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    Whispering Gallery

    4.7 (78 reviews)
    Open 5:30 am - 2:30 AM (Next day)

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    located near the counter service food area
    Janice K.

    I read about this online before our visit and was curious if it really worked. I definitely couldn't hear my husband at a whisper, but when he spoke into the corner at a normal voice, it definitely magnified his volume. It would be fun to try with kids. You stand diagonally in the corners and whisper/speak into the corner. It magnify your voice for sure.

    Montage of images from the Whispering Gallery
    Ed U.

    Whispering galleries are not that all uncommon. The idea comes from what happens when you're in an enclosure like a rotunda, or in this case, the domed intersection of walkways on the lower level of Grand Central Terminal. You're able to place your ear on one side of the open space and hear the person on the other side. That's the concept. Big whoop, right? Jamie W. and I were able to talk to each other even though we were physically several yards from each other. Cool but we could do the same thing a lot closer to home under the rotunda at San Francisco's City Hall. Alas, if you're not close to a whispering gallery, feel free to do it here. Later in the evening is better because people actually lined up. Yep, it works and everybody does it. RELATED - Exploring Manhattan? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2ZvQA2F

    Denise W.

    It is strange how the Whispering Gallery is located right in front of a restaurant. It is somewhat strange when I was told where it is located. Anyhow, it is a nice place to visit. The design is very smart. If you have one person standing across from other, you can talk and be able to listen to each other even to the quietest whisper. Cool this is is a must visit.

    Melony R.

    The four corners of the arches in the dining concourse outside Oyster Bar is always a cute stop when you're with someone or a group in Grand Central Station. I remember taking my kids and my BFF's kids here when they were little. My BFF who lives on Long Island had no idea that this beautiful piece of architecture was available to entertain our kids (and ourselves) for for several magical minutes. How we take for granted the wonders that are available in our own back yard. It's funny how people who aren't aware stop and wonder what the heck is going on when they see people with their back turned to the walkway and whispering into the corner. Everyone picks a corner and you talk into the wall and the person on the opposite corner can hear you as if you were standing right next to them due to acoustics.

    Grand Central is a wedding venue too !
    Tom G.

    Go to the lower floor of Grand Central Terminal where near the Oyster Bar Restaurant and you'll discover a secret: a corner-to-corner acoustic phenomenon where you can whisper something while facing the tiles at one of the four archway corners and someone on the opposite can here you. Even the quietest sweet nothing, soft song, or whispered threat can be heard, even over the din of crowds. This remarkable acoustic oddity is caused by the unusually perfect arches that compose theallery. The distinctive tile work from 1913 in the gallery is known as "Gustavino" tiles, named for the patented material and methods of Spanish tile worker Rafael Guastavino, whose meticulous work and herringbone patterns can be admired here and elsewhere in the city. It was not designed to do that but when you combine all the factors like height, density and angle and no sound absorbing materials and then it all comes together. Try it with a friend and be amazed.

    Spooky stuff.
    Markus N.

    I am unworthy to write on this subject. I am unworthy to write on many subjects. Don't party too much and fall asleep anywhere near a Sharpie in my presence. While unworthy, I will write on you. This established, note: Grand Central Terminal is a place from which even a daily visitor can't help but derive pleasure. Even if it's unconscious pleasure and I'd not hesitate to agree that there are certainly those days that the pain presses down on the pleasure but thank God for what little pleasure places like this can provide on days like that. Because but for that what would we have? And, I learned this whilst attempting to broaden my horizons on the intentional architecture of the Whisper Gallery. Verbatim, from somebody else's website: The constellations on the ceiling of the Main Concourse are reversed from how they actually appear in the night sky, because the artist, French painter Paul Helleu, modeled it on a medieval manuscript that showed the constellations from God's point of view. Then: The Whisper Gallery is located just outside the main entrance to the Oyster Bar which was closed for renovation to my heart breaking so much the boy in the opposite corner of the Gallery heard the rent and turned to look around such a sad sound. But the Gallery was the silver lining, and I had forgotten precisely where it was, and my scowl at the Bar being closed deepened when the Rangers jersey who by my initial glance was peeing in the corner actually turned out to be actually sharing the acoustic adventure with the lady opposite him and I realized WHISPER GALLERY and immediately my frown turned upside down. My Dad showed me the Gallery when I was very small and as recollection serves I totally understand why I thought the Ranger was peeing. The Gallery back in the day had olfactory as well as auditory delights. Not so much this visit! No. I returned a few days later colleague in tow hoping her corner was clean too and voila - big smiles all around. Why people don't incorporate such things into all they design today is beyond me. This won't rain on my parade, however. Not today. I'm full of a sustained smile thanks to the magic of Grand Central.

    See the girl in the corner..?
    Hutch H.

