O'Nieal's, the Grand Street restaurant near the old Centre Street police headquarters, has way too many vowels in its name. But it does have other things going for it. The space was a one-time speakeasy, and still has a tunnel underground that leads to the police station. It also has an awesome carved mahogany ceiling that dates from the original construction. I stumbled in the other day whey they were polishing it. "It takes a lot of care," said a waitress.
I've always liked the building, but there are usually way too many yuppies in it, when the bar isn't empty. But I'll check out the tunnel the next time I'm there.
ReplyDeleteThat old police station really should be a museum (it would be almost as good a location for the Museum of the City of New York as the Tweed Courthouse), offices for a really important government agency, or at least shops. Its a really imposing building. But instead its expensive apartments, so the public can't visit it.