if you’re lucky enough to have a commute that ends in Grand Central Station, a bit of beauty awaits just beyond all the train turmoil.
Sure, you don’t have even a New York minute to stop and appreciate it. Still, knowing it’s all around you, as you rush like a maniac, does make the daily grind a little brighter.
My very first year in New York I was in and out of Grand Central every day. It was a New York dream. I still think this transit hub is magical.
Especially when you compare it to Port Authority or Penn Station. Which really isn’t fair. There’s no comparison.
Walking through Grand Central feels like a scene out of a movie. Anything that happens under a ceiling like this has a bit of grandeur.
I remember standing under this ceiling with my very first New York boyfriend on our first date. We pointed up at our zodiac signs and star gazed in the most concrete jungle way possible. Every time I look up at this ceiling now, I see the little brown rectangle in the northwest corner and I think of him.
See it? It’s small and tricky to see. If a cute boy points it out to you, you’ll have to get very, very close to him so he can help guide your eyes.
That dark rectangle is what the whole ceiling looked like before undergoing a massive cleaning in the 1990s. Can you imagine? (A Google search tells me it’s most commonly referred to as the “dark patch” or “dirty spot”.)
This is a perfect fact to tell a New York loving girl if you want to impress her on your first date.
After dazzling me with his dirty spot knowledge, he kissed me for the very first time, under this ceiling of stars. It was the most romantic thing my 22 year old self had ever experienced.
Still rates near the top of that list almost ten years later!
It’s not just me though. There’s something nostalgic and romantic about all old train stations, don’t you think?
Have you ever been to Grand Central? Commute out of it every day? Want to share a story of a your romantic first kiss? LI’d love to hear it all in the comments!
I’ve never been to Grand Central. I’d love to. It’s beautiful and a real railway station in the way that modern ones will never be. In Adelaide, South Australia where I used to live there was once a Railway Commissioner called Webb who was from the USA. When the Adelaide Railway Station needed to be rebuilt he commissioned a design based on Grand Central but on a much smaller scale. My husband and I both loved trains so we chose to get married there. We both worked there at different times. Sadly it has been modernised so much you can see little of the original design at platform level and the upper part is now incorporated into the Adelaide Casino. It felt very weird to be having a drink there and looking up to the mezzanine floor where my husband’s office used to be.
Thanks for sharing this grand old building.
As a kid, this was simply the place I went on the way to visit Grammy. No wonder my standards for the rest of the world are so skewed.
I love Grand Central Station! Last time I was there I thought, now this would be the perfect spot to elope in. Just stand there in your little island of romanticness with your officiant and get married with the crowds of people swirling around you.
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This is a lovely post! Never been there before but I do imagine it to be so magical with all the movie scenes I’ve seen it feature in!
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I visited Grand Central when i travelled to New York in 2013, such a beautiful building! I was a bit younger then so didn’t understand much but i feel like i definitely need to come back and have a much better look and understanding!
We love Grand Central Station. It’s majesty stands with the best of New York City. Every time we go through there, I can just see all the old movies being filmed there. And during the Christmas season, it had a really special air about it! Again, a great post!
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Mary,
as a native New Yorker, I must say I always love the way you see this island! 🙂 I couldn’t agree more, Grand Central can be super romantic, and when you really stop and look up (What a novel idea!) it’s quite beautiful, indeed! It also has the ability to drive me crazy too 🙂 In any event, love your story as always. I’ve never had a romantic kiss there sadly, but I did have a good one w/ my now hubby on top of the Empire State Building. It was our 2nd date, we had dinner at Koi and on a whim decided to hit up ESB. Up there we asked a girl to take a picture of us, and when she did she said, now kiss, so we did! 🙂