The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-01-03

home Of clubdom, of great hotels and
luxurious restaurants. where during the
season there is q continual succession OF
dinners, luncheons, suppers and balls In
the giving of which cost is not considered,
except to endeavor9to Guido some previous
entertainmentsin lavish extravaganza. AT
one extremity of this region stand Sher-
RVS and Delmonico's, and at the other
the s7,000,0OO Hotel Aston, now in process
of enlargement to nearly twice its former
size, occupying the site of the old Long
acre farm. Between these are to be
found some of the wealthiest and most
exclusive clubs in the world, with valua-
lions anywhere between $1,0G0,000 and $40.
0O0,0 600 each. Here is the st. Nicholas,
which admits no one who is not the
descendant of resident New Workers
prior to 1855. Membership in this organ
ization is almost the only thing on Forty
fourth street which money cannot buy.
Nothing but conclusive. proof of descent
from the old city fathers will obtain ad-
mission, and names like those of Van
Rensselaer,, Astor, Livingston. De Peyster,
Pell and Stuyvesant are alone to be
found upon Its register.
Not far away is the Racquet club, for
years the resort of wealthy sportingmen.
Among its 800 members, few of whom
have ever had occasion to learn the mean
ing of economy, are the Vanderbilts,
from William Il. to Reginald, the young
est scion of the race, John Jacob and
William Waldorf Aston, Clarence III. Mac
kay, Payne Whitney, James Hazen Hyde,
Woodbury. Kane, the Belmonts and many
others in the same set, to whom $1,000
supper is matter of no moment what
ever. The money spent annually on sport
by the members of this club is estimated
at more than $5,000,000 Most of these
men also belong to the New York Yacht
club which occupies q magnificent build
ling close by, and counts j. 2. Morgan.
&c. Oliver Iselin, p. A. Valentine and
Iothers among its members. No less than
$50, 900 900 is represented in the yachts
owned by members of this club.
The Harvard, Yale and Cornell club
houses are to be found in the same vi
cinity, together with the building occu-
pied by the Bar association. Upon the
rolls of this and the college clubs are
to be found the names of some of the
most famous men of the nation, such
as Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Root, no
seph Choate, Paul Morton and William
Travers Jerome, lawyers who earn for
tunes by the practice OF their profession;
judges, congressman, diplomats and
statesmen who are known all over the
union
Here too Is the home of the Lambs.
Some of them are wealthy, but more are
richer in brains than in money, although
they spend the latter when they have
1t with open-handedness equal to that of
any of the millionaires around them. The
Lambs is one of the jolliest clubs in
New York and one where the talk of the
theatrical and literary celebrities who fire.
quent 1t furnishes an attraction not to
be offered by the gatherings of the plu-
tocrats who are seldom distinguished for
the breadth or brilliancy of their con-
versation.
On Forty-fourth street are the houses
of three great caterers, who have no oc-
CASTOR to fear comparison with any rivals
in the world At the Fifth avenue cor
ner is Delmonico's, the oldest of all,
whose founder was a poor Italian waiter
who started on the road to success as
a nroprietor of a little eating house on
william street, with sanded floors and
a few wooden tables and benches. 1t
would be almost impossible to reckon the
number of social functions which nave
taken Mace there; but many are the bellies
of New York who made their DEBUT ana
ate their wedding breakfasts In this IA
nous establishment. Across the way is
sherry's. a name inseparably connected
with the thought of splendid entertain
ments and limitless expenditure in en-
tertainment. One of the most celebrated
of these was James Hazen Hyde's eigh-
teenth century fete, which cost $5O,0OO ana
proved to Je a sort OF BelshazzarS Ieast'
SO far as the insurance magnate was
concerned. At the western extremity OF
this part of Forty-fourth street stands
w. A. Muschenheim's Hotel Astor, where
the millionaire friends of millionaire club
men live within easy reach of the other
resorts on the street and where a con-
slant succession of dinners and other
fashionable gatherings add to the bril-
liancy of this famous locality
In design and appointments these places