Queer Nation Disrupts Final Sochi Promotion At Grand Central Terminal

Via press release:

Nearly three dozen members of Queer Nation held a raucous protest at the United States Olympic Committee's final "Road to Sochi Tour" event at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on February 23. The action began just as the event began in historic Vanderbilt Hall, inside the terminal, with protesters chanting "Don't Buy Putin's Lies" and unfurling two banners, one reading "Don't Buy Putin's Lies" and the other reading "Boycott Homophobia." Some members also carried signs that read "Gay Bashing Is Not An Olympic Sport." The banners were hand-sewn by Gilbert Baker, the designer of the original rainbow flag. Queer Nation was then forced out of the terminal by officers in the Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Department. The group briefly protested in front of a Road to Sochi tour truck on East 42nd Street and then marched to the west entrance of Grand Central Terminal, where the protest continued for over an hour. There were no arrests.

Video by ACT UP New York.

Dance Of The Sugar Plum Lesbians

This story makes its tenth annual appearance on JMG....

Grand Central Terminal functions as the mechanical heart of midtown New York City, pumping out several thousand workers and tourists on one beat, then sucking in several thousand more on the next.

The rhythms of the terminal are fascinating.

Beat. Four thousand, inbound from New Haven.

Beat. Three thousand, outbound to Westchester.

Worlds collide on the main floor.

The tourists gawk up at the gloriously ornate ceiling and uselessly flash their digital cameras at objects hundreds of feet away.

The commuters rush up to the track displays to determine their track number, then dart across the terminal floor, dodging the milling tourists, heads down, like running backs heading for the end zone.

It's mesmerizing. It's majestic.

And sometimes, like tonight, it's magical.

I'm walking through the massive main room just as the holiday laser show begins on the ceiling. To the tune of Take The "A" Train, the laser depicts two trains arriving from different directions. The trains stop opposite each other and a reindeer leaps out of each one and crosses over to the opposite train.

The laser traces the outline of one of the zodiac constellations painted on the ceiling. The Cancer crab leaps to life and becomes the Crab Conductor, waddling down the center aisle of the car, punching the reindeers' ticket stubs with his claws.

I move over to the edge of the room, near the entrance for Track 25, so I can watch the reaction to the show. As usual, I'm more entertained by watching the audience than by watching the actual show.

At the ticket windows, standing in front of signs that say "Harlem Line" or "Hudson Line", commuters tilt their heads painfully back to view the show directly overhead. The tourists cluster in delighted circles, holding each others' elbows for balance as they nearly bend over backwards.

Some people move to the edges of the great hall, as I have, to remove themselves from the traffic flow while they watch. Among those that come to join me on the perimeter of the room is a lesbian couple. They stand quite close to me, the taller woman behind the shorter one, with her arms wrapped around her, supporting her a bit as they both lean back on the marble wall.

The shorter woman is stout with a large firm chest. Her hair is short and brushed back into what might have once been called a ducktail. She has an ornate tattoo on her left forearm and she has a leather wallet protruding from the rear pocket of her jeans, attached to her leather belt by a short silver chain. She has more than a passing resemblance to Tony Danza, her big boobs notwithstanding, so naturally (in my head) I name her Toni.

Toni's girlfriend is blond and her short ponytail dangles just above her collar. She is wearing long Christmas tree earrings which nearly brush her shoulders. Her lanky, sinewy limbs are bound in a tight running outfit, over which she is wearing a school athletic jacket. I imagine that she might be a coach at Yale or Harvard, perhaps a girls lacrosse coach, or maybe track and field.

Coach is squeezing Toni tightly and they bounce together to the music a bit. Coach looks over at me and catches me smiling. She nudges Toni, who looks over at me too, and we all grin goofily at each other for a moment.

Overhead, a new show begins. The familiar opening notes of Tchaikovsky's Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies ring out as the Empire State and the Chrysler buildings sprout arms, bow to each other, and begin waltzing across the ceiling.

I look around the room and it's as if time was frozen for just a second, every person stopped in mid-stride, eyes cast upward, mouths open in silent joy.

Toni pushes away from Coach, turns around and delivers her a bow as deep and as elegant as the one just depicted overheard.

"Madame, may I please have this dance?" she asks Coach.

Coach looks around a bit awkwardly. "You are TOO much!" And she giggles.

"Madame, I must insist!" says Toni, as she takes Coach's hands into hers.

Coach relents and she and Toni begin a beautiful, slow waltz, moving in half-time to the music. As you might have guessed already, Toni leads.

As they dance, their eyes remain locked on each other. Toni is giving Coach an intense look, her lips tightly curled into a satisfied smile. Coach is grinning from ear to ear and again, she giggles.

