Financial History Issue 112 (Winter 2015) | Page 38
Belly of the
Exchange
By Bart Ward
The Historic
New York
Stock Exchange
Luncheon Club
On loan from LaBranche & Co.
For more than a century, the iconic NYSE
trading floor on the corner of Wall and
Broad Streets has been considered the
center of the American financial system.
A lesser-known room that existed within
the walls of that historic building was the
Stock Exchange Luncheon Club (SELC),
which operated from June 1898 to April
2006. The Club was not officially part of
the NYSE, but was a separate organization
with its own president and officers, board
of directors and general manager; it also
maintained its own membership, separate
from the Exchange.
According to Steven Wheeler, NYSE
director of archives, corporate giving and
education, “The Luncheon Club was a
private dining club for NYSE members
who could have a meal in the large elegant
dining room, or have lunch delivered to
their workstation on the trading floor. The
Luncheon Club provided a convenient
alternative to the nearby lunch counters,
buffets and cafeterias in the Wall Street
neighborhood.”
In the foreword of Arthur Cashin’s
1999 book, A View of Wall Street From
the Seventh Floor, then Club president,
Jack Dalessandro, wrote, “The survival of
the Club through wars, crashes and heady
times is a testament to its past leaders and
membership.” Ray Pellecchia, long-time
NYSE vice president of communications,
said, “Back in the day, the trading floor
could be seen as an extended family, and
the Luncheon Club was where they went
to sit down together and break bread.
When I joined the NYSE in 1988, the
trading floor was the beating heart of the
place, and the Club was perhaps the belly.”
36 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2015 | www.MoAF.org
Isidore Bonheur’s bull and bear sculpture that
once greeted members at the entrance of the
Stock Exchange Luncheon Club has been on view
at the Museum of American Finance since 2008.