Grand Central Station: Gateway to the World by Richard Zampella

© 1988 Richard Zampella: Grand Central Terminal

My first job in the city of New York was in 1987 as the Dining Room Manager at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station. This was prior to the renovation of the terminal which would return it to its former glory.  Back then, the windows were still covered with the black paint that was intended to guard against aerial bombings of New York during World War Two. The interiors were coated with layers of black soot from years of coal powered trains entering and exiting the station compounded by years of neglect.

Just 12 years prior, the building has been threatened with demolition. Were it not for the efforts of people like Hugh Hardy, The Municipal Arts Society and Jaqueline Onassis, Grand Central Terminal would have been relegated to the scrap heap of our collective memory.

I took this photograph in the year of Grand Central’s 75th Anniversary. In 2013 the building celebrated it’s 100th Birthday.