I am sitting in Penn Station, NY, NY, waiting for a train that will take me to the airport. And I am realizing that there is something about Penn Station which is both fascinating and disturbing.
Nobody is here because they want to be — everyone here is just passing through on their way to somewhere else. So there is an odd sort of energy, a kind of pervasive restless feeling.
It’s different from, say, Grand Central Station, which is an actual destination in its own right. Over there, people stop and look around, draw in a deep breath, spend some time taking in the magnificent vaulted ceiling, luxuriate in the sense of spacious grandeur.
Here it hasn’t been that way since 1963. Once one of the most magnificent buildings in the world, this place is now cramped and soulless, a place nobody wants to be.
But it’s a place that lots of people need to pass through, while waiting to get to somewhere else. So if nothing else, it’s a really awesome place for people watching.
Actually, Grand Central’s technical name is Grand Central Terminal. A “terminal” is a station at the end of a railway line. Trains arriving there have to end their journeys (terminate) or reverse out of the station. However, it has gained the name of Grand Central Station or simply Grand Central.