The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-08-03
Barge Adds
to Lure Of
Restaurant
Crystal Club, New York,
Gains Space in
East River.
BY HELEN WORDEN
Times Special Writer


NEW YORK. N. Y, Aug. g.
IN The Crystal Club has anchored
a barge off its main restaurant deck.
It's a gay barge, bright with vivid
red and blue and white striped UNI
brellas, cheerful painted furniture
and summer flowers.
Mrs. w. w. Robinson, Mary Ray
mand and I discovered it when we
went looking for cool place to
dine.
The Crystal Club, at 52nd-st and
the East River, dates back to pro-
hibition days. Then it was known as
II Mayfair Yacht Club. First
wight Fiske and later the Yacht
Club boys helped to put it on the
map.
A wide veranda, disguised as a
deck, which jutS out over the East
River, adds to the charm Of the
little restaurant on summer nights.
The barge is attached to the main
deck by a gangplank.
Where did you get the barge?"
I asked Jimmie Auditore, the pro-
prietor.
I'VE bought her at Greenpoint, :"
he said. She cost $500. Capt.
James McAllister's tug towed her
across the river"
According to Mr.. Auditore, the
idea of dining on a barge originate
ed with Maj. Joseph j. Stockham,
secretary of the Crystal Club. 1T
struck us right" Jimmie said, $50
we went shopping. Whenever we
had nothing to do we'd look for a
barge. We took automobiles to
Hoboken We rode on ferries, and
we chartered speedboats to take us
barge hunting. Once we got lost
in WeehaWken."
Weighted With Sand
After the barge was put in place
she bobbed up and down like cork.
She needs ballast, an old harbor-
man said, so we bought three hun
dred tons of sand" explained Mr..
Auditore, and loaded her down.
Now she's okay."
The Crystal Club is in the base
ment of the Beekman Campanile,
$50 E. 52nd-St. Tenants of the
fashionable apartment house include
Mr.. and Mrs. Henry Wise Miller
(Alice Duer MilleD, Alexander
Woollcott, Hugh Baillie, Thomas L.
Chadbourne, Robert A. Dahn, John
Hertz, Walter Hirshon, Howard N.
Kilborn, Ralph Pulitzer and John L.
Zaugg.
Mr.. Woollcott has sublet his
apartment for the summer. The
Campanile is cooperative build
ing.
Mr.. and Mrs. Miller occupy an
attractive duplex overlooking the
East River. They share a balcony
with Alexander Woollcott. When
Mrs. Miller's niece, Joan Blake, was
married to Herman Harjes, last au-
tumn the wedding reception was
held in the Miller home. The ma
terial for Alice Duer Miller's sto-
ries is taken from real life. Mrs
Miller lives in the world she writes
about.
Recalls Charm School"
I saw more than one girl at the
wedding reception who could have
fitted nine of ten descriptions Of the
students in THE Charm School.
Mrs. Miller is at the Hotel Mira
mar, Santa Monica, just now. She
left New York for the Pacific Coast
two months ago. She expects to re-
turn to the East about the end of
August.
AS a little girl Mrs. Miller lived
in Weehawken. Her parents-the
Duers-owned one of the show
places along the Jersey Heights. 1t
had deer park, private bride paths
and terraced gardens.
Among the many East River
residents who can gaze down upon
the lively Crystal Club barge are
Marshall Field, William Rhine
lander Stewart, Walter Maynard,
Mr.. and Mrs. William Breed
Dorothy Stiles, Mr.. and Mrs. Cor
nelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Jay
Holmes, Mary Pickford when she is
in town (she usually stops at the
River Club; Miss Ives, Mrs. Her.
bert Shipman, William Donovan
and Lyman Beecher Stowe.
The Crystal Club is the only rea1
water front restaurant in New York
a city noted for it's shore line.
I feel like taking to a soap box
and making speech in Columbus
Circle or Union Square whenever
see our riverside streets. We have
done so little 10 encourage the
greatest physical asset of the city.
Paris capitalizes the Seine to the
nth degree. There a river common.
place enough in itself has become
famous for it's quaint quais, beauti.
full bridges and picturesque border
streets.