Media History of New York | Spring 2014

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Bowery 2.0: A Digital Representation

The idea for “Bowery 2.0” was inspired from the Bowery Boogie blog that I have been using as a resource for my project. This is a tag on the blog and clicking on it brings up search results for all of the recent cases of gentrification that has been taking place in the Bowery over the last couple of years. I thought this title seemed extremely appropriate for this assignment, as “Bowery 2.0” represents not only the second generation of the Bowery after a massive wave of gentrification, but also is a reference to the Web 2.0, thus a rather fitting title for exploring a digital representation of the Bowery. 

For the most part, excluding historical resources and documents, the digital representation of the Bowery talks primarily about gentrification, and thus it’s important to first discuss what gentrification in the Bowery means. Gentrification first began to appear in the Bowery after the mid 1950s, when it was employed as a means of improvement to convert the Skid Row of New York City to a more respectable neighbourhood. Homelessness on the Bowery began to decrease as a result of government measures, and luxury apartment buildings and condos began to come up, further displacing the poor from the region. Big developers like Avalon began to move into the area and the prices of real estate skyrocketed. However, even though gentrification first began as a change to urban conditions, its consequences can be felt in the changes that it causes to the cultural landscape as well.

Much of digital media representations of the Bowery criticize the gentrification because of its role in changing the cultural landscape, and depleting Bowery of its diverse and rich history. A huge number of blogs, such as Bowery Boogie, are solely dedicated to documenting the urban landscape changes in the Bowery. Other New York City blogs like Curbed NY, Gothamist, etc., too have an extensive number of articles that raise this issue. Opponents of the gentrification in Bowery feel that the Bowery’s “storied past already has been obliterated” and “it is no longer the narrow Indian footpath transformed by the Dutch into a broad thoroughfare flanked by farms and elegant estates and later home to freed black slaves, immigrant hoards, nativist gangs, political grandstanders and rabble-rousers, flophouses and late-19th-century bawdy night life” that it once was (The New York Times). 

Many who are vary of this cultural loss are taking measures to ensure that this problem of gentrification is brought to public knowledge so that people are aware and can take steps to ensure that this corporatization of the Bowery is slowed down. Two New York based photographers, James and Karla Murray, set out to document how the urban landscape of New York City, and the downtown-East Village region in specific, is rapidly changing in their book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York.” According to them, these small “mom-and-pop shops” add a unique character and sense of community to the streets of New York, but due to gentrification are getting wiped out (The Huffington Post). Martin Scorsese, who grew up in the neighborhood, is also against the rapid gentrification of Bowery. His films Gangs of New York and Mean Streets have been influenced by the Bowery and its surrounding neighborhood subcultures of the ’50s. Scorsese is a supporter of the East Bowery Preservation Plan, along with the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, who are advocating for a preservation plan that would limit the construction of high rises along a certain section of the Bowery (The Gothamist). 

Though Bowery has been added to the National Register for Historic Places, it has not stopped the changes that are slowly but rapidly creeping up in this neighborhood. Modern buildings like the New Museum constructed here change the landscape completely, taking some of the old culture away from the region. Other high-rise luxury condos, designer boutiques like the John Varvatos store, supermarkets like Whole Foods, etc. threaten the smaller businesses in the region as they are unable to compete with rising real estate prices. Bowery is an area of great juxtaposition, where extreme wealth in the form of luxury residences, boutique hotels, hip bars and restaurants are placed alongside homeless shelters like the Bowery Mission and the Salvation Army. However, this too is changing rapidly. In fact, a couple years ago a real estate company named Sanford Kunkel converted an old flophouse into a boutique hotel called Bowery House (Curbed NY). Even more recently, just this month, the Salvation Army announced that they would be closing down the Bowery location and moving to Brooklyn. 

Thus, though various bloggers and photographers, through their media, are trying to demonstrate how gentrification is ruining the Bowery, their efforts are largely being unheard as the gentrification continues.

  Works Cited:

"Bowery Gentrification." Web log post. Curbed NY. Web. <http://ny.curbed.com/tags/bowery-gentrification>.

Elie. "Assessing the Over-Gentrified Bowery 2.0." Bowery Boogie. 12 Apr. 2012. Web. <http://www.boweryboogie.com/2012/04/assessing-the-over-gentrified-bowery-2-0/>.

