[PART THREE]
THE LOWDOWN
(Confidential!)
[28. BUT YOU'VE GOT TO GET HERE FIRST]
The trouble with most books about New York is that their authors seem to think you are already here, before you begin to read the first page.
Though this is the atomic age, with transport planes winging through the air at 400 miles an hour, no one has yet materialized a magic carpet.
We take it for granted you plan to travel by one of the conventional means: train, plane, bus, ship or car. Allowances also will be made for hitchhikers and those who ride the rods. New York is no place for those who come by motorcycle or camel or trailer. There are no trailer parks or motels or roadside rooming houses in or near the city.
At this stage of the game, we will not inquire into your motives, though later on we expect you to do a bit of soul searching—confidential—to discover in which category you fit.
If you are attracted by the glimmer of the lights or the gold of the markets, it's all the same to us. But first you've got to get here.