May 23, 1948

The first week in America has passed pretty quickly. I had to go three times to different parts of New York in order to get my boxes released from the customs people. I had sent part of my belongings directly to New York from Germany and a  case like mine has not existed before, where one is not coming as Germany immigrant, but the mail is sent from an APO address, but not from an American either and still the army had taken care of the transportation. But everything eventually got straightened out and I had not to pay a cent. I have not decided yet whether to change my name. I shall not do it while I am here in New York. Pollitzer does not seem to have the tinge it has in Europe. People here seem to have the impressions that it is a good old English name, except for Europeans, who know better.
     America is a wonderful country and California more than all the other states. The greatness, the speed, the lack of tradition, and the dimensions of everything are more than impressive.
     I went to the top of the Rockefeller building last night - a 72 story building. It is actually a group of seven or eight skyscrapers, all built between 1932-1937. During the day 150,000 people work there and they are almost a town on their own with a post office, hospital and station. There are roof gardens on the 50th and 70th floors, or whatever is the top of the various buildings. Midnight on Broadway in New York is remarkable: so much light! There are still so many people, there are shops that are still open, restaurants and drugstores crowded, millions of neon lights, cars, and buses. The sky scrapers are overwhelming in their mass, one would be impressive, but hundreds are more than astonishing. The shops on Fifth Avenue are not like anything I had seen in Paris or London or anywhere in prewar days. The shops are open as much at midnight as during the day. The port with the Queen Elisabeth and Mary are five minutes from the town centre. Lights and traffic and people are overwhelming. New York is much more beautiful than one would think. Water is everywhere. There is a beautiful beach just 25 minutes from the city where one can swim or sail. You can also go to the port which is close to the center of town and you can see the Queen Elizabeth and other big ships. I am staying in a hotel on the 21st floor and have a nice little room for $4.00/night. I get clean linens daily, a radio, a bath room with a shower with hot and cold water and iced water for drinking.