Horine, Sam. "Martin Scorsese Hates The Luxurious New Bowery." Web log post. The Gothamist. 21 Mar. 2013. Web. <http://gothamist.com/2013/03/21/fuhgettaboutit_martin_scorsese_hate.php>.

Keith, Kelsey. "First Look at Bowery's Flophouse-Turned-Boutique Hotel." Weblog post. Curbed NY. 21 July 2011. Web. <http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2011/07/21/first_look_at_bowerys_flophouseturnedboutique_hotel.php>.

Roberts, Sam. "Behind the Facades, a Seedy Past Endures." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/nyregion/on-the-bowery-vestiges-of-a-seedy-past-seep-through.html?_r=0>.

Short, Kevin. "Watch NYC Gentrify Right Before Your Eyes." The Huffington Post. 29 Mar. 2014. Web. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/29/nyc-before-after_n_5049801.html>.

Southall, Ashley. "As Salvation Army Moves Out, Another Piece of Bowery History Is Lost." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 May 2014. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/nyregion/as-salvation-army-moves-out-another-piece-of-bowery-history-is-lost.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0>.

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The Bowery in Films: She Done Him Wrong (1933)

                  The Bowery’s representation in film dates back to the origins of cinema, starting from its representation in the 30-second peep shows that played at arcades. The Bowery is prominently featured in the Pre-Code Hollywood film She Done Him Wrong from 1933. This was the early sound era before the Motion Picture Production Code had been formally implement, and movies were uncensored in terms of profanity usage, sexual innuendos, portrayal of homosexuality and promiscuity. She Done Him Wrong features actress Mae West, an iconic figure in the vaudeville and burlesque entertainment industry during the early twentieth century known for her ‘sex symbol’ status, as the lead Lady Lou. The film is adapted from a play that was written by West herself, set amidst the loud and rambunctious drinking culture that was flourishing in the saloons of the Bowery at the time. 

The story line of the film revolves around Lady Lou (played by West), who works as a risqué singer at the saloon of Gus Jordan, a man who, unbeknownst by Lou, is involved in printing counterfeit money and trafficking women for prostitution rings. Replete with double entendres, the film revolves around Lou and the many men that are enamoured by her, set against a background of civilian crime that was rampant in the lowbrow working-class haven that Bowery had become. 

The particular scene that I am writing about takes place towards the end of the film, when Lady Lou performs the song “Frankie & Johnny” at the saloon. In this scene we see Lou, decked up in a flashy gown and diamonds perform her song in the crowded saloon as drunken middle-class men cheer her on. Mid-way through her performance, she beckons a friend of hers, Dan Flynn, to make his way up to her bedroom even though she knows that her ex-boyfriend Chick is waiting there with a gun. Her performance is interrupted by the sound of a gunshot and we find out that Chick has shot Flynn. What follows is a raid of the saloon by the police, led by undercover Federal agent Captain Cummings who pretends to be the director of the mission located near the saloon. Though the owner of the saloon Gus, and Chick are arrested, Captain Cummings doesn’t arrest Lou as he is also taken by her. 

I chose this scene as it speaks about a number of aspects of the culture of the Bowery during the late 1920s and 30s. The elevated Third Avenue El train was in operation during the timeline of this film, which made the Bowery a working-class haven. The area became overpopulated with mass crowds who worked jobs as labour in factories and industries, and then looked to unwind with entertainment like vaudeville and burlesque, alongside cheap movie theatres and variety shows. There was a sharp increase in population, and due to the economic recession of the late 1920s, it coincided with homelessness. The presence of cheap saloons and entertainment on the Bowery made it a favourite destination among the working classes. Also coinciding with the rising unemployment rate and drinking culture, was the rise of crime in New York City. As seen in the film, it wasn’t uncommon for bar owners to have illegal involvement side by side. Lower Manhattan had a number of brothels and operating prostitution rings were common. 

She Done Him Wrong not only shows us all of these socioeconomic conditions that were a part of the Bowery, and even New York City in general, but it also shows us how the changing demographic of classes that occupied the Bowery had an effect on the subcultures that spawned there. The film is also telling in that we learn about the promiscuous nature of Lady Lou and her unabashed pursuit of multiple suitors as a reflection of the changing role of women who had begun to be blatantly expressive of their sexuality, as discussed in my previous post. While the film itself is rather bland in terms of the story line—there isn’t much happening unless it involves Lou and her multiple suitors—it does portray an accurate representation of the Bowery of the first half of the twentieth century. 