All around Coach and Toni, the tourists, the businessmen, the students, the conductors, even the guy with a broom...they're all watching. Some are expressionless, but more are smiling, and some of them...some of them are frantically fussing with their cameras, eager to capture this magical New York Moment.

Serendipity prevails, the tune ends, and Toni dips Coach backwards with a dramatic up-sweep of her free arm as a firestorm of camera flashes erupt around them. Toni pulls Coach up and close to her and they hug. There's another camera flash and the crowd begins to move along.

Then.

"Hey, look!"

The laser show is being concluded with giant sprigs of mistletoe appearing over our heads. This time it's Coach who bends down and plants a long tender kiss on Toni's non-lipsticked mouth. There's another flash of cameras from the delighted audience.

Toni takes Coach's hand and they begin to move off towards the exit.

"Oh, don't stop!" says a disappointed woman, still rummaging for her camera.

Toni looks back over her shoulder and says, "I never will."

Grand Central Terminal, the mechanical heart of New York City, beats again. But this time I hear a different rhythm. This time I hear a double beat.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

Photo Of The Day

I've blogged quite a bit about the construction of the Second Avenue Subway here on the Upper East Side, but haven't said much about the project to connect Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal.

Buried 16 stories beneath Grand Central Terminal a new commuter rail is being blasted and tunneled out of solid bedrock as part of an audacious $15 billion development that will span 14 miles throughout the city. The grand concourse, seen at a massive eight stories high surrounded by dripping stone walls and lapping puddles, will provide more floor space than New Orleans' Superdome stadium when finished. It is just one of three monumental projects underway beneath New York City's streets to expand what's already the nation's biggest mass transit system transporting 5 million riders a day.

But even with blasting and machinery grinding through the rock day and night, most New Yorkers are blithely unaware of the construction or the eerie underworld that includes a 160-foot cavern, miles of tunnels and watery, gravel-filled pits. Down below them, engineer Michael Horodniceanu says it's an astonishing sight that gets him every time. 'I look at it and I'm in wonder, I'm in awe,' said Horodniceanu, president of capital construction for the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 'I feel like when I went to Rome and entered St. Peter's Basilica for the first time. ... I looked at it and said, "Wow, how did they do that?"' 

Hit the link for many more very cool photos. So far the digging under Grand Central has removed enough material to cover all of Central Park under a foot of rock.

Improv Everywhere: Grand Central Lights

In celebration of the terminal's 100th birthday.

Evening View - Grand Central

I hopped off the subway at 42nd Street tonight to go upstairs and see the goings-on for Grand Central Terminal's 100th birthday. If you embiggen the photo, you might be able to tell there's a stage on the far side of the clock, but it was really too crowded to hang around.  Notice the big 1-0-0 in the windows.  That's the Apple Store on the far balcony, by the way.

Grand Centennial

Grand Central Terminal celebrates its 100th anniversary on February 1st with lots of events, including "1913 pricing" at some of the restaurants and shops. There will be appearances by Cynthia Nixon, Melissa Manchester, and Caroline Kennedy, whose mother is widely credited with helping save Grand Central from the wrecking ball.  (Ugh, Penn Station.) Representatives of the Vanderbilt family are also due to be on hand. (A statue of Anderson Cooper's great-great-great grandfather stands outside the terminal.) Click here for great timeline of Grand Central's history. Meet you at the clock!

NEW YORK: State Investigates Apple Store Deal At Grand Central Terminal

As I mentioned here recently, the largest Apple Store in the world opens in Grand Central Terminal this Friday. But other tenants are screaming about the cushy deal granted Apple by the MTA, the owner of the building. The state comptroller's office is investigating.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has launched an investigation into whether the Metropolitan Transportation Authority gave Apple overly generous terms on its lease for the shop, which is slated for a splashy opening next week. The probe comes in response to yesterday’s exclusive report by The Post, which noted that the cash-rich tech giant will be the only retailer among the 100 or so in MTA’s Grand Central Terminal not required to make revenue-sharing payments to the agency landlord. What’s more, Apple’s 10-year lease for a space on the northeast balcony of the historic commuter hub overlooking the Main Concourse — which will amount to about $800,000 for the first year — is well below the rate being charged to many neighboring tenants, including the Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse that shares the balcony.

The New York Post notes that Apple will only be paying $60/square foot, versus the $200 to be paid by the coming Shake Shack. It also remains to be seen whether the computer giant can draw a measurable increase in traffic to a location that is already one of the world's busiest transit hubs.

She's Got A New Hat Store!

Gothamist gives us a look at the still shrouded in secrecy Apple Store at Grand Central Terminal, which when it opens on December 9th will be the world's largest. And the sixth Apple Store in Manhattan. Artist's rendering below. No glass cube or staircase.

