Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 257, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1913 — Most Expensive Street in World [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Most Expensive Street in World

THE boardwalk as Atlantic City is one of the most famous streets in the world. It is likewise one of the most important, reckoned by the number of people whose footsteps traverse it. And it is undeniably one of the most interesting, having no counterpart as a thoroughfare, anywhere on the earth. It is the most expensive street, bar none. Every three or four years it has to be repaved with plonks at a cost of about $140,000 —though the work is done gradually, and not all at once. The annual bill for keeping it clean and in repair is $35,000. As it stands today the boardwalk represents an expenditure of nearly $45,000 for construction. In reference to the cleaning item it should be said that no broom or mop is ever applied to the surface of the boardwalk. It keeps itself clean. “Swept by ocean breezes” (to quotea phrase most dear to proprietors of seaside hotels), it is ever free from dust, while the rain and the sea-borne mist continually wash it However, four men, at $2.10 a day, are constantly busy at the rather curious task of keeping the cracks clear between the boards —the object being to drain off the wet.

Always Clean and Dry.

Other streets may be wet, other streets may be dirty; other streets may be obstructed —but the'boardwalk never. When snow falls In winter it Is cleared away with a celerity almost incredible. The thoroughfares of Philadelphia and New York may be well-nigh impassable, but the ocean pathway at Atlantic City, 60 feet wide, is bound to be open for traffic, and dry at that. Presently the sun appears, and out come the invalids in chairs on wheels. As it stands today, the boardwalk cost slightly more than SIOO,OOO a mile to build —the length of it being four and a third miles. Originally it was composed of planks laid upon the sand of the beach, but these were repeatedly washed away by the cruel, crawling waves, and the loss and discomfort occasioned eventually brought about the erection of the permanent structure of today, upheld by pillars and girders which defy the tooth of time and energy, of the elements. Hyperbole aside, however, it may be confessed that this element-defy-ing condition is only now beginning to be Reached through the substitution of re-enforced concrete for steel piles, which, as sad experience has proved, are hardly more enduring than wood, owing to the destructive action of salt water and mist-laden sea ait. Indeed, one may, in spots, poke one’s finger an inch deep into the metal But concrete appears to satisfy all requirements admirably, and before very long it will have entirely replaced steel in the construction of the wood-payed roadway.

The boardwalk, one should realize, is no mere local affair. K is In a sense a national thoroughfare—the great summer street of the United States, and the common meeting ground of the people from all parts of the country. No other place In the Union is so cosmopolitan. The Californian is as much at home there as the man from Philadelphia or the citizen of Texas. It is the great health and amusement resort of the common people, having the notable advantage of cheapness for those who can not afford to spend much money, while for the rich there are accommodations in luxurious and proportionately expensive hotels.

The unthoughtful many who visit Atlantic City, however, have little notion of the more Intimate peculiarities of the boardwalk and the beach along which It runs. Its landward edge is fringed by a row of shops of every imaginable kind, which offer for sale all sorts of merchandise, from candy to dry goods. There are also clairvoyants, and palmists and various other dealers In the mysterious, but these are merely incidental, for there is no proper likeness between this roadway and the streets of Coney island. Rents are enormously high. A season's occupancy of a mere window space six fact square coats SI,OOO. The purchase price of real estate along the most desirable blocks, from Maryland avenue to Michigan avenue, is $4,000 a front foot , Sunday on the Boardwalk. Sunday is the big day of the week on the boardwalk. On that day the shopkeepers and amusement proprietors expect to do nearly as much business as in the other six put together. But there is one block that is always closed on the Lord's day; it la owner by Philadelphia Quakers, who value their religion more than

gain, and renters of their property take it on this condition. Obvious “bums,” technically socalled, are forbidden the* thoroughfare, Likewise shabby people. This does not mean that honest poverty is excluded —the boardwalk being one of the most democratic of streets —but that ragged folks are discountenanced. Even the chair pushers, all of whom are colored men, are required to dress themselves neatly. It la desired that the roadway shall present at all times an attractive appearance, and rags are disfiguring. Beggars are absolutely barred. The policing of the boardwalk is extremely strict, and at midnight or In the small hours of the morning a woman traversing it is as safe from annoyance as at high noon. From dusk until dawn the boardwalk is brilliantlyjighted by arc lights and by festoons of incandescent eleo trie bulbs strung at frequent intervals across the thoroughfare. The illuminative effect is both attractive and beautiful. As already implied, the regulations governing the boardwalk are vpry rigidly enforced. Special rules apply to the pushing of wheeled chairs. No pusher is allowed to hasten the speed of his chair beyond the pace of a slow walk, and he is not permitted under any circumstances to go ahead of the chair in front of his in the endless procession that continually traverses the thoroughfare. "Crabbing” is positively forbidden—this term signifying the picking up of a casual passenger en route. The pusher must first go back to the chair stand after relinquishing a customer. The boardwalk here described com nects with a similar plank roadway that runs along the shore through Ventnor, Margate City and Longport With this extension, now almost complete, it covers a distance of nine miles, stretching almost the entire length of the island on which Atlantic City stands.

FAMOUS BOARDWALK