saying any given busy place was “busier than Grand Central Station.” She was incorrect of course. Not in the busy-ness of it (though I doubt we were many places that had roughly 700k people passing through it in a given day). No, her error was in calling it a station. As I was corrected by our very talented guide, it is a “Terminal.” Not so long ago, it was pretty close to being a “Rubble Pile”–as it was slated to be demolished in the 70s. But the masses (including Jackie-O) intervened and the building that is I think is so quintessential New York was spared.
I was lucky enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour recently, about which I’ll be writing for the work blog as well. But as a preview, here are just a few of my personal pictures.
The massive, domed, starry night ceiling always makes me feel as though I am a tiny figure in giant snow globe, just waiting for someone to shake and stir up a swirl of gold-leaf flakes.
Descending down the ramp toward the Whispering Gallery, the chandeliers look like Christmas ornaments. At the top of each are acorns and oak leaves–the crest of the Vanderbilt family.
Bins of items lost in GCT–they have a detailed cataloguing system, and thus, an excellent return rate (near 80%).
Hundreds of umbrellas lined the shelves, logged and tagged, waiting for their (presumed drippy) owners to retrieve them.
These are Not Drawers with Keys to Secret Platforms. Alas, their purpose was far more pragmatic–holding the letters and numbers for the station signs before they went digital.
We climbed up to the clock tower, this is behind the face of the clock that tops GCT–looking down over Park Avenue.
The panel holding the VI was also a window.
…allowing this breathtaking view–there is a lot of faith in one’s camera wrist-strap happening here.
The face of the clock as taken from the window at VI.
Grand Central has many offices, the windows you see also house a series of walkways between offices. This was taken from the top of the east-side windows. Again, props to sturdy wrist-straps.
There’s much to see at GCT, even without a behind-the-scenes tour. If you’re visiting the city (or live in the city, or commute to and from the city), I strongly recommend spending an afternoon exploring Grand Central’s nooks and crannies–get lost for a while, people watch, and maybe even pretend for a minute that you’re in the world’s largest snow globe.
