![]() That is when the Metropolitan Transit Authority had the presence of mind to approach restaurateur Jerome Brody to come in and save the day. In 1972 the Grand Central Oyster Bar went bankrupt and sat empty until 1974. By the late 1960's the restaurant was little more than a glorified coffee shop. Throughout this period, much of the station, including the restaurant, fell into disrepair as money for maintenance grew sparse. Not as glamorous as it once was, but it looks like Don Draper stopped by. ![]() Over the next two decades those running the terminal threatened to demolish it and were only stopped when activists-led by former first lady Jackie Kennedy-succeeded in getting the station declared a national historical landmark in 1975. By the 1950's long haul trains grew out of fashion, and plans eventually arose to demolish the terminal and turn it into a high rise office building. After a competing restaurateur passed on the space in 1912 (deeming it unappealing), concessionaire Union News snatched up the Oyster Bar location and hired Viktor Yesensky, known at the time for running the famed oyster bar at the Hotel Knickerbocker, to run the kitchen.īecause of the look of the space, the glamorous nature of the terminal, and Yesensky's work at the stoves and the bar (he stayed on for 33 years), Grand Central Oyster Bar quickly became one of the most crowded lunch counters in New York, serving all manner of raw clams and oysters and immediately famous oyster pan roasts and oyster stews.Īs the decades wore on, the Oyster Bar remained a haunt for well-heeled travelers and Midtown workers alike, but eventually the space and terminal fell into decline and ceased to be seen as destinations. The Oyster Bar space, designed by prolific New York architect Raphael Gustavino was then as it is now, grand and magnificent, accented with arched and vaunted ceilings covered in terracotta tiles. The dining room supplied meals to the long distance trains leaving the station and offered commuters and locals a place to slurp oysters and pan roasts at lunch and before heading home. Back then, and for decades prior, oyster bars, stands, shacks, and cellars were an obsession in New York, and the opening of the terminal came right at the heyday of long distance train travel, so it was a smart combo. Three weeks later so too did the 440-seat Grand Central Oyster Bar. Today, Grand Central Oyster Bar.Īt 12:01 AM on February 2, 1913, the largest train station in the world and an architectural wonder, Grand Central Terminal, opened to the public amid much fanfare. Every once in a while we like to take a look at the rich history of a restaurant that has survived for generations, outliving trends, critics, wars, Prohibition even.
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