  Works Cited:

"FROM MAE WEST TO PUNK: THE BOWERY ON FILM." Anthology Film Archives. <http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/series/42612>.

She Done Him Wrong. Dir. Lowell Sherman. Perf. Mae West. Paramount Pictures, 1933. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXmuk9NXBSg>.

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Joseph Mitchell's "Maize" from The New Yorker Magazine

Joseph Mitchell’s short story published in The New Yorker in the December of 1940 is titled eponymously after the woman he profiles in the story, who goes by the name of Maize Gordon and works as a ticket sales girl for one of the movie theatres down at the Bowery. In his profile, Mitchell recounts his meeting with Maize, writing about what she does and the kind of people she interacts with at her job. His profile gives the modern reader insight not only into the movie-going subculture that had become extremely popular at the turn of the twentieth century, but also into the proliferation of homelessness and increasing impoverishment on the Bowery. 

In the 1940s in America, during the Second World War, more women started working in order to provide for the families as the men were away at war. Women’s’ roles and expectations in society were changing to accommodate for women at the work place as women began working in factories and industries, a shift from the previous gender stereotype that projected middle class women as primarily homemakers and wives. In her book titled Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York, Kathy Piess too writes about the changing role of women in the workplace. According to Piess, as more women began to get employed, there was also a clear demarcation in working hours and leisure time, resulting in a number of types of “cheap amusements” that came up, targeting these working class women. Among these types of amusements, movie going became extremely popular as cheap storefront theatres called nickelodeons cropped up across New York City. “The cheap price of the nickelodeon, its appeal across generations, and its firm basis in working-class neighbourhoods mitigated the potential for uninhibited familiarity between women and men. While young women often made the nickelodeons an arena of sexual expression and romance, this was developed as much in the imager of the movies as in the space of the theatre” (Piess 152).

Piess’ discussion of cheap amusements available to the working classes in the early twentieth century makes it evident that going to the movies became a prominent part of the culture. Numerous theatres opened across the city, especially in lower Manhattan that was known for its working class crowds. According to Piess, “the Grand and Old Bowery Theatres drew crowds of working-class women and men, young and old, saleswoman and factory girls,” and there was a sense of community that formed at these theatres, as they became “impromptu social centres” (140-41). Piess’ work helps us to understand Mitchell’s profile on Maize Gordon, as it sheds lights on some of the obvious elements of the movie-going culture.

Through Mitchell’s interview with Maize, it is evident that the theatre that she works at, the Venice Theatre, is extremely popular for those who are seeking cheap forms of entertainment, as with one dime, one can watch “two features, a newsreel, a cartoon, a short, and a serial episode” (Mitchell 22). According to Maize, the theatre is highly regarded by its customers, who consist mainly of lower class working men and women, homeless men of the Bowery, and the expatriates who inhabit the tenements near the Bowery. Much of Mitchell’s short story chronicles Maize talking about relationship with the homeless men who frequent the theatre, and through her anecdotes it’s evident that she rather fond of them—even going out of her way to give them money and tickets to the theatre often. It is interesting to note that Maize is extremely comfortable in interacting with men, and often visits late night restaurants and saloons herself where she doesn’t mind associating with drunk and homeless men. This sort of behaviour from a woman was rather different than how women were supposed to behave prior to this period, a change perhaps brought on by the fact that women were more liberated and had the freedom to express their sexuality. Also, the increase of women in workplaces had brought was resulting in increasing familiarity between men and women, who now interacted with more freedom and ease than before. 

Maize’s story bears testimony to the fact that before and during the War, the Bowery had become infiltrated with the lowbrow crowds, and homelessness was on the rise. The large number of flophouses and cheap accommodations that existed on the Bowery made it an area that was plagued with poverty, and the existence of late-night saloons and bars also made it popular with drunks. Alcoholism and homeless dominated the life of a majority of the people who visited the Venice Theatre, and also spawned the movie-going subculture, a prominent feature of the Bowery during this period.

Works Cited:

Mitchell, Joseph. "Maize." New Yorker 21 Dec. 1940: 22-36. The New Yorker. Web.

 Piess, Kathy. Cheap Theater and the Nickel Dumps. Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1986. 139-62. Print.

