XVI
FIFTH AVENUE AT FIFTY-NINTH STREET
WHETHER under the régime of private or of business houses the region of Fifth Avenue at Fifty-ninth Street has been for a long time the luxury-centre of New York. On this enchanted soil is the well-known Vanderbilt home, one of the few dwellings that still resist the tide of business uptown to this point. Southward for miles “The Avenue” used to be the smartest residential street in the city. It is now the home of Rembrandts, pearls, sables, Rolls Royces beyond number, first editions, tear bottles, jades, and silken ankles. It is more dangerous to cross than the Continental Divide. It separates East from West in the city.
XVII
HELL GATE BRIDGE
HELL GATE BRIDGE derives its name from the treacherous section of the East River which it crosses. It is a most important part in a wonderful piece of railroad engineering. At New Rochelle tracks lead from the old New York, New Haven and Hartford lines to Port Morris, from here over Hell Gate Bridge, through the Borough of Queens and Long Island City, under the East River and half of Manhattan, to come to the surface at the Pennsylvania Station. Hell Gate Bridge runs from above Port Morris over Bronx Kills and Randall’s Island, across Little Hell Gate and Ward’s Island, and last, with its huge span, over Hell Gate to Astoria in Queens. It is six miles long. If laid over Manhattan it would reach from Wanamaker’s store at Eighth Street, to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street. It is a remarkable link in the great chain between the two railroads. It obviates breaking bulk at New York, and connects Southern New England with “all points west.”
