The Denver Jewish news., 1919-03-12
EAST OF F1FTH AVENUE
Hr HfKDAN


and cosmopolitan schools.
The East Side is anxious to stand
on its own feet. And who will say
that it does not? Its schools, its clubs,
its stores and commerce, its social and
religious activities are essentially its
own. Its students. its eeniuses-the
East Side claims them all. And sci
dom. indeed, does a product of the
East Side lose the love ana fascination
that this crowded corner of the world
holds over him. There is n peculiar
fascinati tion in its crowds; its constant
ly-moving masses of humanity: its dir
ty, ptsh-cart lined streets; Its small,
stuffy stores, dark and ill-lit: its large
schools. open night ana day, pouring
forth great Volumes of knowledge anu
happiness to all who will drink. Its
art-classcs, its small poetry groups, It's
settlement houses and the Educational
Alliance. its peculiar, pcntratigs
smells, each telling its own story.
And far. far above. thru the black
night, its sky That bit of silver
sparkling blue sky one seas thru the
narrow canyon Of an East Side street.
One never forgcts this
Business Variety.
The business activities hre varied.
They run all the way from the yUungs-
ter who watches an automobile for
nickel to the financier who dabbles i'll
stocks on the curb; from the young
woman who becomes cash girl in
the big department store to that self
possessed being who is called con-
fidcntial secretary from the little fel-
low whose ambition is to emulate the
policeman on the beat, to the other who
wants nothing less than II presidency.
The East Side has range of human
activity.
1t is Il truism that one half of the
East Side knows moi how the other hulf
lives. While one half attends easy
vaudeville" the other half listens rap
turously to u symphony concert; Willie
one half goes TO u full dress and
civic" ball, the other half studies some
musty. ology by Pickering gas-light:
while on half ronrs Its approval of
some political boss the other half
discusses Socialism and world reform
over coffee-antl-cake in the fur corner
of an ultra Bohemian cafe; while one
half chatters sweet nothinss on the
stoop of II crowded tenement, the 9th
CT half sits up all night writing prob
lcm-plays" and intellectual essays.
while one half talks about the latest
movie" hit. the other half sigIs thru
Il love sonnet or vers librc effusion.
one half lives on concrete and stone
hard and practical as brick wall.
The other half dreams on thru a thin
veil of blue cigarette smoke-tliink
ing, thinking, always thinking.
The Romantic Comfort of Harlem.
Further uptown is Harlem, some
times called the uptown ghettO.' But
it Is not u ghetto. In these days of
subways. and elevated trains and news.
papers and telephones, no section of
The world is 50 isolated that 1t is real
ly ami truly itself alone. Harlem
Jews are essentially II part Of New
York Jewry.
In Il way Harlem is quite rs crowd
cd as the lower East Side. tho in II
slightly different manner. Where we
see trnemcnts ON the East Side, i'll
Harlem we have apartment housds.'
Where we have gas on the East Side,
in Harlem we have electricity and
steam heat And instead of narrow.
dark stairways. in Harlem we have
elevator service until 10 y. IN. Where
we have wagons and push-carts on the
East Side, Harlem boasts Of handsom.
cr automobiles and busses.
II is. however, a second East Side,
better fixed Iii'i step higher III the
financial scale. Balls are 'full-drrss.'
scttlcmcnt-houses give way to club
houses and tenstory y. w. ii. A.
building Vaudeville theatres 'of the
better class abound, and moving
picture or theatres" with so.
many piece orchcstras" are numerous.
An East Side Where English Is Not
Yiddish
And in Harlem, the melting pot is
more Obvious than on the East Side.
The language is English. the thoughts
are Amcrican The necessity of think
ing in Iiddisll before trauslating into
English is not evident. one thinks aid
speaks English. The Y. W. III. \.
building one Of the finest i'll the coih.
try, is typical ef this new spirit. The
second and third generations are more
modern. more American, more cos-
All the world is theirs. and