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Grand Central Terminal Station 100th Anniversary, New York City, United States
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There is a "secret" platform, number 61, under the station. This was used only once to convey President Franklin D. Roosevelt directly into the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This platform was part of the original design of the Waldorf Astoria. It was mentioned in The New York Times in 1929 but was first used by General Pershing in 1938.
From 1939 to 1964 CBS Television occupied a large portion of the terminal building, particularly above the main waiting room. The space contained four studios (41–44), network master control, film projection and recording, and facilities for local station WCBS-TV. In 1958, the first major videotape operations facility in the world opened in a former rehearsal room on the seventh floor of the main terminal building. The facility used fourteen Ampex VR-1000 videotape recorders. The CBS Evening News began its broadcasts there with Douglas Edwards. Many historic events during this period, such as John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission, were broadcast from this location. Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now" originated from Grand Central, including his famous broadcasts on Senator Joseph McCarthy. The Murrow broadcasts were recreated in George Clooney's movie Good Night, and Good Luck. The movie took a number of liberties, in that it implied the CBS News and corporate offices were in the same building as the studios. In reality, the news offices were located first in the GCT office building, north of the main terminal, and later in the nearby Graybar Building; corporate offices at the time were at 485 Madison Avenue. The long-running panel show "What's My Line?" was first broadcast from the GCT studios, as were "The Goldbergs" and "Mama". In 1966, the former studio space was converted to a sports club with two tennis courts and was operated by Donald Trump from 1984 to 2009. The space is currently occupied by a conductor lounge and a smaller sports facility with a single tennis court.
- Grand Central Art Galleries
From 1922 to 1958 Grand Central Terminal was the home of the Grand Central Art Galleries, which were established by John Singer Sargent, Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark, and others. The founders had sought a location in Manhattan that was central and easily accessible, and through the support of Alfred Holland Smith, president of the New York Central Railroad, the top of the terminal was made available. A 10-year lease was signed, and the galleries, together with the railroad company, invested more than $100,000 in preparing the space. The architect was William Adams Delano, best known for designing Yale Divinity School's Sterling Quadrangle.
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