10. There was a Specific Room for Kissing

Empty Grand Central in Coronavirus

Grand Central Terminal is one of the most romantic places in New York City, but when the station was first built, public displays of affection were relegated to a special room. In a New York Times article from 1913 that describes how the newly opened terminal building solved many problems of existing train stations, the writer notes that “indignant handlers of the baggage trucks would swear that their paths were forever being block by leisurely demonstrations of affection.”

Secrets of Grand Central

Grand Central terminal main atrium

The new “Kissing Galleries,” or “Romeo and Juliet” rooms as some people called them, provided a space away from the hustle and bustle where lovers could reunite, and get out of the way. These galleries, the paper notes, offered “exceptional vantage points for recognition, hailing, and the subsequent embrace.” One of these kissing rooms was located beneath the site of the former Biltmore Hotel in an area of Grand Central that came to be called the Biltmore Room. This room was blocked off due to construction on the East Side Access project but is now open to the public. Inside, you’ll find a remnant of Grand Central Terminal’s past.