GRAND CENTRAL STATION.

GRAND CENTRAL STATION. The interior of Grand Central Station reminds me of Saint Marks Place in Venice, with human figures taking their angled paths across the giant space, continually changing the space. The two levels are an engineering triumph. They were associated with the new tunnel under what had been Fourth Avenue. Fourth Avenue below 96th Street (where the tunnel emerged) became Park Avenue, and what had been undesirable real estate next to the railroad became prime residential land. All the new restaurants on the lower level have added tremendous life to Grand Central. I think one reason that Grand Central was so grim when I arrived in New York in the late sixties is that it was considered a formal public space, which, even though it was dingy, should not be compromised by undignified private activities. When I came, all of Grand Central was dirty and dark. The constellations in the ceiling could barely be made out through the grime. Even then, one of Mary Jane’s college classmates had a dream in which he ascended to Heaven through the constellations in the ceiling of Grand Central.