Famed Oyster Bar Gutted By Blaze

The Oyster Bar at New York’s Grand Central Terminal, a landmark known to generations of commuters and seafood lovers, was gutted by fire early Sunday.

The fire appeared to start in a refrigeration unit about 2:30 a.m., Fire Department officials said. It took two hours to bring under control.

The restaurant was destroyed and the terminal briefly evacuated. An institution that predated the opening of the railroad and subway terminal in 1913, the Oyster Bar was known worldwide for its food and bustling New York ambiance.

Fourteen people - nine firefighters, a police officer and four civilians - suffered minor injuries, firefighter Tim Murphy said. “This is a real blow,” railroad spokesman Dan Brucker said. “People would pack in there like sardines - no pun intended.”

The restaurant’s general manager said repairs began Sunday and he hopes to reopen in about two weeks. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Mark Abrahamson said.

The restaurant is perhaps the last vestige of an era when New York had numerous oyster bars.

“Although the oyster eventually lost its prominent place in the cuisine of the city, the Grand Central Oyster Bar remained world-renowned into the 1990s,” according to “The Encyclopedia of New York City.”