Tucked away in the corner of Grand Central Terminal between Eddie’s Shoe Repair and Track 42, a small, brightly-colored recording booth is capturing the memories and emotions of some of the half a million people who pass through the station every day. Modeled after the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s, when oral-history interviews with everyday Americans across the country were recorded, the storybooth is the second of two recording outposts in the city—the other being at the WTC site.

But unlike its Downtown twin, which is primarily recording stories of people affected by the September 11 attacks or of tourists nearby, the Grand Central booth is attracting native New Yorkers with diverse tales from all over the city. These recordings are of stories as rich as the city itself—tales of what it was like to grow up in Morningside Heights during the Depression, a typical housewife’s routine in the Bronx and the joy of food at Coney Island movie houses.

Listen to 91-year-old Harold Slappy regale you with stories of Saturdays at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, Joseph Robertson tell his son-in-law about the German he killed during the Second World War, or Michael Wolmetz propose to his girlfriend with his late father’s wedding ring. Interested?

Links for today:
Listen to Storycorps.
Look at Storycorps.