(The cost of the food and drink for an average debutante supper for some
six hundred guests at the Ritz was about $4,750 in 1938.)

To the east, on Lexington Avenue between Forty-sixth and Forty-
seventh Streets, is somber Grand Central Palace, where annual auto-
mobile, flower, and motorboat shows, and numerous industrial exhibitions
are held. It was built in 1912 from designs by Warren and Wetmore.

On the northeast fringe of the Grand Central area, along Lexington
Avenue, is another group of hotels, including the Lexington at No. 511,
the Shelton at No. 527, the Barclay at No. 530, and the Belmont
Plaza at No. 541.

The thirty-four-story Shelton, when completed in 1924, was one of the
earliest setback structures in the city. The architect, Arthur Loomis Har-
mon, sensed the great aesthetic possibilities inherent in a studied propor-
tioning of the huge masses of the modern skyscraper, and created a com-
position of forms which exerted a profound influence on later buildings. It
is unique among tall buildings in that the walls slope in toward the top
to avoid the optical illusion of overhanging. Italian Romanesque details
are placed where they tend to accentuate the main forms. The structure
was a favorite subject of Georgia O'Keeffe, noted New York artist, whose
paintings helped make it one of the best-known buildings of the 1920's.
Both the Architectural League of New York and the American Institute
of Architects awarded medals for its design.

Beekman Place and Sutton Place

Area: 48th St. on south to 59th St. on north; from 1st Ave. east to East River.

The small area centering around Beekman and Sutton Places offers an
extreme example of New York's flair for making Mrs. O'Grady and the
Colonel's Lady close if uncommunicative neighbors. Here drying winter
flannels are within fishpole reach of a Wall Street tycoon's windows, and
the society woman in her boudoir may be separated only by a wall from
the family on relief in a cold-water flat.

The neighborhood extends for eleven blocks along two East River
bluffs grooved by dead-end streets. The narrow channel between Welfare
Island and the bluff brings freighters within hailing distance. Millionaires'
yachts dock close to gravel barges. Gulls skimming the surface mark the
sewage outlets into the river; but from a penthouse window, at night,