Morning View - Grand Central Terminal

NEW YORK: World's Largest Apple Store Planned For Grand Central Terminal

Apple plans to install what would be their largest outlet in the world in the massive balcony area of Grand Central Terminal. The 16,000 square foot store will displace at least one of the restaurants presently in that location. The store will be Manhattan's fifth Apple location. While relatively low-profile tenants like restaurants and their tables and chairs don't detract much from the physical beauty of Grand Central, I'd imagine that Apple will face the ire of city purists if their store design involves very much that can be easily seen from the main floor.

NEW YORK: Hundreds Stage "Homophobia Kills" Die-In At Grand Central Terminal

Paul Schindler reports at Gay City News:

Several hundred LGBT New Yorkers gathered at Grand Central Terminal during evening rush hour on Friday, October 8 to conduct what organizers called a “Flash Mob: Homophobia Kills Die-In” in the center of the main concourse of the nation’s busiest transit hub. Several minutes after 6, activist Alan Bounville brought his fingers to his mouth to issue a loud whistle signaling the start of the action. A crowd of at least 300 immediately laid down on the floor, as Bounville and others unfurled a 12-foot by 12-foot yellow banner reading: END HOMO/ TRANSPHOBIC APARTHEID IN AMERICA.”

The crowd created a blockade for thousands of commuters rushing to and from the subways and Metro North commuter trains in the terminal. Police ordered participants to disperse or face arrest, while Todd Fernandez and Eugene Lovendusky read the names of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victims of murder or of suicide prompted by bullying and violence. As the men called out each victim’s name, those on the floor shouted back the first name. As planned, after about three or four minutes on the floor, participants got back on their feet, and for several more minutes Fernandez, Lovendusky, and other organizers led the crowd in shouts of “Civil Rights Now.”

Two of the protest's organizers from Queer SOS! were arrested and released shortly after with desk appearance tickets.

Morning View - Grand Central Terminal

Photo Of The Day - Grand Central Cavern

Gothamist has a great set of photos of the work being done 150 feet beneath Grand Central Terminal as the $8B project to connect the Long Island Railroad to the GCT continues. When completed, LIRR commuters will enjoy a 90,000 sq.ft concourse including shops, restaurants, and connections to the subway and Metro North. And you'll be able to get to Fire Island without going to Penn Station! That, of course, assumes that the Pines hasn't washed into the ocean before service begins in 2016. The MTA has a Facebook page tracking the subterranean progress.

Dance Of The Sugar Plum Lesbians

This story makes its sixth annual appearance on JMG....

Grand Central Terminal functions as the mechanical heart of midtown New York City, pumping out several thousand workers and tourists on one beat, then sucking in several thousand more on the next.

The rhythms of the terminal are fascinating.

Beat. Four thousand, inbound from New Haven.

Beat. Three thousand, outbound to Westchester.

Worlds collide on the main floor.

The tourists gawk up at the gloriously ornate ceiling and uselessly flash their digital cameras at objects hundreds of feet away.

The commuters rush up to the track displays to determine their track number, then dart across the terminal floor, dodging the milling tourists, heads down, like running backs heading for the end zone.

It's mesmerizing. It's majestic.

And sometimes, like tonight, it's magical.

I'm walking through the massive main room just as the holiday laser show begins on the ceiling. To the tune of Take The "A" Train, the laser depicts two trains arriving from different directions. The trains stop opposite each other and a reindeer leaps out of each one and crosses over to the opposite train.

The laser traces the outline of one of the zodiac constellations painted on the ceiling. The Cancer crab leaps to life and becomes the Crab Conductor, waddling down the center aisle of the car, punching the reindeers' ticket stubs with his claws.

I move over to the edge of the room, near the entrance for Track 25, so I can watch the reaction to the show. As usual, I'm more entertained by watching the audience than by watching the actual show.

At the ticket windows, standing in front of signs that say "Harlem Line" or "Hudson Line", commuters tilt their heads painfully back to view the show directly overhead. The tourists cluster in delighted circles, holding each others' elbows for balance as they nearly bend over backwards.

Some people move to the edges of the great hall, as I have, to remove themselves from the traffic flow while they watch. Among those that come to join me on the perimeter of the room is a lesbian couple. They stand quite close to me, the taller woman behind the shorter one, with her arms wrapped around her, supporting her a bit as they both lean back on the marble wall.

The shorter woman is stout with a large firm chest. Her hair is short and brushed back into what might have once been called a ducktail. She has an ornate tattoo on her left forearm and she has a leather wallet protruding from the rear pocket of her jeans, attached to her leather belt by a short silver chain. She has more than a passing resemblence to Tony Danza, her big boobs notwithstanding, so naturally (in my head) I name her Toni.

