NEW YORK ON HOLIDAY

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 October 1934, Page 10

NEW YORK ON HOLIDAY

CITY AND BEACHES. Probably no bjg city in the world offers such easy access to sea beaches, mountain lakes or countryside, all situated within easy distance, as does New York to the summer holiday-maker (writes the New York correspondent of the London

“Daily Telegraph”). In these days of depression and ' partial employment, the greater maI jority of people find themselves com- | pellcd to stay near home. Many spend their fortnight’s vacation actually in their own flats, going out each day to one of the public beaches that cluster arpunepthe city. For a modest “jiickel” the Tube will take the New Yorker to the Atlantic Ocean, to Long Island, or to the lakes in any of the city parks. Of the popular beaches Coney Island is the poor man’s paradise. Twenty miles distant from New York it offers two miles of beach with surf bathing, amusement parks in plenty, and the most amazing collection of freak shows that Bariium ever imagined. Here on, a hot day you may find a ipilljon' people amusing themselves. For those who stay in the city there are also innumerable attractions. Every hotel has a summer terrace with wide views over the’ skyscrapers, f iiere dijiers d . rin M l n cpm-1 fort wllHe wat&iing a floor show qr dancing to the music of an excellent band.

A fpsy of the tallest buildings, like the Empire State (100 storeys), the Chrysler building and the Radio (City tower,' have special .observation terraces with restaurants, where, after having paicj 2/6 to ride UP pn an express lift, ypti may enjoy a sipiple

meal and a view tjiat is unsurpassed'. Radio broadcasting studios ape also much frequented, apd fguious stays working on commercial programmes always have a full audience, partitioned from the sound pfage by tlficlt, plate-glass. The daily audiences of

two cinemas alone in New York exceed 25,000.

A familiar sight on New York streets in the summer is the sightseeing ’bus, known locally as a “jitney.” With their glass roofs (so that passengers may look up at the towering buildings), their leatherlunged guides shouting through megaphones, and their load of visitors, these ’buses are characteristic of. the city’s summer invasion. CHINATOWN AND BOWERY. A tour of Chinatown and the Boweryis the most advertised part of the ride. But the glamour and atmosphere of adventure formerly associated with these districts have vanished, and all that the passenger may see today is restricted to a couple of narrow streets filled with respectable Chinese merchants, and a long dirty avenue lined with squalid lodginghouses.

Since the repeal of Prohibition, pavement (or side-walk) cafes, after the Paris model, havp> become highly popular. Every restaurapt with 'an inch of -free space puts a table with an awning over it, and here hour afteY hour patrons sit sipping thmr beverage through a straw: and idly watching the passing throng. ' At night'in the parks alfrgSGp music is provided by the Municipality." Symphony orchestras play from marble bandstands to huge gudiences'. At other places outdoor plays are given in travelling theatres—a recent experiment part pf a. big scheme to provide work for unemplpyed actqrs.