Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station, or Grand Central Terminal as it is properly known, is one of New York City’s great icons. More than 500,000 commuters every weekday pass through this grand work of art.

On the ceiling of the main concourse is painted the constellations and stars of the heavens (something we rarely see in New York because of all the city lights).  Those who know and look closely at the ceiling will note that the constellations are painted backwards.  Some say the artist painted the view of God looking down.  Those of us who see the glass half-full rather say that the artist make a mistake.

Grand Central Station

Also on the ceiling, just above Michael Jordan’s balcony steakhouse (we recommend the New York strip with truffle creamed spinach), is a dark rectangular patch.  When the building was restored in the 1980′s and 1990′s (a 200 million dollar project) the patch was left uncleaned, as a reminder to the public of just how dirty the ceiling once was.  Some want to blame ceiling soot on diesel smoke from locomotives, but the real culprits are Winston, Lucky Strike, Camel, Marlboro and the rest, from the days when those waiting for their train were allowed to smoke.

The basement of Grand Central Station is another great place to visit.  Restaurant and food vendors from all over New York City have set up smaller versions of their larger establishments in Grand Central’s basement.  Also in the basement is the famed Oyster Bar - serving seafood to New Yorkers since 1913, when Grand Central first opened.

When you take one of our New York City tours, we also want to show you the whispering chamber – but for now, we’ll keep it a secret and tell you about it on the tour.

So whether you call it Grand Central Station, Grand Central Terminal or just Grand Central, it is surely worth your visit when in New York City.