NEW YORK TOUR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 238, 8 October 1942, Page 4

NEW YORK TOUR

SEEING THE SIGHTS

AUCKLANDER'S IMPRESSIONS

A gay tour of New York, in which names of famous buildings and night clubs sparkle like the lights of Broadway itself, is described in a letter from Sub-Lieutenant Malcolm McPhee to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Donald McPhee. of Remuera. SubLieutenant McPhee has been training in the Fleet Air Arm and recently gained his commission. He spent ten days in New York with a friend, Sub-Lieutentn Courtney St. George, of Remuera.

"On our arrival in the great city we were, of course, immediately thrilled with the skyscrapers, but we soon noticed the way you nearly fall over when you start, looking at the bottom of a building and work up to the top,'' states the letter. "The next thing that struck our eye were the taxis in their thousands, painted all the colours of the rainbow. We assigned one of them to take us to our hotel—Barbizon Plaza, on 6th Avenue and 58th Street—and found it very large and swanky. That night we accepted an invitation through the White Ensign Club to a cocktail party and dinner dance, and had an excellent night. "1 spent rather a lot of money, but in the light of the fact that we saw everything, the haunts of millionaires and so on, it was not so bad. You've no idea how expensive half these places, such as the Stork Club the Rainbow Room, are. Eighty cents is the minimum charge for any drink. Just a mere 3/6. High Prices 'The day after we arrived we made a good start by taking the ferry across to the Statue of Liberty. We climbed up to the head and nearly died of exhaustion in the process. It certainly is a very impressive statue, but I would never again scale its interior. "When we got back we saw the Normandie lying there dormant upon her side, looking very gross and ugly. We then strolled up Wall Street, taking a glance at the Stock Exchange and some of the newspaper buildings. "That night we went to the Radio City Musical Hall to see a film and a wonderful stage show—the finest ballet ever, a long line of about 40 girls, all dancing in perfect precision. This is supposed to be the largest theatre in the world.

"After the show we went to the Rainbow Room, which is 70 storeys up, and, as you know, very expensive and exclusive. We saw a very good floor show and listened to the band of Carmen Cavallero.

' At another night club. Leon and Eddies, we checked our hats in, sat down at a table, looked at the price list, went back to the hat check room and thence out the door. The prices were terrific. These bars and night clubs stay open till 4 a.m., by the wav.

The next day we took one of the standard tours over Radio City and saw some wonderful studios. We were also televised and shown the various methods of producing sound effects. It was most interesting. "Just after that I met a tall Dane in an Anthony Eden hat, who paid for ray drink and told me he had a 'little hole in the wall" round the corner, for which he paid 1000 dollars rent a month. And it was just a small sideline from his business. Sang in Night C lub vv 'e went to St. Pats Cdtnedial. it was very beautiful, though it did not have thp charm of the Winchester Cathedral, which you will remember, I saw in England. Our next port of call was the Empire State, greatest of all. a wonderful building, with an amazine view We all sat round the parapet * B f' , umU , a feu ' old ,adie s began to feel a bit sick and the guards made us cet down "1 he next night we met some bo\* with whom we had trained— and I had a headache the followine morning. We went to bed earlv that night, however—l think it was 1.45 a.m. The day after that we all bought stockings at Saks, sth Avenue. There are some wonderful shops on oth Avenue. We used to \valk up and down there because of the same? 615 ° f Pretty girls doi »°g

"We were very disappointed when «£ \ ven !v!° Stork WW so moved off to the Waldorf Astoria, which was wonderful, as were th« prices We soon left. It was ?reat to S seen those places, though we did not S3* more th an half an hour Tn Sub-Lieutenant McPhee. who is an un'ttwo S1 n ? ei ' goes on: "We wound up the evening at the Queen Marv on o9th Street, where I made nrv New Ynri? m^ ht £ lub performer In twn V a^ter Courtnev verv unkmdJy put me on the s P 6t. I have -irxt" 8 much We spent another evening in Village, the socalled Bohemian area of New York We timp " luch cash left by this time, so had to walk in and out of Thp' V i^t aCt ' S a ? cordir *g to the prices. TiW !♦ e\-ening in New York we rhfh ro, a brand-new Viion officers of th e United

v 'J ou may gather I liked Xew hecUc. yCry much ~ bul K-s » bit