The Campbell Apartment

PHOTO from ARMANDO RAMPAS website

I like to tell the story about the first time I had drinks at The Campbell Apartment. An upscale bar located (hidden) in Grand Central, it took me quite some time to find this place. I had never heard of this place before, and was simply told it was at Grand Central. I should have asked for more details . . . Grand Central is not at all small, or simple.

After hunting for some time in the restaurant area and passing through the shopping area and the market place several times, I began asking people. No one was very helpful, many store clerks had not heard of it. I began to wonder if it was actually in Grand Central at all. Finally someone I asked instructed me to take the freight elevator up to The Campbell Apartment. Freight elevator??? I finally found the elevator, though not a freight elevator, it is somewhat non-descript and not easy to find.

Indeed it did take me up to the bar, and upon stepping into The Campbell Apartment I was amazed at its grand and dark interior. I felt as if I had entered some secret drinking club headquarters at an Ivy League school. The ceiling is very high with ornate antique rafters. There is an old fireplace and the lighting is dark and quiet. Tall glass pane windows rise above the bar, but you can not see through them. (When walking through Grand Central later I always look up and wonder which set of glass windows high along the terminal walls belong to Campbell Apartments, but I am never really sure). The bar's atmosphere is austere and antique, think dark reds, leather and wood paneling. I felt swept away into some other world, far removed from the bustling terminal just outside the stone walls of the bar.

Drinks are pricey (and elegant), so come here for the experience, not for a night of drinking. The Campbell Apartment is located in Grand Central, and I am not being any more specific than that . . . good luck finding it.