    An auditory anomaly! You MUST try this out. Speak softly into one corner of this whispering chamber, and your partner can clearly hear you across the way amidst all the surrounding madness. Find it on the way to the dining concourse just outside the oyster bar. On the arch above the chamber it says "Lexington Avenue 42nd Street Subway 4-5 6-7" I read that the famous jazz player Charles Mingus proposed to his wife this way. What a special place. Simple, fun, and free! -Hutch

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    6 years ago

    Fun and inexpensive way to explore grand central terminal. Talk into the triangle at one of the columns by oyster restaurant.

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    Review Highlights - Whispering Gallery

    The four arches in the dining concourse outside the oyster bar are where this unmapped experience is located.

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    Bowery Savings Bank Building

    Bowery Savings Bank Building

    5.0(3 reviews)
    0.1 miMidtown East, Murray Hill

    Tour historic buildings and designated landmarks of New York. Bowery Savings Bank building is one…read moreof many historic. Any history buff or avid amateur architecture enthusiasts would have a full appreciation and admiration of this stone building as old world architectural craft is no longer in use. This building still stands with the passage of time and nature's elements. The correct location of Bowery Savings Bank Building is in Chinatown, Lower Manhattan- NOT Midtown East, Murray Hill. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=132531

    You might find a few Bowery Bums in the doorway of the Bowery Savings Bank Building, but it's New…read moreYork, and more to the point it's the USA, and that goes with the territory. This building is very special to me because when I needed to get my citizenship it was here that my awesome lawyer (whose office is in the upper reaches of this magnificent building) helped me through the process and got me over the line - and I will always be grateful for that. He's David Gottfried of Gottfried & Gottfried, by the way. I would recommend him to anyone as the perfect immigration lawyer for my situation and I wish nothing but the best for him. As for the building it's a typical old rustic early 20th century New York stunner, and it seems haunted. They do make you go through a security check to get up inside here but then so does Barbie with her clients.

    Photos
    Bowery Savings Bank Building - Exterior

    Exterior

    Bowery Savings Bank Building - Lil Bowery Wow

    Lil Bowery Wow

    Bowery Savings Bank Building

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    Van Gogh's Ear - Van Gogh's Ear, a public art sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset

    Van Gogh's Ear

    5.0(3 reviews)
    0.4 miMidtown East, Midtown West

    Don't look for this work of art. It's not there. If you were lucky enough to see it, write a…read morereview. It's pretty cool if you stare and stare. Then all of a sudden you realize what you're looking at! My photos are from April 14, 2016. It was a beautiful Spring Day. I am enjoying reminiciing about today during the Arctic Blast!

    "Van Gogh's Ear", a public art sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset, is in place at 30 Rockefeller…read morePlaza, right across the street from the entrance to Sak's 5th Ave. The sculpture, by the same duo that brought us the Prada Marfa Store in the middle of the Texas desert, is a tribute to the ready-made style of Marcel Duchamp. The sculpture is a 30 foot tall swimming pool, taken out of its normal context and displayed in its side with a diving board built in at the top. One of my favorite elements are the working lights on the inside left and right of the pool sculpture. Being that it's out of context - a recreational object in the middle of a commercial center - it creates a sense of longing and desire for recreation over industry and gives you an off-kilter feeling (why am I going to work when I could be swimming!). Overall a great piece of colorful public art at placed I a great spot for the perfect season. The piece is on display from April 13th though June 3rd, 2016. Catch it while you can!

    Photos
    Van Gogh's Ear - The sign for Elmgreen & Dragset's piece "Van Gogh's Ear"

    The sign for Elmgreen & Dragset's piece "Van Gogh's Ear"

    Van Gogh's Ear - Van Gogh's Ear beautifully backlit by NYC last night.

    Van Gogh's Ear beautifully backlit by NYC last night.

    Van Gogh's Ear - They removed the street-side barricades.

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    They removed the street-side barricades.

    Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Plaque

    Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Plaque

    5.0(1 review)
    0.0 miMidtown East

    "Don't know much about history Don't know much biology…read moreDon't know much about a science book Don't know much about the French I took" (Sam Cooke) I guess you can call me a history nerd. After all, I did major in history and rarely walk past a plaque or memorial or marker that I don't stop to read and more than likely Yelp. So when we were walking out to the street from Grand Central Station's Park Avenue/East 42nd Street entry and saw a wall plaque with the portrait of a familiar woman, I just had to stop and check it out. The portrait was of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Those of my generation will always remember the traumatic and terribly sad photographs of her from Dallas on November 22, 1963 with her pink pill box hat and her blood splattered pink dress. Twelve years after JFK's assassination the former First lady was engaged in a high stakes 1975 battle to save one of her hometown's iconic landmarks. At issue was a plan to take the wrecking ball to New York City's Grand Station Terminal and demolish it, just as Penn Station has been demolished and rebuilt in 1964. She became outraged when she learned of the plan and led a coalition of New Yorkers and the the Municipal Art Society to stop it. She was the star of a famous press conference from Grand Central and declared "If we don't care about our past we can't have very much hope for our future, we've all heard that it's too late, or that it has to happen, that it's inevitable. But I don't think that's true. Because I think if there is a great effort, even if it's the eleventh hour, then you can succeed and I know that's what we'll do." She also wrote an eloquent letter to NYC 's Mayor Beame and asked him "...is it not cruel to let our city die by degrees, stripped of all her proud moments, until there is nothing left of all her history and beauty to inspire our children? If they are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to fight for her future? Americans care about their past, but for short term gain they ignore it and tear down everything that matters..." The plaque was dedicated on June 24, 2014 to mark renovations to the station's main entrance. The renovations honor her legacy with photographs, a video display, and the plaque. The entry itself was renamed "The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Foyer".

