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  • It still makes me sick to see these photos. Shocking that anyone would bulldoze it to make that hideous Madison Square dump. Amazing video, thanks for sharing.

  • @NYKID10014 You're welcome. Thanks for commenting!

  • “One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat" -Architectural historian Vincent J. Scully Jr.

  • I remember arriving in New York City for the first time in 1954 . I stepped out of the train, walked up to the main concourse and looked around me. I was stunned. It was like being at the center of a majestic gesture of being welcomed to a city of pride and glory. I had to stand still and drink it all in. .. Now, new arrivals scurry out the nearest exit , their eyes and minds focused on where they're going.

  • @Josquinquin Great comment. Thanks!

  • Penn Station today is a testament to the half men that were allowed to thieve their way into power and essentially mug the City of New York. These same beasts had their rancid little eyes set on Grand Central too. Their legacy lives on in many of the current thieves and robbers who continue to sell out what's left of NYC as WTC 1 continues its ascent into astronomical deficit. Winston Churchill was absolutely correct:

    "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

  • To tear down this station in New York, or Northwestern Station and The Old Stock Exchange in my hometown were crimes, it was the hard work of many people to design every inch of those buildings, its like someone who would set fire to a Van Gogh painting and replace it with a crayon doodle, except they would get arrested.

  • This was literally one of the most criminal acts of vandalism the world has ever seen. It would be like if the French had torn down the Palace of Versailles to put up a strip mall. Stupid, idiotic, dumb, and vile doesn't even begin to describe it. I guess I should be mad, but actually I feel pity for the people who were stupid enough to make this happen. Imagine how shallow and empty they must have been to look at that building and want to tear it up.

  • great video...it's a shame they demolished such a magnificent building....makes Grand Central look like a dog house...lol

  • I still find it hard to believe that developers were allowed to demolish such a historical landmark.......all in the name of greed.

  • For those who haven't been to Penn Station but have seen this vid, you will NOT believe the piece of shit that replaced the old Penn Station.

  • @Darthbelal I just went there yesterday and you were right, it was so disgusting. even the subway station adjacent to it, very dirty and smelly. :(

    to @madercic3aolcom thanks for the video..really brings back memories..

  • Is there a movement yet to rebuild the original Penn Station? There needs to be.

  • Penn station was beautiful, grand, elegant, stylish, and replaced by a vile, overcrowded, ugly, underground mess. It is a disgraceful shame that this was allowed to happen.

  • wonderful video. So majestic and grand. not like the dump I traveled to and from for 11yrs back in the 90's

  • @jjcjammer Glad you liked it. Thanks for your comment!

  • What kind of trains did this station use in the 50s?

  • “One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat.”--Vincent Scully

  • Jackie Kennedy was so outraged by this demolition that she became the public figure for the historic preservation movement in the 1970's. She is the one to thank for the thousands of buildings that have been saved since from the wrecking ball. When she was in the White House 1961-63 she redecorated the White House and then gave the very first TV tour of the White House. She liked French Provincial, so in the early 1960's French Provincial was a very popular style for furniture, etc.

  • @dfirth224 Great comment! Thanks!

  • besides the track level, is there any bit of the original station left? even any part of the concourse where the stairs are to get down to the platform level? what a shame, it looked like an amazing station, better than philly's 30th street station

  • i still cant believe idiots at that time voted to tear down this great wonder.ITS A CRYING SHAME ITS NO LONGER HERE!

  • modernism is destroying beautiful structures in the world.

  • I always get subway to Penn st when in NYC' I'm from London, didn't kno about the old building till I saw this vid' what the fuck were they thinking' criminal that's it, atleast you've got Grand central, masterpiece! when in London check out the new rebuilt Saint Pancras station truely back it's former glory!!

  • Thanks for this tribute to a great edifice, it no longers exists but I still marvel at picturesof its grandeur and majesty. If mere pictures of Penn can move people imagine if one could still walk midst its vast soaring interior! Penn Station typified the confidence and optimism in the US at the turn of the century. Its demolition helped to bring about a re-evaluation of older buildings but it didn't save another magnificent NYC structure from the same fate, the Singer Building, demolished 1968.

  • @colmalbar Thanks for your comment!

  • the original Penn Station was the most beautiful building in New York City. i hope the people who are responsible for its demolition are burning in hell.

  • What a shame that we lost this very important lankmark of the big apple. It was one of the best works of architecture in the 20th century!

  • The original architecture reflected self respect and a sense of reaching. Its interior lit by natural sunlight and fit for a king. What replaced it is just crass and vulgar. That it's a haven for rats and pigeons is so fitting. What a shame.

  • Many countries would die for a Parliament building as good old Penn Station. It was such a great mistake to knock it down.

