New York City Trip Log - Day 1 -L line, Grand Central Station and everything in between
To read the previous entries, click on the "NYC trip" tag and read hem in reverse order.
Bryant Park Union Square
After Brighton Beach, we headed back in the direction of Manhattan to see the New York L line and Grand Central station (among other things). But first, we had to make a pit stop at Bryant Park, a beautiful part near New York City Public Library's central location Union Square, one of the New York City's most important historical intersections.
It was surrounded by some pretty cool architecture:
And a really nice Barnes & Noble store:
New York City L Line
After our pit stop, we went back underground.
Randi and Don wanted to show me 8th Avenue station because it was filled with awesome sculptures. That was interesting enough. But what really amused me was that the station sat on the L line.
In Chicago, of course 'L' line is any line in Chicago's elevated rapid transit system. Even the underground sections are known as the 'L.' But in New York City, the L line is just one of many subway lines that runs under Manhattan. Not that it made it any less amusing.
The 8th Avenue station serves as the final stop of the L line. It was the only time I ever saw New York Subway tracks end right at the station (at other terminal stations, the tracks usually went a little farther)
But enough about the station itself - lets get to the sculptures:
An alligator:
Mr. Moneybags:
"A Cop and a Hobo"
Ear on the Wall:
It took us a few minutes to get all the sculptures, but in the end, we managed to find them all.. I think.
Grand Central Station
Before Amtrak, when private railroads competed for passengers all across United States, New York City was served by two major railroad companies - the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. To accommodate its trains, Pennsylvania Railroad built the New York Penn Station. The New York Central Railroad built the Grand Central Terminal - or, as it's popularly known, Grand Central Station.
To say that this station is iconic doesn't quite do it justice. This station has been featured in more movies, TV shows and other forms of popular fiction than any other train station in United States. Its beautiful interiors rival Chicago Union Station's Grand Hall. When people think of a train station in New York, they are probably thinking of Grand Central Station.
There are several train stations near or under Grand Central. The Grand Central - 42nd Street station is one of the later
From the station, you can walk through the dining concourse down to the most iconic part of Grand Central - the main concourse
The pictures don't really do it justice. They can't. It doesn't have much in the way of natural light, so you need something better than my cheap camera to capture it in its full splendor.
Not that it stopped me from trying anyway:
The Vanderbilt Hall was originally Grand Central Station's main waiting room. These days, it is usually closed off to passengers, but it can be reserved for private events.
These days, Grand Central Station is a commuter terminal for all Metro-North Railroad commuter lines. Some Amtrak trains used to stop here, but they were all moved to Penn Station.
And, just to give you a sense of how important commuter rail is to New Yorkers, here is a map of all of the commuter rail lines that serve New York City. While most maps I saw only covered one system, this one covers lines operated by all three - Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit. The New Jersey transit lines run through both New York and New Jersey - technically speaking, New Jersey transit owns the New Jersey portions while Metro-North owns the New York portions. The New York portions are in color - the New Jersey portions are in black.
Before we left Grand Central Station, we stopped by the New York Transit Museum. Or at least what Don thought was the New York Transit Museum. As it turned out, it was only an annex that displayed a small portion of what the museum had to offer - the actual museum was in Brooklyn.
Not that it made what the annex had any less interesting.
An advertisement for the Pennsylvania Railroad train between Chicago and New York:
When Pennsylvania Railroad wanted to build the New York Penn Station, it needed to demolish several city blocks. As you can imagine, this caused some controversy - as these pro- and anti-Penn Station cartoons demonstrate:
Actually, given that the annex was located in Grand Central Station, it was kind of ironic that most of the exhibit was devoted to the history of Penn Station. Unlike Grand Central, most of it's iconic features didn't survive. The original station building was demolished to make way for Madison Square Garden. Penn Station was reduced to concourses and platforms - something that remains a sore point with many New Yorkers to this day.
After we left the annex, we decided to get some shots of Grand Central's exteriors, so we went outside. The lighting was better than inside, but I still felt like I didn't quite do it justice.
One of the exits:
The building itself:
This street bridge allows taxis to drive right up to Grand Central Station:
A closer look at Grand Central's iconic clock:
After getting some more shots, we went back underground and headed for Central Park - but that's a story for the next entry.