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    Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Plaque

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    Empire State Building - Photo opportunity with King Kong himself

    Empire State Building

    4.0(2.4k reviews)
    0.5 miKoreatown, Midtown West

    Folks, the Empire State Building built in 1931 in just over a year during the Depression, when…read moreAmerica built fast and huge. Iconic, baby. I went up recently, and let me tell you, it's no One World Trade Center. One World? Smooth, modern, straight to the top no nonsense. Empire State? Lines, more lines, security gauntlet, then they dump you halfway into a gift shop full of overpriced junk. Total tourist trap gimmick! They're making a fortune, but come on let me see the view already! But then you hit the 86th floor deck, wind smacks you in the face, city noise roars up from a thousand feet below horns, life, energy. Tremendous! 360-degree views that make you feel like King Kong himself. Nostalgic as hell Art Deco soul, real history you can touch. Not some sterile glass tower; this is old-school New York grit. Sure, if you want quick and slick, skip to One World. But the Empire State? Pure character. Worth every hassle. Go early, grab the express pass if you're smart, soak it in. It's legendary, folks. Huge! Make New York great again one windy deck at a time.

    I hadn't visited the Empire State Building in probably 20 years, but I decided to visit with my…read morehusband last weekend. It's such a different experience now. 20 years ago, I remember just walking into the lobby, buying a ticket, and heading up to the observation deck. But today? You enter in a different spot, and it's a whole experience. There's a "museum" now and you can spend more time here than just taking in the views from the 86th floor. So why go? It was the world's tallest building when it was completed in 1931 and until the North Tower of the World Trade Center was completed in 1970. (Sad aside: It became NYC's tallest building again after 9/11 until was surpassed by One World Trade Center in 2012.) It features gorgeous art deco architecture and design. It's a cultural icon (one of my favorite parts of the museum experience was a room where you can see dozens of film clips which feature the Empire State Building). The new experience includes exhibits that explain the history, design, and construction of the building. What I learned about its construction was particularly interesting! The construction of the building involved more than 3,500 workers, many of who were Irish and Italian immigrants, and led to an unknown number of deaths of workers (official reports say 5, newspapers at the time reported higher numbers). While I felt this museum addition really added to the experience of visiting the Empire State Building, it has also certainly made visiting the building more expensive. So let's get down to the brass tacks. The base ticket (which gets you entry into everything up to the 86th floor) is $44 for adults, $42 for seniors, and $38 for children (plus a $5 booking charge for each transaction). If you want to visit the 102nd floor for that additional observation deck, it's $79 for adults, $77 for seniors, and $73 for children (plus the booking charge). Then there are ways to spend even more money: a Starbucks Reserve Sunrise ticket ($135 per person); an Express Pass (starting at $85/120 per person); a Premium Experience ($175 per person); and All-Access Tour ($500 per person)... I'm generally not into these expensive view experiences that have popped up all over NYC. But the Empire State Building is special. It's an icon and a view. But I still wasn't willing to pay $80 to visit, so we stuck with the base ticket that gets you access only to the 86th floor observatory. The 86th Floor Observatory contains an enclosed viewing gallery and open-air outdoor viewing area. It's the classic observatory you've seen in movies. And it was certainly enough for me - the museum and the 86th floor observatory! Don't miss/rush through the original main lobby as you leave the experience. Or - if you're not willing to pay for the experience to see the view - stop in at the lobby on its own - it's open to the public (follow the signs for the Starbucks Reserve which is entered through this lobby). The lobby is gorgeous - marble, terrazzo, a scale model of the building... But the highlight is that aluminum relief of the skyscraper as it was originally built (without the antenna). It's incredible. It's an icon for a reason, and it was fun to visit and to see it again after so many years. They've certainly made it more of an experience than it used to be (although now, you can't just pop by for the view on a pretty day, since it's prohibitively expensive for a quick visit), but I had a really good time.

    Photos
    Empire State Building - King Kong poster

    King Kong poster

    Empire State Building - Ahhhh godzilla got me

    Ahhhh godzilla got me

    Empire State Building - The souvenir glass that you can only get in the restaurant on the first floor.

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    The souvenir glass that you can only get in the restaurant on the first floor.

    Whispering Gallery - landmarks - Updated May 2026

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