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Changing Demographics in the Bowery

The Bowery is a palimpsest when it comes to analysing New York City from a historical perspective. With a long and rich history spanning over many centuries, the Bowery is significant in terms of its social, economic, political, and cultural diversity. This region has seen a vast number of transformations ever since it first functioned as a Dutch road, both in terms of its changing demographics of class, race, and ethnicity, as well as the evolving socio-economic conditions of the region that brought about changes in architecture and building ownership. As New York City experienced a wave of immigration in the nineteenth century, “the Bowery became a catalyst and incubator of subcultural expression for the Nativist Boy Bowery, as well as German, Irish, Italian, Chinese, and Jewish immigrants; entertainers and performers; Gay New Yorkers; the transient and homeless; the artists and musicians of the twentieth century” (National Service Park for the Bowery Historical District). 

According to this document, the “peak years of the potato blight in Europe (1845-mid-1850s) coincided with a peak in immigration, especially from Ireland and Germany” and “these two immigrant cultures played a central role in mid nineteenth century Bowery, considered a golden age of entertainment and popular culture, and in a time when the distinctive character of Bowery was formed.” The Irish immigrated to New York in the late 1830s through the 50s, and settled in the area around Chatham Square. There was massive overpopulation in Ireland, and the ensuing famines inspired the Irish lords to send the poor to America. These migrants were largely Catholic, not used to the urban lifestyle, and settled in the Five Points region and Chatham Square. The Irish working class men “sought room and board in the numerous boarding houses found along the Bowery and in the adjacent wards, in close proximity to the exciting street life that engaged them in non working hours” (National Service Park for the Bowery Historical District). 

Meanwhile, at around the same time in history, there also was an influx of Germans in the U.S. Bowery and its neighbouring areas became the centre of the German settlement in New York, known as Kleindeutschland or Little Germany. “Kleindeutschland, like other immigrant areas of the city, was an urban landscape dominated by tenements providing relatively inexpensive housing to the working classes; in fact, that was one of its primary attractions to the German immigrants” (Lower East Side Preservation Society). 

Thus, as these different immigrant groups settled in this region, it is no surprise then that they brought with them elements of their culture. This was especially evident in the German beer culture that flourished in the area. A number of taverns and large beer halls opened along the Bowery, often presenting music and dance shows, providing opportunities for socializing and entertainment. Other German buildings and institutions that existed in this area were Germania Bank and the Germania Fire Insurance buildings (Historic District Council’s Six to Celebrate).

Also a prominent cultural phenomenon that originated during this period was minstrelsy, a form of popular entertainment championed by the Irish stereotyping and mocking the African Americans who also inhabited this region. According to the National Service Park’s report, “in spite of the gross racist stereotypes celebrated in minstrelsy, a cultural cross pollination between African-Americans and Irish blossomed in Five Points and on the Bowery into the uniquely American tap dance.”

The fact that those of the working class primarily inhabited this location contributed to a certain roughness/low brow-ness of the region. There were a number of saloons, flophouses, cheap lodging homes, and cheap amusement and entertainment venues that opened up in order to provide leisure time activities for the working classes after working hours. Thus forms of entertainment like minstrelsy, tap dancing, and vaudeville flourished during this period. Also a consequence of the working masses that crowded the area was a rise in criminal activities and street fights in the Bowery. According to the National Service Park, the Bowery Boy is the one of the “most remembered and emblematic subculture of the gangs that grew out of working-class politics” who were typically associated with nativism. Another gang that operated in the region was the Irish Dead Rabbits. Much of New York’s gang subculture in the Bowery was testimony to the lowering socio-economic conditions of the region, falling from the position it earlier held as an upscale, respectable neighborhood. 

Works Cited:

"Kleindeutschland: Little Germany in the Lower East Side." Lower East Side Preservation Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web.

National Register of Historic Places: The Bowery Historical District. Rep. N.p.: n.p., n.d. National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. Web. <http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000027.pdf>.

"GERMANIA FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY." Historic Districts Councils Six to Celebrate. Historic District Council, n.d. Web. <http://www.6tocelebrate.org/site/germania-fire-insurance-company-bowery-building/>.

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Amato: Small, Grand Opera

“Watching rehearsal was the best show,

Seeing your passion, your patience, until you explode…

          “For the dickens, show me you’re an actress,

Don’t lay there like an old mattress!”

          “And you, your acting is more like dead wood,

Please paint me the picture…Attaboy…good, good!”

