Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-22

I millions have been spent in order that the
| sightseer may be cared for in comfort. The
| building for the st. Regis cost only s., $780,
600, according to the estimates filed with
! the city, but as the hotel stands today, pa
| fatally fitted out from basement to roof 1t
represents an outlay of $5,OO0,OOO. So with
! the Hotel Aston The frame cost 81 soc, 600:
all told, William Waldorf Aston has spent
six millions on the property. The Hotel Bel
| mont now under way, calls for two and a
| half million dollars for construction alone.
| The fitting up of this great skyscraper will
| take at least as much money for it is to
| be one of the biggest of all New York's big
hotels. And so on down the line.
Hotels and Apartments.
In passing, it is interesting to note that
| In 1902 forty-eight hotels were put up at a
| cost of $21, 49, 600, while in the same year
| the 226 apartment houses and apartment
hotels built for occupancy by New York
| ers cost $13, 463 SEQ, and the 40 erected last
| year cost only $i,6S1 800 more than the no.
| tells of the year previous.
The ceaseless construction of hotels and
places of amusement gives some idea of the
enormous number of people who devote a
part of each year to doing New York. A
still clearer idea may be gained with the
help of the records of attendance kept by
| many of the institutions that are favored
by sightSeers always, and by New Workers
as rule, only when they are compelled to
show their country cousins about town.
Take the aquarium, one of the town
! lesser show places for example. Last year
1920, I75 visitors looked at the fishes, great
had done so from January 1 to September
1 of this year, and on last September %
7,1SS persons passed by the doorkeepers.
Millions of Visitors.
One million two hundred persons went
| last year to the great Geological Gardens
in the Bronx, away off the beaten path and
one of the newer show places that is just
becoming known. So far this year the at
tendance has been over a million. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art had S02,9OO
visitors last year. and the American Mu-
scum of Natural History 100000. These
two institutions naturally appeal more to
| certain classes than to the mass, and the
great majority of sightseers who spent
their time looking at the paintings and the
collections of the Museum very probably did
not go near the Geological Gardens or other
show places of the popular sort.
Yet the sightseer of art, and the sight
seer of animals, and the sightseer of life
on the East Side eventually all converge
far up on the citys western boundary at
Grants tomb. Here New Yorks thousands
of visitors come to pay reverence to the
memory of great man. There is steady
stream of them in good weather and bad.
One day last winter, when the writer was
out in a heavy snow storm, he passed the
tomb, and what was his surprise to behold
scores of persons going into and coming
out of it. On a fair day the broad steps
have to wait your turn to look down. with
bowed head, on the last resting place of the
great Union leader and his wife. The tomb
will always be one of the citys chiefest
show places and it's most revered spot. no
matter what the future may bring forth.
Many New Things.
1t is safe to hazard that the future Will
bring forth many world-famous places,
| called into existence by the conditions OF
| life on the island. In the near future-on
| the 9th of this month to be exact-a colos-
| sal show place will be put on view for pub
! lie beneft-the great Subway. Within the
next few years three additional bridges VIII
| have been thrown across the East river at
| an aggregate cost of some $4,000, COO; pas
sengers will be brought into. the heart OF
the city from the west and sent out OF II
| for New England through tunnels driven
under the two rivers and through the island
| itself; New Workers will be carried from
| home to office and from Office to home I'M
| der the bay; two great railroad terminals,
each covering blocks, and each costing mil
| lions, will have been constructed; and there
| is much talk of gigantic municipal build
| ing that will cover two or three blocks and
endeavor to reach almost to where its build
| ers fondly hoped to top off the Tower OF
| Babel.
There are great things in store for the
American metropolis in the way of show
Indies and throughout European centers by
| sightseeing companies as the wonder city
| of the New World, to say nothing of the
| advertisements of guides to that effect In
| American publications. But where will
these caterers to the wants of sightSeerS
| get fresh adjectives with which to describe
| properly these added wonders? and what
| more can the Pittsburg man say who said:
II wouldn't like to live in New York;
! wouldn't have any place to co.