Jaunted

It's Grand Central Oyster Bar, with "Real Maine Lobster Stew" and more served to locals and tourists alike since it opened in 1913. Just like in their 1953 ad, the Oyster Bar still touts that it's hauling in daily catches of the freshest seafood to be "...superbly cooked, delightfully seasoned just the way YOU like it best!" The vaulted tile ceilings might be familiar to diners from over the years, but the prices sure won't be.

In the 1950s, when a Friday afternoon would be packed mainly with men from nearby offices heading here to treat themselves to a lobster lunch on payday, the cost of such a meal maxed out around $3.50—and that was for one fancy spread. A glimpse at the market price for the same meal, at this same restaurant, fifty-six years later, is a hefty $26.95 per pound; sounds about right.

The Grand Central Oyster Bar is a perfect example of how New York changes but remains the same. Imagine visitors hopping off of their trains in from Chicago or Baltimore, still dressed in their traveling outfits and toting hard-sided train cases, and then looking to treat themselves to something NYC does best: fine dining. It's the same today, except now it's people arriving on Metro-North trains from Westchester and tourists coming specifically to GCT for the oysters.

It's such an institution that we'd like to suggest a new motto for them: "Grand Central Terminal's Oyster Bar: Aphrodisiac central since 1913."

Related Stories:
· Oyster Bar NY [Official Site]
· NYC In the 1950s Map and More [Jaunted]

[Scan from March 1953 edition of "The New York Visitor"]