Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-10-28
Mew York
Letter

NEW YORK-Greenwich Village
| may have had its architectural
face lifted. and its. famous old
timers may have drifted hither
and yon but an ever-shifting tide
Of dream-struck youngsters leaves
little groups Of serious thinkers
eddying around the candle-lighted
easements and the coffee shops.
Shocks, once the uniform Of the
professional Villager, now are to
be found in the most conservative
offices. Bobbed hair is old-faShion-
ed. One may observe a few boards
Of the Paris Left Bank" variety,
but long hair Is passe.
Still the side lanes that run
from the main arteries of the Vii
lage have never given up their
tea rooms and poetry groups and
discussion societies. Vagabondia
still thrives; SO does Romany
Marie's and the Grub street club
meets in a Thirteenth Street cafe
TO argue over the facts of life"
OF evenings, third-rate, second
rate and even first-rate poets read
their scribblings to the light of
%guttering candles. Several of the
fixtures remain year after year,
even II Bobby Edwards has be-
come a lesser figure.
The Vagabonds, one of several
groups. use d-fashioned hobo
signs in their walls. Harry Kemp
is rarely seer about his old haunts;
nor is Maxwell Bodenheim. The
cape country" near Truro and
Providence has swallowed many Of
the colorful personalities. Juanita
Clivette keeps open house in Fifth
Avenue.
The Fifth Avenue hotel, which
Sprouted from historic ground Just
off Washington Square, has intro
duced a G type Of villager.
Here are celebrities and near
celebrities. writers and artists and
actors Of note, living in the shadow
Of the Washington art and being
successful about 1t.
One OF Manhattan's most indi-
vidual dwelling places is the hotel
penthouse Of Achmed Abdullah,
the writer, who has applied the
old Orient to the New Village. His
walls are replicaS in color Of the
Temple Of Karnak. An Oriental
atmosphere pervades. Yet, just a
few steps away, dwells Judge Julian
Mack Of the supreme court, who
has a bent for literature as well as
for law.
Harriet Hector, the premiere
danseuse OF America, might be
found practicing a new routine.
Albert Boni, the publisher, has
another penthouse. which is a gem
Of ultra-modernistic severity, al
though the walls >-e practically
papered with books. Jack Dempsey
has a standing order for a certain
two-room suite when he happens
to be in town. Eva LeGallienne, the
actress-producer. may be found
there almost daily when in town.
So can King Vidor. the movie di-
rector. Clara Kimball Young,
Blanche Yurka, Lenore Uric, Ann
Harding or Olive Borden.
Here is a m~odern-day Bohemian
rendezvous, quite different from
the capitals OF the old Village.
Certain tilted foreigners, who
seek the surroundings Of writers
and artists-such as the Count
and Countess Cortina or Sir Cecil
Beck-use this as their New York
address.
History haunts the very ground
surrounding this section. The pres
idential campaigns Of Grant md
Theodore Roosevelt were launched
there. King Edward. when Prince
Of Wales, was just across the
street at the Brevoort; Lincoln,
Johnson. Grant, Garfield. Harrison
and Mckinley were guests Of the
old Fifth Avenue hotel. 1t was
once the headquarters of the
Republican party of America. A
changing Village is all about. but
there are still poets and rebels and
board tables and candles and futile
discussions that run until dawn.