Evening star., 1954-11-14
Are Washington and New York Just for Visiting?
Writers Give the Hometown Insight to Few Myths
a Million Sightseers
See D. c. in Year;
Others Come to Stuy
By jack jonas

There Is only one Washington,
D. c.. and before you say maybe
it's good thing there aren't
any more, listen a moment.
A lot of people from Ohio and
Kansas and Mississippi and Ore
gon would like to live in this
city of well-planned excitement,
world-center glamour, and calen-
dar and postcard scenes. Hun
dreds try each day, pouring
streams of job applications to the
Civil Service Commission.
And, failing that, million of
them come calling every year to
see for themselves the things
they have read about in their
history books and newspapers, or
seen secondhand on calendars
and post cards.
A few of the thousands who
would like to live here make
it, come prepared to stay for a
while, and find themselves stay
ing on and on until it is too late
to go home again.
What is the attraction of
Washington? Why do people
want to come here, to live or to
visit, and why do they come?
And once they are here to stay,
even If only for while, what
do they discover it is like, living
in Washington?
A World Center.
The city is, first, by formal
definition, the seat of Govern
ment Of the United States, and
: because Of that Is one of what
Historian Arnold Toynbee last
week called the two centers of
the world"
1t Is a city Of natives and a
city Of people from all over the
world; a mixture of ideas and
sharp dispute.
1t is a city of sleek limousines
parked in front of Government
buildings and embassies; of
mechanics hammering at ia
lopies to give them a few more
miles in Washington's impos-
sible traffic; of 1000 full-time
or part-time taxicab drivers.
1t is a city of cocktail parties,
receptions and dinners; and a
city OF people who go to work
In the morning and directly
home after work to spend the
rest Of the day with their fami-
lies. More hard liquor is sold
in Washington per head than
in any other city in the United
States; church attendance is
high.
A City Of Monuments.
For natives and tourists alike,
1t is a city of monuments. It is
difficult to stand on any street
corner and not see a monument
to some person or event. It is a
city of trees, parks and neat
landscaping to provide a back
drop for these monuments to the
past.
Events like the annual meet
ing of Congress, puzzling and
glamorous from a distance, and
merely puzzling at close view,
attract visitors. High school
students come each spring to see
Government in action. Their
parents come for the Cherry
Blossom Festival.
The man from Arkansas or
Michigan who succeeds in his
desire to work in Washington
finds that the city is much more
than glamour and sightseeing to
the man with a steady job.
He encounters a strange new
language-bus riders talking oi
status" "GS-7," "terminal
leave" and classified; natives
chatting familiarly about the
Avenue, the Monument and the
Hill.
He is struck Immediately with
the problem of finding place tc
live adequately and within his
means. He will become, for a
while. a cliff dweller in one of ths
growing number OF elevatbf
apartments at anywhere from
$50 for a one-room efficiency, Up
to hundreds of dollars.
Rent Cheaper in Suburbs
His fellow workers will beAech
him to come to nearby Virginia
or Maryland. where rents are
cheaper and the problem f get
ting to work more enormods.
His amaZement will BE- great
ct the cost Of garage rsnt, and