FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers per weekday as of 2019. It is located in Midtown Manhattan, beneath Madison Square Garden in the block bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets, and in the James A. Farley Building, with additional exits to nearby streets. It is close to Herald Square, the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and Macy’s Herald Square.

Penn Station has 21 tracks fed by seven tunnels (the two North River Tunnels, the four East River Tunnels, and the single Empire Connection tunnel). It is at the center of the Northeast Corridor, a passenger rail line that connects New York City to Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and intermediate points. Intercity trains are operated by Amtrak, which owns the station, while commuter rail services are operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and NJ Transit (NJT). Connections are available within the complex to the New York City Subway and buses.

Penn Station is named for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), its builder and original owner, and shares its name with several stations in other cities. The current facility is the remodeled underground remnant of the original Pennsylvania Station, a more ornate station building designed by McKim, Mead, and White and considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style. Completed in 1910, it enabled direct rail access to New York City from the south for the first time. Its head house was torn down in 1963, galvanizing the modern historic preservation movement. The rest of the station was rebuilt in the following six years, while retaining most of the rail infrastructure from the original station.

A new direct entrance from 33rd Street to the LIRR concourse opened in December 2020. Moynihan Train Hall, an expansion of Penn Station into a mixed-use redevelopment of the adjacent Farley Post Office building, opened in January 2021.

Plans call for further expanding the LIRR concourse, adding railway platforms in a new southern annex to accommodate two proposed Gateway Program tunnels under the Hudson River, adding underground connections to the Herald Square station and with the PATH to the 33rd Street station, and renovating the core Penn Station under Madison Square Garden.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Advent Sunday

“Advent Sunday is a liturgical period preceding Christmas, beginning in Western churches on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and observed by many as a season of prayer, fasting, and penitence. Advent Sunday is also called the First Sunday of Advent by Western Christian Churches. It is the first day of the liturgical year and the start of the season of Advent.”

Question of the Day

How did the custom of the handshake originate?

This custom started in medieval times. The world was an unsavory place back then, and people often concealed weapons in their hands. The handshake was a way of affirming that neither you nor the person you were greeting was carrying anything intended to harm. Over time, it evolved into a polite greeting.

Advice of the Day

To avoid dying, if you hear a dog howl at night, reach under the bed and turn over a shoe.

Home Hint of the Day

To catch fleas, place a shallow pan filled with water and a little dishwashing liquid in the room that’s infested. At night leave just one lamp on and focus it right over the pan. The fleas will jump at the light and fall into the dish. Continue the treatment for 2 weeks.

Word of the Day

Clodhopper

A rude, rustic fellow.

Puzzle of the Day

What is the difference between a locomotive and a hound?

One runs on the track, and the other tracks on the run.

Born

• Anders Celsius (astronomer) – 1701
• James Agee (writer) – 1909
• Buffalo Bob Smith (entertainer, Howdy Doody host) – 1917
• Bruce Lee (martial artist & actor) – 1940
• Jimi Hendrix (musician) – 1942
• Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (daughter of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy) – 1957
• Fisher Stevens (actor) – 1963
• Michael Vartan (actor) – 1968

Died

• Alexandre Dumas fils (author) – 1895
• Baby Face Nelson (gangster) – 1934
• Eugene O’Neil (playwright) – 1953
• Lotte Lenya (actress) – 1981

Events

• Shakespeare got a license to marry Anne Hathaway– 1582
• The American Statistical Association founded in Boston– 1839
• Spectacular Andromedid meteor storm, 13,000 per hour– 1885
• Penn. Station opened in New York City– 1910
• C.A.R.E. founded– 1945
• Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scored 18 baskets in a row– 1963
• In San Francisco, city mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former supervisor Dan White– 1978
• Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 2.0 was released, starting the first browser war (with Netscape’s Navigator)– 1995

Weather

• The Portland Storm brought 27 inches of snow to New London, Connecticut– 1898
• 0.5” snow began falling in northern Florida– 1912
• Tallahassee, Florida, experienced freezing temperatures, with a low of 20 degrees F– 1950
• A blizzard with lightning struck parts of South Dakota– 1983

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