CHECK IT OUT:Flights of fancy on Fifth Avenue

This week marks the 182nd birthday of the original laying out of Fifth Avenue in New York City. The avenue begins at Washington Square, once the center of the social elite.

There are quaint references to the area just a few blocks north as being in the “suburbs.” For an accurate description of these early times on Fifth Avenue, see Henry James’ “Washington Square” and Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence.”

Time can certainly change a neighborhood. Originally, Washington Square was the burial ground for slaves and victims of yellow fever. Today, Washington Square is the unofficial quad of New York University and site of many a Hollywood movie shoot.

Throughout the 19th century, the rich moved up the avenue. Today, a tourist walking up from Washington Square encounters some of New York’s best offerings.

The Forbes Building at 12th Street is the headquarters of the magazine and the home of the eccentric Forbes Museum. The museum houses the fabulous Faberge Room, an incredible toy display, presidential memorabilia and rotating art from the family’s extensive private collection.

A few blocks up the road is the Flatiron Building, at 23rd Street where 5th Avenue and Broadway cross each other. The resulting plot of land dictated the odd triangular shape of this early skyscraper, and the corner at 23rd is particularly susceptible to high winds because of the building’s prow-like façade. Young rakes used to hang out there to see the wind whip the ladies’ skirts, exposing their ankles. The local beat cop used to shoo them away, and some claim this is the origin of the phrase “23 skidoo.”

Heading on up the avenue, we reach the skyscraper of all skyscrapers at 34th Street. Although it has been passed in height several times over, the Empire State Building, built in the early 1930’s, is still an icon. Two Astor mansions were on the original site. One of them, the home of the William Astors, had a ballroom that could hold 400 people, hence the definition of New York’s “who’s who” as “The 400.”

Travel a few blocks up and one comes to the site of the former Croton Reservoir. This area at 42nd Street used to serve as a place for the rich to promenade. Today it is the New York Public Library guarded by the two lions, Patience and Fortitude.

Still further up, the wealthy fled progress as landmarkstores like Altman’s, Gimbels and Saks began to cozy in beside the grand residences. The hue and cry about a mere merchant moving in on their territory was so forceful, Benjamin Altman fronted his store like a Florentine palace and even kept the store’s name off the façade. Tiffany’s built its jewelry store to resemble the Palazzo Vendramin in Venice.

Today, this area is anchored not only by Lord and Taylor’s, but by the Art Deco masterpiece, Rockefeller Center, and the magnificent St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A few more blocks north and you reach Central Park. The eastern drive up the park is now known as Museum Mile ? The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim, Cooper-Hewitt, The Jewish Museum, and others are found here among the remaining Frick and Carnegie mansions.

You don’t have to be in New York to enjoy a stroll up this fabled avenue. There are many fascinating books that let you experience its grandeur and historic significance. Kate Simon’s “Fifth Avenue: A Very Social History” is a broad starting point, as is Jerry E. Patterson’s “Fifth Avenue: The Best Address.” There is also Daniel Okrent’s “Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center” and John Tauranac”s “The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark.”

Taking a trip to New York or just planning to armchair travel? Consider, too, “When the Astors Owned New York” by Justin Kaplan, “My Time at Tiffany’s” by Moore and Hyams or “The Vanderbilt Era: Profiles of a Gilded Age” by Louis Auchincloss.

These books on New York, or travel books in general, may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at https://www.newportbeachlibrary.org or by calling (949) 717-3800, ext. 2.