Yesterday I posted a mini-documentary on the demolition of the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, created by a YouTube channel called ‘Old Money Mansions’. Here’s another of their demo docs, this one about the rise and fall of the once magnificent Pennsylvania Station, which met its end in 1963 (though it appears to have taken several more years to fully wipe it out due to its size and sturdiness). Though they point out that the station had grown grimy and ill-kept in its last years, there were other more practical reasons that led to this disastrous urban planning decision and they have to do with a major New York City developer of the era named William Zeckendorf. I’ve always found Zeckendorf an interesting figure, the kind of swashbuckling urban visionary that often doesn’t get enough credit for the shaping of the city. (By contrast Fred Trump gets exactly the credit he deserves for making the slums of Queens what they are today). Now I’m not so sure–the cutthroat nature of big-ticket real estate development doesn’t allow for nice sensitive guys who make nice sensitive decisions. The doc’s makers do a good job in explaining the reasons Penn Station was built to begin with as well as the inexorable progress toward its demise. If the new Penn Station had been at least relatively pleasant and well though out it might have taken the sting out of the old on having been demoed. Instead, it was replaced by a cheerless, sad and tacky station that makes the beginning of any trip feel like a major bummer. I for one am always filled with dread upon hearing that I have to take a train leaving from Penn. It’s a little like having to fly out of Newark. If you’re a New Yorker you’ll know what I’m getting at…