The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1944-06-22


Almost every visitor to New York
sees the exterior of the Empire State
building at least. Each year, hun.
dreds of thousands pay a fee to
view the city from the tower. Other
thousands. visitors and New York.
ers, 60 into the building on business
from 10000 to $4,000 each day
The above-ground portion OF the lO2-
story building is Of course familiar
to its tenants who number 10000
5000 more than the population OF
my home town. But only very few
ever see that which is beneath the
towering structure. Some tenants do.
That's because they rent basement
storage space. But the underground
is unknown territory even to most
tenants. In the words Of Chaplin
Brown, superintendent. who came
on the job a year before the build.
ing opened and has been there ever
since, most tenants are interested in
that which is below only when some.
thing goes wrong-then instead OF
going down. they merely telephone.
Naturally with a building rising
100 feet toward the sky, I expected
q whole series of Easements. Hence
when, guided by Mr.. Brown. we
stopped after a descent OF only 81
feet, l was surprised. The foumda.
tons Of the building 60 all the way
down to bed rock. But there is OILY
one basement. True, there is an.
other excavation beneath it through
which "a Mack truck could roll" in
the words Of Mr.. Brown. But that
IS merely an air duct. Fresh air
Is drawn in through the third floor.
forced into the sub-basement, condi-
toned and then sent through the
building. But though there is only
one basement, it is big one. The
building covers 80. 900 square feet of
land space. The basement area is
400, 900 square feet. The increase is
due to the fact that the basement
extends under sidewalks and streets.
use of city-owned land being OBJ
tanned through lease.
In the old days, some OF the under.
the-street space was devoted to the
famous wine cellars of the old Wal
dorf-Astoria, a place where price,
less vintages were stored along with
big stocks Of the finest cigars that
Cuba could produce. Gone is all ro-
nance nowadays. The vaults are
merely resting places for old rec.
ords and other seldom-needed be.
longings Of tenants. Also what was
once vaults is now the dining room
Of restaurant AS matter Of fact,
we found the vaults far less interest
ing than the rest Of the basement
which is devoted to services Of vari-
Gus kinds, occupying about 10000
square feet The. services range
from the room where steam for heat
ing and other purposes is received
to fireproof rooms in which all COM
bustible materials are stored, and
from plumbing, paint, carpenter and
electrical shops to paymaster's of
Ace.
All building employees receive
their pay in the basement. The pay
Office is really steel sheathed booth
or cell with the front covered by
bullet-proof glass in which is hole
through which wages are slipped.
BY pressing a button, steel shutter
drops down behind the glass afford
ing further security. There are also
locks and other protection. Speak
ing of locks. in the basement is a
key.making establishment where
tenants. on proper Identification,
may obtain duplicates and other
services. I learned that there are
about 100000 key changes posi-
BILE. But I also learned that it is
possible to open any door merely
by inserting special "gun" in the
keyhole and pulling the trigger.
The IS elevators of the building
+ ye a room in which there are q
Lock Of experts who not only keep
them going but extend their service
to the point Of actually making ca
bles. The nerve center Of the build
ing's telephone system is in the base
ment, it being larger than many
central Office since some of the
boards have 800 outlets. Incident
ally. complaints telephoned by ten
ants do not 60 unattended even il
no one is present to receive them.
They, as well as other service mat
tiers, are recorded by q teletype.
There are services for employees,
also, such as a laundry and a place
where uniforms are pressed: Speak
ing Of employees. girls are now being
used more and more as elevator OPP
orators. But there is scarcity of
woman-power. especially among the
$50 cleaners, such scarcity that
Mr.. Brown recently advertised for
women in a Chinese newspaper.