  • The really sad thing about it is, AS we all know, HISTORY repeats itself. Yes, WE repeat our errors! HOWever, WE aren't perfect and God our Father is... When we put things in their perfect perspective, all we can really honestly do-- IS enjoy our short rides and try and make a difference for others during theirs... Maybe theirs is even shorter than ours! NYC has always been a heartwrench to me seeing so many beautiful places gone. Remember the beautiful Hotel Savoy? GM built their HQS there

  • @uboob67 Thanks for your comment!

  • The main philistine behind the demolition was Irving Felt. What a jerk.

  • I see Penn Every day! As a new yorker to me, it's a beautiful thing PENN is a miniature city underneath the city!

    Even though it has a feeling of being in a tight catacomb. it is a haven for The Homeless, The Rats and Pigeons!

  • @Str8211 Thanks for your comment!

  • @Str8211 yes but it seems like a super sized subway station I saw the old Penn Station just as it was being demolished and it was a great loss and a disgrace Thank God Grand Central didn't share its I've heard there have been plans to make the GPO across the street, planned by the same architects, into a much more suitable waiting room etc. as the tracks run right under it Was anything ever done does anyone know? Originally the plans called for the two stations to be connected why weren't they??

  • @Str8211

    Is New York still artistic at all like it was in the seventies

  • Ugh, the new design is hideous compared to this. Change it back!

  • rebuild it to the original design,no more modernistic/apple designs,if the folks want it that way,live in a cubical!

  • Pennsylvania Station has sooo much history! Every time i see pictures of the old station, it reminds me of a soldier hugging his wife and kissing her goodbye before he's shipped off for duty during World War 2=)

  • Wie in Stuttgart...

  • Build a new MSG on the West Side, or in Queens! Demolish whatever is there, and rebuild this! Then again, imagine the cost of rebuilding and maintaining this station! If it were still here, Amtrak would have sold it off a long time ago! LOL!

  • wow a waiting room for women interesting.

  • Great slide show and thanks for shaing; demolition of this station was on a par with the British destuction of London's Euston. Weren't there plans in recent times to relocate Penn station to the US Post Office across the street ?

  • way better than the current one the modern day one is such a crap hole

  • The demolition of Penn Station is such a huge loss to New York. What a fabulous landmark it was! What replaced the old Penn Station is a travesty.

    NY's leadership didn't care. Back in the 60's, the thinking was all about "out with old and in the with new" in the name of "progress". Penn Station was privately owned by the Penn Railroad. It's loss lead to the creation of the NYC Landmarks Commission. Thank God they saved Grand Central.

  • @bigcity233 We can thank Robert Moses for the rape of NYC. Thats what losing Penn Station was.

  • @devildoc225 yeah and that's not all we got to thank him for, he may have got a lot of necessary projects completed but he allowed the subway system to go to hell, When the 3rd ave. EL was torn down it was supposed to be replaced by a subway I can remember back in the 70s the excavation for the subway but only a small section was ever completed. the majority of the tunnel is unused I believe, I heard there were plans to complete it finally but I'll believe it when I see it, God Save New York NY!

  • Thank you for posting this!

  • @eddie1967 Glad you liked it, Eddie. Thanks for commenting!

  • @madercic3aolcom Did you put this together?  It is a terrific video. I am a grad student and I was thinking of doing my dissertation on Manhattan Elevated Trains....something along the lines of Richard Haw's book on the Brooklyn Bridge...

  • @eddie1967 Hello again, Eddie. Yes, I did make this slide show and did the captioning and added the music. The images are mostly from the New York public library's digital collection. The remainder are from the Library of Congress. Good luck with your dissertation!

  • @eddie1967 Fascinating subject - Manhattan had several EL lines - 2nd Ave., 3rd Ave., 6th Ave., and Ninth Ave lines. The 2nd Ave Line had a branch that ran over the 59th St Bridge and onto the Flushing Line. Flushing Line riders had a choice of taking what is today's No. 7 train - or taking the 2nd Ave El line over the bridge. The 3rd Ave line was the last to be torn down - about 1955. There were El trains on the Brklyn Bridge that were part of the Brooklyn El system operated by the BMT.

  • And to think,we tore this down all in the name of progress . . .

    Disgusting, Horrible, Sad.

    You don't get beauty like that again, ever.

  • great music

  • @farmer63980 Thanks!

  • Thanks for the memories. I remember as a youngster waiting with my dad and sister for my mom to arrive back to NYC from a weekend trip to Richmond, Va. I vividly recall the taxi stands, main concourse, and when her train arrived behind one of those legendary GG-1. Of course she was riding in a Pennsylvania Railroad Budd tuscan red coach.

    Thank God through the efforts of Jackie Kennedy that the Grand Central Station didn't suffer the same fate.

  • @randomsource. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for your comment!

  • I know it has been said a million times but what a shame.

  • What would be a cost effective reuse of the station if you could have saved it?

