Moynihan Train Hall Ticketed Waiting Room with Stan Douglas's artwork via their website
With the opening of the Moynihan Train Hall in January 2021, the old and the new were melded together into one glorious building. This theme was carried on in the artwork, Penn Station’s Half Century which is located in the Amtrak waiting rooms. From the Moynihan Train Hall website, "Artist Stan Douglas drew on archival research to reconstruct nine remarkable but forgotten moments from the history of the original Pennsylvania Station (1910-1963). He seamlessly combined photographs of costumed performers with digitally recreated interiors of the demolished Station. The resulting images pay tribute to that grand building and to the layers of human experience that bring our civic spaces to life recreated."
Below are some of Douglas's magnificent artwork and the images that inspired his creations.
Artist Stan Douglas 20 June 1930 (niche 3, panel 1) via Moynihan Trail Hall website
Unknown Penn Station's Waiting Room
In 1930, a Ford trimotor airplane was placed in the Penn Station’s Waiting Room to advertise TWA's partnership with the Pennsylvania Railroad and Santa Fe Railroad. This new coast-to-coast travel route began at Penn Station taking passengers by train, then by plane, then by train, and finally by plane to Los Angeles. Originally too large to go through any of Penn Station's doors, the trimotor airplane was taken apart and then reassembled. The famous female aviator, Amelia Earhart christened the airplane and supposedly walked potential clients to the station's platforms. To no surprise, the TWA's train to the plane (twice over) was too expensive and not super convenient to be successful.*
Artist Stan Douglas 20 June 1944 (niche 3, panel 2) via Moynihan Trail Hall website
Unknown Penn Station during World War II
Penn Station saw millions of soldiers and sailors pass through its resplendent halls during World War II. Both Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station promoted the U. S. war effort with large displays supporting everything from war bonds to war heroes. According to the Moynihan Train Hall website, "In 1943, six massive photo murals by designer Raymond Loewy were hung on the west wall of the Waiting Room to celebrate the almost 50,000 Pennsylvania Railroad employees’ service to the nation. Each depicted a representative from various professions within the Railroad: conductor, engineer, soldier, sailor, marine, and, most remarkably, “red-cap” porter, an essential occupation filled exclusively by Black men in the decades before desegregation." *
Artist Stan Douglas 7 August 1934 (niche 2, panel 2) via Moynihan Trail Hall website
Bellman Archive Angelo Herndon arriving at Penn Station.
In 1934, thousands of New Yorkers waited for labor organizer, Angelo Herndon at Penn Station. Herndon was on a national speaking tour to promote his case concerning his illegal arrest and incarceration. This tour took place while Herndon's attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. During his time in the city, Herndon gave a series of speeches on racial justice and workers' rights.
The artist Stan Douglas portrays Herndon's arrival at Penn Station in his recreation. *
Artist Stan Douglas 22 April 1924 (niche 2, panel 1) via Moynihan Trail Hall website
Unknown Celia Cooney leaving the train at Penn Station.
In 1924, Celia Cooney, famously known as the “Bobbed Hair Bandit", robbed several banks in Brooklyn supposedly using a small gun and wearing pearls and a fur coat. As the police closed in, she fled New York and impending arrest to head south. Cooney's style epitomized the Jazz Age made her a national story and enthralled the public. Cooney was caught in Jacksonville, Florida, and transported to New York City to face charges for armed robbery.
Cooney at the Courthouse.
Arriving at Penn Station, she was greeted by a massive mob. The New York World described the crowd: "Neither Presidents nor Jack Dempsey had attracted such a throng to Pennsylvania Station as Celia Cooney, Brooklyn's Bobbed Haired Bandit, and her husband, Edward did when they reached this city at 3:30."
Public adoration withstanding, Celia Cooney was convicted and sentenced to jail for 10 years for her crimes. *
Artist Stan Douglas 20 June 1944 (niche 3, panel 2) via Moynihan Train Hall website
Unknown Soldiers saying goodbye at Penn Station.
Penn Station held many farewells for deploying soldiers during World War II. This would be the last time that the Pennsylvania Railroad would see so much traffic with more than 100 million people passing through its station. After the war, train travel suffered greatly suffer with Americans turning to cars, highways, and airplanes to roam through the United States.
Artist Stan Douglas 20 June 1957 (niche 3, panel 3) via Moynihan Train Hall website
Photograph via Nick De Wolf
Unknown
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By the 1950s, Penn Station was deteriorating. Its pink marble-clad walls were covered in soot and grime. Train travel was viewed as out of style. So Pennsylvania Railroad decided to modernize the station by building a futuristic ticket counter. Critics called it "The Clam Shell". According to the Moynihan Train Hall website, "Douglas illustrates both the subtle ravages of time—such as the fading colors in Jules Guérin’s painted frieze of topographical landscapes, begrimed over the years by the residue of train exhaust—and a dramatic attempt to keep pace with modernity".
Unfortunately, no modernization would be able to save Penn Station. It would be torn down in 1963. The station built to stand the test of time took three years to be demolished. *
Artist Stan Douglas 15 September 1944 (niche 4, panel 2) via Moynihan Train Hall website
The Penn Station set from MGM's The Clock
The movie, The Clock was shot entirely at the MGM studio in Culver City, CA. Directed by Vincent Minnelli and starring (his soon-to-be wife), Judy Garland and Robert Walker. The film was about a soldier exploring New York City and discovering love before being deployed for the war.
From the Moynihan Train Hall website, "Douglas captures the vacant set—populated only by technicians, props, and lighting instruments—that would become the backdrop for the couple’s fortuitous meeting as well as their emotional parting. Much like Douglas’s own process, Minnelli’s film used artifice to recreate the nostalgic romance associated with the Station and its status as an iconic site in United States culture."*
Judy Garland and Robert Walker in MGM's The Clock 1944
If you travel by Amtrak into or out of New York City, make sure you check out Stan Douglas's Penn Station's Half Century in the ticketed waiting room.
What to know more? Here's a good place to start:
Sources:
Photographs:
Stan Douglas Artwork from Moynihan Train Hall Ticketing Waiting Room
The Clock pictures via MGM Studios