Bayrd Still things in an American apothecary," Moiseyev reported; "but would you believe that you can eat whole meals there, that you could buy food, toys, household goods, and things which have nothing to do with medicine."20 Even its skyscrapers were viewed as monuments to the city's 111 :m&f! vM 1 ITi p;'' MKsW* j ~S | If^lllf Jlp ill tiis^i P ^M%M^H% ■5 ~?m« '1 s0 WALL STREET FROM BROADWAY TODAY commercial prowess, though in and of themselves they were often hailed as the quintessence of the city. "New York is a skyline," wrote Jacques Barzun in 1958, "the most stupendous, unbelievable man-made spectacle since the hanging gardens of Babylon."21 In this he echoed the sentiments of commentators who, since the opening of the twentieth century, had seen in the mass and elevation of its "soaring edifices" the really unique feature of New York. To others, however, these titanic towers were primarily manifestations of the magnitude, of the city's 20 New York Times, January 15, 19, 1959. 21 Jacques Barzun, "The World's Mecca—New York," in Wisdom, III (September 1958), 40. 409