04/10/2006 May Day - Sterrett and Dean

“Fifth Avenue and Forty-fourth Street swarmed with the noon crowd” (page 70).

In my haste I completely forgot about the first two whole chapters of “May Day”. Sterrett and Dean never stray far from the Biltmore but in my never ending quest to document as much as possible about the lives of the characters it is important to note what they do for lunch.

The Biltmore and Yale Club were quite close to each other; Sterrett and Dean walked less than two blocks from the hotel to arrive at the club. I’ll have to look into this but if Sterrett and Dean were walking towards the Yale Club when they left the Biltmore, they wouldn’t have crossed Forty-fourth and Fifth. The two would have crossed Forty-fourth and Madison. Maybe at some point Madison Avenue used to be known as Fifth Avenue. I’ll check on that. Also, Fitzgerald could be simply addressing the crowd outside of the Biltmore and using the cross-street as a point of reference as opposed to an exact location.

“Madison Avenue was not part of the original New York City street grid established in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, and was carved between Park and Fifth Avenue in 1836” (Wikipedia).

So, it was the latter. Either that or Sterrett and Dean exited through the front door. I bet that is what it was and as they step out onto the sidewalk the narrator comments on the noon crowd. I’ll check the address at some point tomorrow.

“In the Yale Club they met a group of their former classmates who greeted the visiting Dean vociferously” (page 71).

The Yale Club of New York City opened its doors on June 15th, 1915. The club functions as an excuse for graduates, faculty, and full-time graduate students to come to New York City. Why do they need their own clubhouse in New York City when the college is in Connecticut? I will never know. The “largest clubhouse in the world”[1] is of neoclassical design and located at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue.

As far as the store they visit after lunch, Rivers’ Brothers, I have not found any information regarding the store or the collars that Dean mentions (page 72). I did, however find out that there is a clothing line named Covington’s that is sold by Sears. Are the two one and the same? I don’t know either but I will try to find out.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “May Day”. Tales of the Jazz Age. First Pine Street Books: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2003.
Wikipedia
[1] Yale Club