Toni's girlfriend is blond and her short ponytail dangles just above her collar. She is wearing long Christmas tree earrings which nearly brush her shoulders. Her lanky, sinewy limbs are bound in a tight running outfit, over which she is wearing a school athletic jacket. I imagine that she might be a coach at Yale or Harvard, perhaps a girls lacrosse coach, or maybe track and field.

Coach is squeezing Toni tightly and they bounce together to the music a bit. Coach looks over at me and catches me smiling. She nudges Toni, who looks over at me too, and we all grin goofily at each other for a moment.

Overhead, a new show begins. The familiar opening notes of Tchaikovsky's Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies ring out as the Empire State and the Chrysler buildings sprout arms, bow to each other, and begin waltzing across the ceiling.

I look around the room and it's as if time was frozen for just a second, every person stopped in mid-stride, eyes cast upward, mouths open in silent joy.

Toni pushes away from Coach, turns around and delivers her a bow as deep and as elegant as the one just depicted overheard.

"Madame, may I please have this dance?" she asks Coach.

Coach looks around a bit awkwardly. "You are TOO much!" And she giggles.

"Madame, I must insist!" says Toni, as she takes Coach's hands into hers.

Coach relents and she and Toni begin a beautful, slow waltz, moving in half-time to the music. As you might have guessed already, Toni leads.

As they dance, their eyes remain locked on each other. Toni is giving Coach an intense look, her lips tightly curled into a satisfied smile. Coach is grinning from ear to ear and again, she giggles.

All around Coach and Toni, the tourists, the businessmen, the students, the conductors, even the guy with a broom...they're all watching. Some are expressionless, but more are smiling, and some of them...some of them are frantically fussing with their cameras, eager to capture this magical New York Moment.

Serendipity prevails, the tune ends, and Toni dips Coach backwards with a dramatic upsweep of her free arm as a firestorm of camera flashes erupt around them. Toni pulls Coach up and close to her and they hug. There's another camera flash and the crowd begins to move along.

Then.

"Hey, look!"

The laser show is being concluded with giant sprigs of mistletoe appearing over our heads. This time it's Coach who bends down and plants a long tender kiss on Toni's non-lipsticked mouth. There's another flash of cameras from the delighted audience.

Toni takes Coach's hand and they begin to move off towards the exit.

"Oh, don't stop!" says a disappointed woman, still rummaging for her camera.

Toni looks back over her shoulder and says, "I never will."

Grand Central Terminal, the mechanical heart of New York City, beats again. But this time I hear a different rhythm. This time I hear a double beat.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

The Nostalgia Train Starts Today

NYC's Nostalgia Train program begins today. Via Gothamist:

The Nostalgia Shoppers' Special is made up of subway cars in service from the 1930s to the 1970s, running along the lettered lines from the Grand Concourse to Coney Island. Ceiling fans, padded seats and incandescent light bulbs were state-of-the-art when these cars were first placed in service. The cars were removed from service 30 years ago and replaced by the stainless steel, climate-controlled trains that our customers have become accustomed to. Many subway riders have never experienced the charm of wicker seats and ceiling fans, but they are back for four Sundays of service, beginning Sunday, December 6. The holiday "Nostalgia Shoppers' Special" will operate on Sundays only, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., on December 6, 13, 20 and 27.

RELATED: The Transit Museum Annex in Grand Central Terminal is running their holiday model train exhibit all month. It's pretty cool, I stop by every year.

Ghosts In The Machine

Even though MetroNorth runs trains past 2am, by 12:30am Monday night, I found Grand Central almost completely deserted. In thousands of visits, I've never seen it like this. Eerily beautiful. I could actually hear the echo of my footsteps. This month, PBS's American Experience devotes an hour to the history of Grand Central Terminal, calling it "the greatest station of any type in the world." It's certainly my favorite public space in NYC. The PBS documentary runs several times this month.

Operation Frozen Grand Central

Improv Everywhere struck again, this time with a couple of hundred "agents" who, on cue, froze in place for five minutes at Grand Central Terminal. One of their more amusing pranks. I seriously gotta do the next one.

Morning View - Hercules, Mercury, Minerva

Created in 1914 by French sculptor Jules-Alexis Coutan, the three statues that grace the top of Grand Central Terminal were the largest sculptural group of the time. Hercules (god of physical energy) and Minerva (goddess of moral energy) flank Mercury, the god of commerce. The giant eagle behind Mercury represents America. The entire piece stands 48 feet high. Mercury, whose fey pose amuses many, is 28 feet high with 9 feet arms. I grabbed this photo yesterday as I attempted in vain to sneak a photo of the nearby steam pipe explosion site. This here pic embiggens mightily.

Morning View - Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal looked ghostly and beautiful on this cool, cloudy morning. Embiggen for maximum spookiness.

Morning View - Grand Central Terminal