Getting the best out of people is no easy task,

Getting the details, almost too much to ask,

And checking the props and the pits and the lights,

Checking the house and the lobby for mice,

Checking the singers and checking the checks,

Feeding the chorus after breaking their backs.

Maestro Amato, dear boss and good friend,

This poem has come to an end.

Leaving me one more thing to say:

Happy Happy 90th Birthday.”

---Rineke Akkerhuis (The Smallest Grand Opera in the World, 2011). 

This excerpt is from a poem that was penned for Anthony Amato’s birthday, when the owner of the Amato Opera located in Bowery turned 90. Written by Rineke Akkerhuis, who worked as costume designer for the opera before it shut its doors in 2009, this poem showers praises on Anthony Amato (or Tony, as he was referred to), acknowledging his central role in the running of the opera company. The original Amato Opera, founded by Mr. Amato and his wife Sally, opened to audiences in 1948 with a production of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” in the basement of the Our Lady Pompeii Church in Greenwich Village. The theatre moved around a few locations in its early years, until in 1964, it finally found its home at 319 Bowery in the lower east area of Manhattan, beside the iconic music club CBGB near Bond Street.

Born on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, Tony Amato moved to the United States as a seven-year-old boy, dropping out of school to work as a butcher. However, he loved the opera, and so he began his long career by appearing as a tenor in regional productions. For the Amato Theatre in the Bowery, Mr. Amato was “the company’s stage director, music director, prompter, vocal coach, diction coach, caterer, broom pusher and emergency tenor” and worked right until his death in 2011 (The New York Times, Dec 14 2011). Mr. Amato’s wife, Sally, was also heavily involved with the opera until her death in 2000—she was lead singer, as well as costume designer and head publicist, and was often found serving coffee and cookies to audiences during the intermission. Together the Amatos created the cultural legacy of the Amato theatre that ran strong for 61 years, until in 2009, Mr. Amato announced that he was disbanding the company and selling the theatre.

According to Tony Amato, one of the main reasons that he founded the Amato Opera other than his love for opera, was that when he started out in the 1940s, there weren’t any opportunities available “for the young American artist to perform in opera, on the stage with full scenery, full chorus, lighting, in a good production” and he wanted to see to it that such artists got a platform to showcase their talent at the Amato theatre. The Opera was founded in modest beginnings, with both the Amatos donning many hats to make the company run successfully. Singers were initially rewarded with home-cooked Italian dinners that they would consume family style, and only later they began receiving a stipend of $10 (The New York Times). When Mr. Amato decided to move the company to Bowery, his decision was met with skepticism from his friends and colleagues who wondered why Amato would want to move to an area known for its seedy establishments and skid row inhabitants. However, a “mainstay of New York’s cultural life for 61 years” the Amato Opera was “long the brightest star in the constellation of semiprofessional opera companies spread over the city—the Off Broadway of the opera world” (The New York Times).

The Amato Opera grew famous as a training ground for young singers, many of whom became famous singers later in their careers, like George Shirley, Mignon Dunn, Delores Smady, and Chester Ludgin, among others. However, it weren’t just the singers that made the theatre so popular. The Amato Opera drew in audiences because of its modest pricing—tickets were $1.80 in the early years, and even as late as 2009 the ticket prices had risen to a modest $35, in comparison to the Metropolitan Opera that cost upwards of a $100 (The New York Times). These low prices made the opera accessible to those who couldn’t afford the pricier productions. This intimate theatre with only 107 seats and an eighteen feet wide stage opened to full houses weekend after weekend, offering audiences productions of classics like “Carmen,” “Aida,” and “The Magic Flute.” Matt Blank from Playbill Arts, writes that the “small-scale productions generally consisted of not-always-consistent vocals and an orchestra made up of a keyboard and a few wind instruments, but the institution was beloved for its East Village intimacy.” According to PBS.org, what sets Amato Opera apart from other opera companies is its “artistic goals of performing grand opera at a reasonable price and creating a platform for aspiring young singers.”

This small company, which was founded by a couple with a love for the opera and a passion to make the arts affordable to the residents of Manhattan, has become an integral part of the cultural history of the Bowery, and also of New York City. Not only is the Amato Company known for producing some great quality opera singers who shined at the international stage, but also is well known for the intimacy and family-style experience it provided to audiences. In the words of the owner and founder Anthony Amato, they were lucky “to have a very small theater and keep it small because small is beautiful. Small opera that is grand, but small, but grand.”

