This video was made possible by Blue Apron. The first 50 people to sign up at the link
in the description will get $50 off their first two weeks. You’ve heard of the secret train system
in DC, you’ve heard of the secret train platform in London, but have you heard of
the secret train station in New York? I hope not because that’s this week’s
dose of content. Let’s rewind 150 years to the era of not
planes, trains, and not automobiles. In this time, the railroads coming from the
north into New York City ended up at Grand Central Depot. This massive rail yard took up more than a
dozen city-blocks in one of New York’s densest areas and so the owners of the station, the
New York Central Railroad, saw an opportunity. They would put the entire rail yard underground,
build a huge new station, sell all the freed up real estate, and get that bread. 10 years and 85 million cubic feet of dirt
later Grand Central Terminal opened and it was actually pretty neat. It has more tracks and platforms than any
other station in the world and today includes all sort of non-rail related things like a
tennis club in the ceiling which was once run by a certain future US president. The station also had at one point, and this
is true, a 65 foot indoor ski slope. As this implies, Grand Central was long at
the center of American opulence as much of the country’s early wealth was earned by
rail tycoons. Given that, on top of the now buried tracks,
plenty of important buildings sprang up. In the area that was once the rail yards there
is today the headquarters of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, JP Morgan, MetLife, Major League
Baseball, and also the Waldorf Astoria hotel. This hotel has long been considered one of
the world’s most prestigious and has been stayed at by countless celebrities. Up until 2015, when the hotel was bought by
a Chinese company, the Waldorf Astoria was the place where US presidents stayed when
they made their frequent visits to New York. The hotel has a lavish Presidential Suite
that’s been stayed in by every US president between Herbert Hoover and Barack Obama and
non-presidents like the Kings of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Norway, the Queen of England,
the Emperor of Japan, General Charles de Gaulle of France, and more. While it costs the general public between
$4,000 and $8,000 to stay there per night, the hotel gives a generous discount to the
US government and, by extension, the American taxpayer, and the room is even designed to
emulate the style of the White House. Conveniently, the room is also about 500 feet
above the Grand Central Tracks buried more than 100 years ago. Now, back in a time before private jets, the
way that America’s richest and most powerful individuals got around without mingling with
the normals was by private rail car. These would be hitched to the back of public
trains and included dining rooms, kitchens, large bedrooms, lounges, and more. In the same way that US presidential candidates
now often do speeches at airports in front of their planes, in the past candidates would
do whistle-stop tours where they would make short speeches in small towns across America
from the back of private rail-cars. Roosevelt was a particular fan of using these
trains. Due to polio-induced paralysis, the bottom
half of his body didn’t work but he did serve twice as many terms as any other US
president so, equal? Unbelievably though, he was able to hide his
handicap from most of the American public through careful coordination at events and
the cooperation of the press. That’s why whenever he was seen standing
he was holding on to someone or something. Giving speeches from the back of a railcar
was therefore easy as he didn’t have to go far in public. While nowadays presidents fly on Air Force
One to New York, Roosevelt would often make the trip by rail but arriving in Grand Central
Station would be far too public to hide his ailment. His train therefore stopped a third of a mile
short of Grand Central and was shunted to a small secret platform directly below the
Waldorf Astoria hotel. From there, an elevator would take him up
into the hotel. It’s unclear how many times FDR used this
secret station as it was, of course, secret but its believed to have been used by plenty
of presidents and celebrities since his era. The secret platform and elevator still exists
today and, while its existence is no longer secret, we’re not always sure what it’s
being used for. This inconspicuous door on 50th street is
reportedly the entrance to the elevator down to the platform. We do know for sure that the platform has
been used at least once in recent decades while a US president has stayed at the Waldorf
Astoria. In 2003, while President Bush was staying
there for a United Nations General Assembly session, an idling Metro-North train was kept
at this platform ready to shuttle the president off Manhattan at any moment in case of emergency. While not confirmed, it’s assumed that this
procedure is repeated whenever presidents visit the Waldorf Astoria nowadays. If you need to not be seen in public for security,
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