NYC late winter 1926/Alicia Frame setting
Streets stuffed with men in long wool coats, bump into each
other and don’t tip their hats. Instead,
shoulder to shoulder they eye each other, grumble a few words best not repeated
in a lady’s company and shove until one of them backs off and moves on down the
street.
A delicatessen is open 24 hours a day. When Alicia first arrives this shocks
her. In Paris, the baker wakes early to
make the baquettes, roles and pastries, but he closes shop by 5 p.m. and goes home
to his family. Here, she finds, it is a
city that never sleeps and everyone who wants to get ahead, move faster than
the next person, cuts hours at home, carries more than one job if necessary. And, if a person is running a place where
folks needs to grab a bit as they rush off to work or after late hours, then it
is open 24 hours a day. Thus, Alicia’s
neighbor, Mr. Brumbinski, a recent immigrant in Poland, works the midnight to 7
a.m. shift at the corner deli, then works at a sleeve factory from 8 to 4, goes
home for a quick meal made by Mrs. Bumbiniski, sleeps until 10 and then goes to
work. He does this five days a week and
has one day off from the sleeve factory, Saturday. Since most in the garment district are Jews,
he and Mrs. Brumbinski go to the Temple and now Alicia, reclaiming her familial
faith, often accompanies them to the midday service.
By that time, she has partially recovered from her long
Monday-Friday days at Scribner’s that run into the early evenings. She hopes this is going to change when, in
late Summer, Philippe will bring Emily to join her. It didn’t take Alicia long to discover that
rooming with Miss XXX wasn’t going to work long. A bit of a New York Party girl after work,
her roommate liked to dine and drink and arrive back late. This disturbed Alicia’s usual Parisienne lifestyle
of early to bed early to rise—particularly when she had become a mother. So looking for her own place which would
accommodate Emily and, perhaps as she had promised Emily, a small dog, was how
Alicia spent her Sundays. After a cup of
coffee and semi stale pastry that Mrs. Brumbinski would salvage from her
husband’s take home on Friday, Alicia would borrow their Sunday paper and read
the ads for apartments for rent. She
hadn’t found a place yet, but, in her rapid adjustment to America, she was
becoming more optimistic by the week.
Hadn’t she already endured the rough and lonely ocean voyage
from Normandy to New York? As one of the few women on board who was
traveling without a husband or child, she had to learn how to avoid the sneers
and not subtle invitations from single men of all ages and nationalities. She learned to be in the company of the
elderly matrons of various countries who were taking the last major leap of
their lives by resettling to America.
Some were going to go to New York, but others had family waiting in
Chicago, Boston or Philadelphia. Alicia
used this time to practice her English and she gained insight into how these
women planned to adjust from their home country to this one. When they were greeted by Lady Liberty, all
of travelers on the rails—first class, second, and third class such as Alicia,
cheered and cried. A new and better life
was in front of them and America promises safety, security and opportunity.
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