Bryant Park Union Square
After Brighton Beach, we headed back in the direction of Manhattan to see the New York L line and Grand Central station (among other things). But first, we had to make a pit stop at Bryant Park, a beautiful part near New York City Public Library's central location Union Square, one of the New York City's most important historical intersections.
It was surrounded by some pretty cool architecture:
And a really nice Barnes & Noble store:
New York City L Line
After our pit stop, we went back underground.
Randi and Don wanted to show me 8th Avenue station because it was filled with awesome sculptures. That was interesting enough. But what really amused me was that the station sat on the L line.
In Chicago, of course 'L' line is any line in Chicago's elevated rapid transit system. Even the underground sections are known as the 'L.' But in New York City, the L line is just one of many subway lines that runs under Manhattan. Not that it made it any less amusing.
The 8th Avenue station serves as the final stop of the L line. It was the only time I ever saw New York Subway tracks end right at the station (at other terminal stations, the tracks usually went a little farther)
But enough about the station itself - lets get to the sculptures:
An alligator:
Mr. Moneybags:
"A Cop and a Hobo"
Ear on the Wall:
It took us a few minutes to get all the sculptures, but in the end, we managed to find them all.. I think.
Grand Central Station
Before Amtrak, when private railroads competed for passengers all across United States, New York City was served by two major railroad companies - the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. To accommodate its trains, Pennsylvania Railroad built the New York Penn Station. The New York Central Railroad built the Grand Central Terminal - or, as it's popularly known, Grand Central Station.
To say that this station is iconic doesn't quite do it justice. This station has been featured in more movies, TV shows and other forms of popular fiction than any other train station in United States. Its beautiful interiors rival Chicago Union Station's Grand Hall. When people think of a train station in New York, they are probably thinking of Grand Central Station.
There are several train stations near or under Grand Central. The Grand Central - 42nd Street station is one of the later
From the station, you can walk through the dining concourse down to the most iconic part of Grand Central - the main concourse
The pictures don't really do it justice. They can't. It doesn't have much in the way of natural light, so you need something better than my cheap camera to capture it in its full splendor.
Not that it stopped me from trying anyway:
The Vanderbilt Hall was originally Grand Central Station's main waiting room. These days, it is usually closed off to passengers, but it can be reserved for private events.
These days, Grand Central Station is a commuter terminal for all Metro-North Railroad commuter lines. Some Amtrak trains used to stop here, but they were all moved to Penn Station.
And, just to give you a sense of how important commuter rail is to New Yorkers, here is a map of all of the commuter rail lines that serve New York City. While most maps I saw only covered one system, this one covers lines operated by all three - Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit. The New Jersey transit lines run through both New York and New Jersey - technically speaking, New Jersey transit owns the New Jersey portions while Metro-North owns the New York portions. The New York portions are in color - the New Jersey portions are in black.
Before we left Grand Central Station, we stopped by the New York Transit Museum. Or at least what Don thought was the New York Transit Museum. As it turned out, it was only an annex that displayed a small portion of what the museum had to offer - the actual museum was in Brooklyn.
Not that it made what the annex had any less interesting.
An advertisement for the Pennsylvania Railroad train between Chicago and New York:
When Pennsylvania Railroad wanted to build the New York Penn Station, it needed to demolish several city blocks. As you can imagine, this caused some controversy - as these pro- and anti-Penn Station cartoons demonstrate:
Actually, given that the annex was located in Grand Central Station, it was kind of ironic that most of the exhibit was devoted to the history of Penn Station. Unlike Grand Central, most of it's iconic features didn't survive. The original station building was demolished to make way for Madison Square Garden. Penn Station was reduced to concourses and platforms - something that remains a sore point with many New Yorkers to this day.
After we left the annex, we decided to get some shots of Grand Central's exteriors, so we went outside. The lighting was better than inside, but I still felt like I didn't quite do it justice.
One of the exits:
The building itself:
This street bridge allows taxis to drive right up to Grand Central Station:
A closer look at Grand Central's iconic clock:
After getting some more shots, we went back underground and headed for Central Park - but that's a story for the next entry.