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Notable New     Yorkers
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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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wanted a man who knew his way around.

Al kept coming back to Jimmy Walker who was able, intelligent, made a good appearance, didn't seem like anybody's boob, was able to measure up to what was required of a mayor of the City of New York, had a nice personal appearance and personal qualities. His father had been a greatly respected man in New York City. They lived on the West Side. Martha Draper had a house in that vicinity. I think it's called St. Luke's Place. It's an area with houses on three sides. There's a public square in there now. It's very attractive on the northerly part of Greenwich Village, just below Abingdon Square and maybe further west. It was a square that was open on one side with a small park on the open side and on the other three sides were a series of very good looking, nice red brick houses with white trim, which were not old Georgian or early Greenwich Village, but I suppose 1850-60 type of houses. They were comfortable, bigger and higher than the early type of houses. Mayor Walker's father, who was a very respected man, had built those houses as a real estate venture and investment of his own. He was a contractor and did a great deal of building all over the city. He built those houses as a real estate venture and the Walkers had always lived there.





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