The City So Nice They Named It Twice

Reading the guide book to New York City made me realize just how different the dissemination of information was in the 1930s, and the effect that it had on the way people perceived, dreamed about, and romanticized cities. Today, we can learn about the basic statistics of any city in an online encyclopedia, virtually cruise the streets on Google maps, find the best restaurants and places to go on yelp, or even meet people with common interests on Facebook before arriving (Not that I recommend that at all). But back then, the allure of great cities like New York was spread by word of mouth, or by artists like F. Scott Fitzgerald who romanticized it in literature and from films that used the city as their backdrop. People who were curious enough would have to go there to find out for themselves, rather than looking up videos on Youtube or the travel channel.


These guidebooks were the start of the proliferation of information about travel destinations that is so accessible to us today. The guide employs a strategic and effective mix of useful factual information, poetic prose romanticizing the city, great illustrations of the city, and beautiful black and white photography of various neighborhoods and landmarks. It notes in the preface, “This volume is a detailed description of the communities and points of interest in all the five boroughs of New York City. It attempts, also, to indicate the human character of the city, to point out the evidence of achievements and shortcomings, urban glamor as well as urban sordidness”. The book also features quotes by famous people to entice prospective tourists, such as this one by Henry Hudson: “It is as beautiful a land as one can hope to tread on”. The guide highlights some of the points of interest such as the New York Public Library, Coney Island, Central Park, the World’s Fair grounds, and Wall Street. Equally, it notes  the human character of the city, including the high society types like the Astors, Woolworths, Phipps’, and Rockefellers, as well as the ethnic neighborhoods of Harlem, Chinatown, and Brooklyn.

A perfect illustration of how the guide seeks to mix factual information with a depiction of the urban glamor and urban sordidness of New York, can be found in a passage that reads, “In the city, night workers, their footsteps sharp, irregular on the quiet streets, return home. A water wagon rolls by. Bands are still playing in half a dozen night clubs. In the Upper East Side, in the Upper West Side, in the Gashouse and Hell’s Kitchen, in Chelsea and Greenwich Village, the faint and broken ringing of the alarm clocks come to the empty street. Another day, another dollar. Don’t forget to tell the laundryman not to starch my shirts! Slowly the air between the buildings fills with light…The boy who came to be a writer is waked in his mid-town room and dresses for his shift on the elevator. In Chelsea the girl who came to be an actress launders her stockings. The boy who was going to Wall Street sprawls on his bed, wincing as each cry cuts into his dream of the smell of fresh hay and warm milk…Night draws to a close. Bands are still playing behind closed doors of a half dozen night clubs.”(P.51) The guide book seems to present the same romanticized stereotype of New York that is prominent today. A restless mixing pot of various cultures, with endless attractions to see. A place where everybody has big dreams, and opportunities and vice are abundant. Although there is no challenge in acquiring any sort of information on any given city these days, at least certain romanticized versions of cities still exist in our culture.