The Washington herald., 1921-05-12
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NEW YORK. May 1L-ovsr In
sutton Square . row of remarkable
houses are being demolished to
make way for the new mansion of
Mrs W. K Vanderbilt. who has sold
her Fifth avenue castle to trades
men The terraced gardens will
overlook Rlackvell's Island prison
IN the middle of the East River. -
strange surrounding indeed for .
social dowager.
To the southwark stretches Ave-
nue. A-fabled in song and story.
The avenue of slum tenements filled
with a polyglot people Next door
to the Vanderbilt site Is q contrac-
tors stable and the pier of the lit
tie tug that carries forlorn men and
women to the drab atmosphere OF
the gray prison
Only a few city blocks from Fifth
avenue indeed. but a social chasm
deeper than the pecan separates the
shiny sarge of AVENUE A from the
shiny silk of Fifth avenue. New
Of sheep. and Avenue A may soon
become a perfumed purlieu.
On a Sunday afternoon stroll I
wandered down Avenue A from the
site Of the new Banderbilt home.
Knots of leering young embryo
gangsters congregate in front of
the shuttered saloons on the cor
ners- Shirt-sleeved men with pipes
and old women sit breeding on the
stoops-
In the courtyard Of an abandoned
brewery young girls rouged and
skirted IN shabby imitation of their
Broadway sisters danced with
youths who wore caps. A big chalk
sign on the wall read: TO the Dust
ers: The Thirty-first Street Gang
bars you from the dead line. That's
Third avenue and keep away or get
beat up A hurdy-gurdy ground
out last summers popular airs
h, The side streets are swarming
with children, mostly of foreign
parentage, and the streets are filled
with broken glass-a civic barrier
the parents erect against the tres
passing by motorists. A head lean
ed out every window. revealing
tired faces. looking hopelessly for
some relief from the terrible ennui
Of mere existence.
Cap. can 1 speak to you a min
uteT a voice whispered at my
elbow. He was Broadway
"mooeher" 1 knew by sight. in his
own haunts- It was the same old
ples-"rm hungry and need a cup
O. cawffee and a bowl O. soup" The
telephone is quick, but the magic
OF Avenue AS signals is quicker.
for three blocks south three beggars
came sinking out of side street.. to
greet me- 1t is dificult to believe
that Avenue A will become a glori-
fed Pomander Walk for society.
and yet so swift are the changes
that I now believe what I used to
doubt-that early-day Manhattan
used to drive in coaches to what
is now Forty-second street and
Broadway to hold outdoor picnics.
Millinery for Bobbed Hair--that
Ii sign under the name of a |
French milliner who has opened up
shop in the downtown section. |
Her shop will be exclusively for
patrons who have bobbed hair.
Bobbed hair requires a certain type
OF headgear. and so great is the
army Of short-haired girls and
women that the milliner Is simply
filing a genuine feminine need.
There Is one news story In New
York that the newspapers kindly
suppress each year. At least they
do not mention any names In one
Of the big hotels there Is an annual
dinner in a private banquet hall.
Wen-dressed men in evening clothes
to the number of forty attend There
Is nothing about them to indicate
that they are anything but what
hr 4
They discuss over their meal the 4
topics OF the day, and all know each L
other by first names. But when
cigars are lighted. walters and bus
boys are driven out, and the doors
are locked Then they discuss the
past. All are ex-convfcts who have
served terms in Sing Sing. Two or
-hree former wardens are usually
the guest Of honor. They have
proved that a former convict can
make good