IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK CITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 21 June 1926, Page 2

IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK CITY.

NEW YORK SHOPS. (BY J. S. WEARN). ! Saturday afternoon is perhaps the best time to study shopping conditions in New York City, for it is then that the cosmopolitan population employed in the warehouses and factories is at liberty to go forth oil a shopping expedition. Most factories, and many offices close all day Saturday, and carpenters, stonemasons and other like trades also call it a week on Friday night. On the other hand, all stores and shops are wide open—very wide—for it is on this day that there are not sufficient stores to accommodate the huge army of shoppers. Among the greatest institutions in New York City are the Ten Cent Stores. The floor space of one store covers well over an acre, and! every one of the thousands of items is either ten or five cents (5d or 2Jd). These stores are the Mecca for the poorer classes of Ihe population. At Christmas time thousands of poor young hearts are gladdened by the presents which are bought for them by parents who could not afford to purchase from the more expensive stores. There are several department stores employing up to 10,000 assistant in the one building. Each store has its own information bureau, as without this it would he impossible for the stranger to find the different departments. Several uniformed policemen in the service of the store are continuously pn.trolling the various floors—their duties being obvious. Escalators, or moving stairways, take the buyers to the floors they wish to visit. These escalators present a peculiar sight, inasmuch as the people do not climb as fn an ordinary stairway—they just stand still—and are elevated to the floor above, where another escalator takes them still higher if they wish to go. Whole batteries of elevators are also conveying visitors to and front the different departments in the upper stories. There may be as many as twenty elevators in the one building, each controlled by one uniformed attendant, who in turn, is under the supervision of (he elevator dispatcher—a very important man in a very imposing uniform. No elevator is allowed to start on its upward journey without being to do so , by the dispatcher. In most of the downtown buildings—in the skyscraper district—both local and! express elevators are in use. If the passenger requires a “long” ride up to the top of a sky-scraper he should take a local. A journey up to, say, the 50th floor and return to the ground floor will take about 20 minutes, whereas the express ~ will, cover the same vertical distance in a few seconds. A stranger-to New York is always “spotted’* by the elevator attendant, for the reason that immediately the upward trip is commenced the stranger sags at the knees and assumes almost a kneeling attitude, this peculiar position , being brought about by the sudden acceleration upwards. The descent is the reverse, for when the downward 1 “drop” starts you seem for a, moment to lose the floor. When ascending or descending in these high buildings, there is a very noticeable difference in air pressure, and as the lower floors arc reached the compressed air in the elevator shaft makes its way up the sides of the elevator with a roar like escaping steam. To-day the Woolworth Building is the highest achievement in skyscrapers. It is fifty-five stories high, and rises to a height of 793 feet from the earth, and contained in the foundation is a basement as large as the average building. It is the highest inhabited building in the world, and' cost over £3 000,000 to build 1 . The eighteen elevators in this building arc worked by women, who wear white gloves and a smart uniform. Visitors are allowed to view the city from the 55th storey, but before entering the observation tower, all umbrellas, walking sticks, cameras, etc., are taken charges of by a special attendant. This has been brought about by the fact that a camera once dropped to the street below, instantly killing a pedestrian. Although tho highest, the Woolworth is not by any . means the largest building in New York, this distinction Hieing .claimed by the Hudson Terminal Buildings, which is a twin structure, and forms the largest office building in the world. It has accommodation for 20,00(1 office workers. The Equitable Building ranks a good second. The price of land 1 in the skyscraper district varies from one to two hundred pounds a square foot, which to the layman seems comparatively cheap. When a fire occurs in the lop storeys in these high buildings, it is of course impossible to direct a stream of water far enough, to be effective, consequently each floor has its own fire fighting appliances. On an alarm being given, firemen enter the building, take elevators up to the scene of the outbreak and work with the plant already installed for their use. I

The hundreds of offices in Ihis building have iced water in large four gallon Winchester bottles delivered each morning—winter and summer. The iced water is syphoned out into paper cups which are discarded' immediately after Being used. Iced water is essential to the New Yorker, as the high temperature in which he works—and which he loves—is responsible for nature demanding artificial means for reducing the temperature of the body to its normal condition. In hotels and restaurants, iced water is placed before you whether required or not—immediately you lake your scat—and strange to say, is never charged for. It is apparently as essential as the very meal itself. I have seen patrons brushing the snow from their coats with one. hand and holding a glass of iced water with the other. If you require a super fresh meal in a sea food shop (fish shop) you may select a live fish, from others that are swimming about in a tank, and have it cooked to your liking. In their manner of eating and the food

they eat, New Yorkers are totally different from the English. Their menu cards present rows and rows' of strange'names—all fancy dishes. It is almost impossible to obtain a typically English meal in New York.