  • No reuse necessary. In the last 50 years rail traffic has rebounded dramatically from its lows in the 50s-60s. Ironically, we now need to spend a billion dollars just to get back the capacity we lost when they demolished Old Penn; New Penn is so far over capacity that its concourses are considered a major bottleneck on the Northeast Corridor.

  • I hate Pennyslvania Station today. It's a commuter's nightmare. With its maze-like layout, it takes more time walking to the proper train station than the actual subway ride. Horrible design.

  • Chopping down a monument as great as Pennsylvania Station has to be the ultimate sin. A grand struture such as this could never be build again and it happened in Chicago as well where only part of Union Station remains as a remenent to railroadings great days.

  • The west head building and Great Hall of Chicago Union Station (50% owned by the Pennsylvania RR) are still in use as a railway terminal and give a hint of what the old NY Penn Station must have been like. Unfortunately the east head building of CUS was razed in the 1960's and the area underneath it is just like the current Penn Station--all cramped, crowded corridors and food courts.

  • Thanks for the info, Joe.

  • What a loss. I wish I had been alive to see it, and not that crummy, poor excuse for a train station I commute through every day.

    What's the music playing?

  • The music is one of the songs offered free by YouTube to it's uploaders that is public domain (no copyright issues). I can't recall the name of the song or the artist. Thanks for commenting!

  • It was the scapegoat that created the NYC Landmarks Commision to save other buildings from being demolished. So in a roundabout way...its destruction was perhaps its greatest accomplishment.

  • Well it took a horrific crime to create the Landmarks Commision the same way it took horrific war to create the UN. Well although the Landmark Commision is effective compared to the UN.

  • Later this year will be the 100th anniversary of the opening of the original Pennsylvaina Station. It's a shame that there won't be anything there to celebrate.

  • i still cant understand why they tore it down?

    I didnt see anything wrong with it?

  • Turkeydoodlers,

    The reason Pennsylvania Railroad gave was that the station was too expensive to maintain.

    Doesn't matter, though. It's all bullshit considering the pile of crap that sits there now.

  • What loss to New York, indeed America, a country with not much history anyway, compared to London.

  • Thank you for posting this video! Beautiful station, what a loss. The good thing is that the Farley Post Office building in your video is the Moynihan Station and it shares the old Penn Station architecture. I think it is amazing how much of the trackage has been covered over.

  • I'm glad you liked the video. Thanks for commenting!

  • what a sin. Like killin people.

  • Peter Jackson's KING KONG showed many scenes from the air over this part of town, but sadly left this enormous landmark out of his recreation of 1930s New York - it should have been mere blocks away, but it was missing!! I was looking for it when i watched the film in the theater, to no avail.

  • Great video. It was a crime to demolish the station.  The current station is disgusting.

  • hahah i agree . i was getting off a train and a fucking rat ran out ;/ gross

  • @danders76 I agree with you 100%. Thank god they restored Grand Central Station. If only the old Penn could still be around.

  • How sad to see such a beautiful building get demolished.  Thank goodness they came to their senses and didn't demolish Grand Central

  • it was the landmarks law that luckily saved grand central...such a shame too loose penn station.

  • It was dirty and neglected for years before they tore it down. They blocked off the archways connecting the concourse and the waiting room, and let tacky little storefronts set themselves up around the perimeter.

  • This video is much better in HD !!!

  • I work there every day. It's hard to believe it's the same place. It's nothing more than a subway concourse. It use to work at 30th St. Station in Philadelphia. When you walk into a station like 30th Street or Grand Central, you feel like you have arrived somewhere special and classy. It's truly a shame this place was destroyed!

  • Thanks for your comment, SMPSKIPPY. :)

  • odd thing about the demolition process was that when they got through the lengthy process of demolishing the outside, the inside they came to discovered was nothing but plaster and chicken wire

  • Thank You for posting this Video!!!

    Love to see the Old Penn

  • My pleasure Paul. Glad you liked it. Thanks for commenting! :)

  • Really depressing. Such a tragic loss. NYC has lost a lot of beautiful buildings to greedy developers, but Penn Station is the most unbelievable of them all. Looking at the concourse photos makes me want to cry.

  • How horribly sad. What a shame...

  • Vandalized by criminals, such a great piece of architecture

  • so so so so sad... greed destroyed such beautiful thing

  • Its a crime that they knocked down something of such architectural beauty

  • Thank you for these images. I hope that New York and Amtrak, under the Moynihan Plan, rebuilds Penn Station to its original glory.

  • A rebuilt Penn station would be great. Thanks for commenting!

  • That you for this wonderful tribute to a truly magnificent building. What a crime that a structure that should have lasted for a thousand years was demolished after little more than fifty years.

  • You're quite welcome! Very glad you liked it. Fortunately, the loss of the station seems to have been taken as a lesson learned on the need for preservation of important historic structures. Thanks for your comment!:)

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