Works Cited:

"Amato: A Love Affair with Opera." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amato/meet.html>.

Amato, Anthony, and Rochelle Mancini. The Smallest Grand Opera in the World. Bloomington, IN: IUniverse, 2011. Print.

Blank, Matt. "PlaybillArts: Features: Final Curtain Falls on Beloved Amato Opera Company May 31." PlaybillArts: Features: Final Curtain Falls on Beloved Amato Opera Company May 31. N.p., 29 May 2009. Web. <http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/8012.html>.

Fox, Margalit. "Anthony Amato, Founder of Amato Opera, Is Dead at 91." The New York Times 15 Dec. 2011: 19. The New York Times. 14 Dec. 2011. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/arts/music/anthony-amato-founder-of-amato-opera-is-dead-at-91.html?_r=0>.

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A Brief History of The Bowery

“…no area of this city—indeed, of this country—is more directly and intimately connected to the saga of immigration, the development of popular culture and the rise of urban politics than the Bowery.” 

--Peter Quinn

The Bowery is a neighbourhood located in the southern part of Manhattan, bounded by Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north, and running down past Canal Street until Chatham Square in the south. A significant part of the historical landscape of New York City, the Bowery has an equally rich history of its own. Famous for being the city’s first entertainment district and also the birthplace of tap dancing and vaudeville, the Bowery has undergone many noteworthy changes—architecturally, culturally, and in its representation in popular culture (Bowery Alliance).

During the time of the Dutch occupancy in New York, the Bowery was simply a link between the Dutch farmlands that existed outside the main city area and New Amsterdam. As an article in The New York Times explains, “Older than New York City, the Bowery dates back to a time when Lower Manhattan was a Dutch colony, and Gov. Peter Stuyvesant built a country estate, or farm—bouwerie in Dutch… [and] a road named De Bouwerie linked New Amsterdam and his farm, following an old Indian trail” (The New York Times, Jun 16 2000). Towards the beginning of the 19th century, this neighbourhood began to evolve and was known for the number of famous people that had started living here. The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826 with 3000 seats—the largest theatre in the U.S. at the time. Also, the Bowery Amphitheatre constructed in 1833 was home to a number of entertainment shows and performances like the circus (Bowery Alliance). Not only did these establishments make Bowery a destination frequented by the elite, but it also contributed to the rich culture of New York City in general.

However, by the mid 1800s at the time of the American Civil War, the status of Bowery as an upper class, respectable neighbourhood began to fall. The area now became infiltrated with brothels, bars, pawnshops, and flophouses that provided cheap boarding. What was once a thriving cultural centre was now fast becoming popular as a red light district. In 1878 the Third Avenue El, an elevated rail line, was constructed in the Bowery, and the area became a “working-class haven” that was “crowded with trolleys and pedestrians” (The New York Times, Jun 16 2000). Until its closure in 1955, the Third Avenue El further influenced the neighbourhood into becoming known for its lowbrow, uncultured crowd. 

In the 1920-30s, the Bowery was an extremely impoverished area. It was associated with alcoholics and homeless people, also referred to as the “Skid Row” of New York City. Due to the sharp increase in population in the city, as well as the presence of cheap lodging houses or flophouses, the Bowery area became overcrowded with people. Also, the economic conditions of the late 1920s as a result of the Great Depression triggered an increase in the population and homelessness (Levinson, Skid Row in Transition). It wasn’t until the end of the Second World War that population began to decline.

By the late 1960s and 70s, there was a gradual decline in the Skid Row that existed on the Bowery. In his article The Gradual Disappearance of Skid Row, author Howard M. Bahr attributes the reason of the decline of Bowery’s Skid Row to three factors—“national economic prosperity, changes in the composition of skid-row population which make the area less attractive to working men and pensioners, and changing policies of the Department of Welfare which induce men to live elsewhere” (Bahr, The Gradual Disappearance of Skid Row). An article published in 1979 in The New York Times reports that a Manhattan Supreme Court justice ordered “the city and the state to create 750 new beds for the helpless and homeless men of Bowery” indicating that the government was indeed taking steps to ensure that Bowery’s Skid Row was abolished (The New York Times, Dec 9 1979).

