Which terminal does Holden spend a night in after leaving Mr. Antolini's apartment?

The story behind the answer

Holden spends the night in a waiting room at Grand Central Terminal after leaving Mr. Antolini’s apartment. The episode occurs near the end of The Catcher in the Rye, when Holden is exhausted, isolated, and increasingly distressed.

After interpreting Mr. Antolini’s behavior as a sexual advance, Holden abruptly leaves the apartment rather than accepting the place to sleep that his former teacher offered. He wanders through New York and eventually settles in the train-waiting room at Grand Central Terminal, where he spends the rest of the night.

The terminal is a fitting setting for Holden’s crisis: it is crowded and public, yet he remains emotionally alone. Readers sometimes confuse Grand Central Terminal with Pennsylvania Station because both are major Manhattan rail hubs. Grand Central serves as a recurring cultural symbol of New York, but in the novel it is specifically the place where Holden passes the night before meeting Phoebe.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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