Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-03
Special to The Herald.

the downtown property which It sim
ply must have for its public buildings.
One plot alone Of less than half an
acre cost $4,000, ,000--the price paid for
the great Central park site about 20
years ago Yet, in the matter of buy
ing real estate for public purposes, the
early doges of New York seem to have
been far-sighted. When Father Knick-
erbocker first began investing In park
property on the Island of Manhattan
in the early part of the last century he
probably had no idea that before an
other hundred years rolled over his
head his holdings in that particular
kind of realty would make him a
richer old man than any OF the Astors,
or all the Astors together, In fact. AS
an instance Of his unconscious fore
sight his fine exhibit as a real estate
Speculator Is shown In Central Park,
which, with the adjoining Manhattan
square, he bought in 1889 for $5,0OO,OOO.
When he made this purchase and pro-
posed wallng the property In for the
purposes of q breathing place and
pleasure ground for his sons and
daughters for all time the idea was
ridiculed by many of the townsfolk,
who looked upon what Is now Fifty
ninth street as q distant country or.
at least, rural district too remote to
be OF any immediate concern to New
Workers.
In Petticoat Lane
All the beautiful women in New
York seem to take their exercise in
Fifth avenue; no other street can show
so many In such smart attire and of
such obvious breeding at any time of
| day. Gowned In the richest of silks
and velvets they lean back luxurious
ly In their handsomely appointed VIC
torias; wrapped in costly furs and
swathed In wells they dash by in their
swiftgoing motors; in the smartest of
tailored suits with every hair of their
heads brushed and waved to perfec-
tion, they parade on the sidewalks with
a smart looking Boston terrier or
fluffy Pomeranian on string. They
are all alert, busy and intent on some
thing, whether it be attendance at
charity meeting or an appointment at
| the dressmaker's.
Now and then comes group OF
girls, safely chaperoned, from some
school. They swing along in twos, full
| of delight ut all that Is going OH and
| not missing anything. In contrast to
| them are the little errand girls with
| whom Fifth avenue habitues are famil-
| lar. They climb in and out Of the
| stages or trudge along carrying big
boxes from the dressmakers' to the
homes of wealthy patrons. There is
| not much Joy in their faces, and little
wonder for they know that their bur-
dens contain more money represented
in dress than they can earn by
year of hard work.
Passing of Big Suds Paror
At the Manhattan end of Brooklyn
bridge there is a saloon which averages
a sale of 90 barrels of beer day. 1t
;e,r n6ah he In
the world. The yearly profits are S75,-
900. These facts are stated preliminary
| to the more important one that the Sa-
| loon Is soon to vanish. The city needs
| the room for an extension of the termi
| nal facilities. Probably no other sa-
| loon in New York does so big busi-
ness as Andy Horns. 1t Is really
hotel, but not one customer in a thou
sand guesses that. In hot, dry weather
it Is no uncommon thing for 5000
thirsty souls to cross its threshold
during the day-parched and anxious
going in, moist and joyous going out.
On a mild, sunShiny, mellow day, like
today, with just hint of autumn cool
ness In the air. not more than rs bar
rels of beer are sold; but on scorch-
ing day in August more than 100 bar
rels float across the bar In schooners.
schoppens, seidels. stems, shells, STAN
gels and prominentes. Lashins Of whis-
ky, too, are consumed on the premi-
ses every day. And at least four
cases Of champagne are sold every "a
hours. The total draught of moist joy
sold at Andy Horns every day is
enough to float a steam yacht of six
tons displacement.
Women Paid for Ideas
The old superstition that women do
not possess the inventive faculty has
been pretty we'll exploded. 1t Is true
that all kitchen utensils have been
invented by men, yet in the field of
business, and particularly the adver-
tising business, women are doing the
best work today in New York. 1t was
woman who invented Jim Dumps
and "Spotless Town" Another woman
has recently devised a calendar, at the
top of which she placed a large
painted pansy BY little sliding ar
rangement the pansy pulled down re-
veals packet of court plaster. I'm
| der the court plaster was the legend.
''Ill stick to you when others cut you"
Below was a space for an advertise
ment. She took this model to a brew
ing company. They bought it and paid
her $10O for the idea. Since then she
has not worked any more for Sc week.
The Noise EVIL
All the laws against noises in New
York city sem to operate against the
poor hucksters, but none is in working
order against big corporations and
contracting companies Should ped
dler appear in ones backyard and be-
gin bawllng, "Put up yer clo' lines. Put
up yer clo' lines" he would be dis
turbing the peace of the neighborhood
in way which should cost him a $40
fine. On proper complaint the police
could arrest him. Such soliciting OF
business by clothes-line hangers is eX-
pressly forbidden. The exact letter of
the ordinance reads: "The peddler of
clothes lines shall abstain and refrain
from all shouting and crying out of
his wares and occupation In the back
yards of residences" He may adver-
tise himself In the street during ped
ding hours. or from 8 a. m. to p. m.,
as much as he pleases but he has no
right to yell into rear windows. No
account Is taken of the outrages of the
elevated and surface car lines. Since
the electrical equipment was put in on
the elevated roads and the heavy mo-
tors in the surface cars there is no liv-
ing along Third or Sixth avenues.