Bowery has always been a neighbourhood where the arts have flourished. With establishments such as the iconic club CBGB, the Bowery Poetry Club, the Amato Opera, and the Bowery Ballroom, the Bowery is known for its contributions to New York City’s rich cultural heritage. However, since the early 2000s, this rich cultural heritage seems to be threatened by the rapid gentrification that is occurring in the area. Not only have notable locations like CBGB and the Amato Opera shut down, but the Bowery has also seen an increase in a number of modern establishments. Damon Tabor of The New York Times laments, “[t]he Bowery’s gritty glory days may well be over, pushed out by surging rents and ever-rising tide of gentrification” (The New York Times, Jun 10 2007). What used to be an area of “dive shops, pawnshops and flophouses” now has a Whole Foods and “at least 20 Starbucks outlets entrenched within a mile’s radius” (The New York Times, Jun 10 2007). A number of swanky luxury lofts have come up, and high-end designers like John Varvatos operate luxury boutiques in the area.

While gentrification may have affected the old charm of the Bowery, this street is still as vibrant as ever. Home to a host of bars, restaurants, art galleries, boutique hotels, the New Museum, as well as a homeless shelter, and a university dormitory, the Bowery boasts of immense diversity, and each of these various elements contribute to the changing dynamics of this historic street.

Works Cited:

Bahr, Howard M. "The Gradual Disappearance of Skid Row." Social Problems 15.1 (1967): 41-45. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/798868>.

"Bowery Alliance of Neighbors." Bowery Alliance of Neighbors. <http://www.boweryalliance.org/>.

Brawarsky, Sandee. "Oh, It's Not What It Used To Be." The New York Times 16 June 2000: n. pag. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2010). Web.

Kaiser, Charles. "A State Justice Orders Creation of 750 Beds for Bowery Homeless." The New York Times 9 Dec. 1979: n. pag. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2010). Web.

Levinson, David. "Skid Row In Transition." Urban Anthropology 3.1 (1974): 79-93. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40552658>.

Tabor, Damon. "Between Skid Row and Starbucks." The New York Times 10 June 2007: 4. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2010). Web.

[mhnyspring2014-blog]

New York's "Identity Problem"

Royall Tyler’s The Contrast is a comedy of many comparisons, showcasing juxtaposed characters with opposing personalities, as well as highlighting the differences between the countries America and England. Through the characters of Dimple and Colonel Manly, Tyler is presenting a contrast of the European and the American way of life. Dimple is shown to be an egotistic and pretentious man who is a firm believer in the superiority of everything that is European. Dimple’s character suggests that a European lifestyle was sophisticated, tasteful, and reflected that one belonged to the upper strata of society. In comparison, Manly is portrayed to be a simple yet brave and courageous war veteran who feels strongly about American values. Similarly, the characters of the servants of Manly and Dimply, Jonathan and Jessamy, are noteworthy as they reflect the personalities of their bosses.

Set in 18th century New York, The Contrast can also be used to reflect on the identity problem that existed in the city. During the 1700s in America, there were a large number of Europeans who had migrated to the country, and with New York being the port of entry for those who had travelled across the Atlantic, the city was amass with people of new and different identities. Deep-rooted feelings of American patriotism had not yet been established, and amongst the many new identities that were being formed in New York, there was a struggle to form a comprehensive “New York” identity. In Tyler’s play, this problem of unknown identity can be seen in Dimple’s embracing of everything that is foreign and European and dismissal of everything American. Dimple was quick to proclaim that in comparison to the “brilliant exhibitions in Europe,” he despised the “amusements of this country [America]” (28). Those who were well versed and had travelled to Europe were considered “polished” in contrast to the “unpolished” Americans. Through Manly’s character, Tyler seems to encourage Americans to take pride in the American middle class values and identity. As with Dimple’s character that borrows European identity, New York seems to borrow from the different identities of the many people who live here.

Even today, some might say that New York has an identity problem. Composed of one of the most diverse and vibrant mixes of people of different races and religions, New York is like an amalgamation, a cultural melting pot. Within this huge blend of identities, does the identity of New York get misplaced? Or is the identity of New York a reflection of its parts? I believe that to a large extent, New York does not have an identity problem—New Yorkers find some sort of cohesiveness in the diversity of this city. The identity of New York becomes a dynamic one—a sum of its parts, composed of many different cultures and identities.

Sources: 

Tyler, Royall. The Contrast. New York: 1787.