Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden is located on 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets, above Pennsylvania Train Station. It is home to the NBA team, the Knicks, (Jack and Euri watch them in action) and the NHL team, the Rangers (shown above). Built in 1968, it is the fourth incarnation of the arena (the first, dating back to the 1870s, was at 26th Street and Madison Avenue).
While the Garden is a fun place to watch sports, concerts and other events in New York, it reminds many New Yorkers of a painful moment in the city’s history. In 1964, the original Penn Station, a gorgeous building modeled after the grandest of European train stations, was torn down to make room for the new, ugly Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. So many New Yorkers were distraught by this architectural loss that they vowed not to let it happen again. When similar plans were made to demolish Grand Central Terminal, prominent New Yorkers, led by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, used their influence to save—and eventually restore--the aging, yet beautiful, station.
Below a photo of the original Penn Station. For an illustrated history of the station, I highly recommend Old Penn Station by William Low. Low, whom I've had the honor of meeting, is a very talented artist who spent years creating the illustrations for this amazing children's book.
