tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post3291217283453801076..comments2023-08-14T11:44:27.299-04:00Comments on Jeremiah's<br> Vanishing New York: Strip StreetJeremiah Mosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11791516443125872364noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-42051209336913471572015-08-31T16:40:28.671-04:002015-08-31T16:40:28.671-04:00Well, TV could also be credited as the major reaso...Well, TV could also be credited as the major reasons no one goes to such places, I imagine, even if they were still around.<br /><br />Re: 52nd Street - Cole Porter put it like this in 1934:<br /><br />I don’t mean to cause a shock in the house,<br />But I’d like to ask – is there a doc in the house,<br />Who can give first aid<br />To the most confused maid in town?<br /><br />I had oh, such sweet suburban ideas<br />You know what I mean? Deanna Durban ideas,<br />Til one fateful night when somebody finally spoke – <br />And broke them all down.<br /><br />I used to dream<br />Of a star-lighted stream<br />Where my man and I would first meet,<br />So try to surmise<br />My terrific surprise,<br />When love beckoned in Fifty Second Street!<br /><br />I thought a breeze<br />Would appear in the trees<br />And sing something tender and sweet,<br />But how could it sing<br />With a band playing swing<br />When love beckoned in Fifty Second Street?<br /><br />Now when we want to coo,<br />Country lanes are taboo,<br />And old West Fifty Two<br />Is our favorite beat,<br />When we're on our feet.<br /><br />So you can bet<br />I will never forget<br />That mad second,<br />When I first reckoned<br />That love beckoned<br />In Fifty Second Street!Scouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07860208585189661470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-45962722533784434192015-08-31T12:24:23.361-04:002015-08-31T12:24:23.361-04:00It's Stories like this that start to clue me i...It's Stories like this that start to clue me in on what happened to all the great entertainers and musical talent. When you close down a block full of venues like this which would have been a magnet for aspiring entertainers and musician you choke off the talent machine. This story was a great example of throwing out the baby with the bath water. They closed these great gathering places under agendas like cleaning up illegal activities, but today we are still suffering the repercussions of these draconian decisions. Our great talent now is very watered down and what is good is spread out which requires waiting for it to come to town where you will experience it in a generic and impersonal theater. Gone are the days when you had the privilege and ability to visit the meccas of talent with a subway ticket or a spirited and fascinating walk. There is no edge to the city today as it no longer the hub of anything except maybe capitalism. Ironically, all the sins that were the impetus behind the shutting down of these colorful districts are still thriving in other forms, but sadly "Generica" is the rule of the day. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15311328582267114916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-32126691264851647802015-06-15T22:25:28.599-04:002015-06-15T22:25:28.599-04:00With ref: 52nd.St. mid 1950's. My relative wor...With ref: 52nd.St. mid 1950's. My relative worked at Famous Door.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-35359003761940695792012-10-27T17:37:25.718-04:002012-10-27T17:37:25.718-04:00My father was the accountant for Moulin Rouge. He...My father was the accountant for Moulin Rouge. He took me there once in the daytime. it was strange space for me to experience at 8 years old but liked it. My mother says that owners were "Bill & Tom", that all but they were italian american. Oh, she said she used to go shopping with Toms wife then go to the Moulin Rouge for a drink before going back to Brooklyn.Peter Bardazzihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00256095302996818996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-32540832648194408822012-10-27T17:35:36.060-04:002012-10-27T17:35:36.060-04:00My father was the accountant for Moulin Rouge. He...My father was the accountant for Moulin Rouge. He took me there once in the daytime. it was strange space for me to experience at 8 years old but liked it. My mother says that owners were "Bill & Tom", that all but they were italian american. Oh, she said she used to go shopping with Toms wife then go to the Moulin Rouge for a drink before going back to Brooklyn.Peter Bardazzihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00256095302996818996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-55829089680760112632012-08-25T16:49:31.516-04:002012-08-25T16:49:31.516-04:00Rob Hill said...
Ah, a much more detailed account...Rob Hill said... <br />Ah, a much more detailed account than my own, especially about the declining years.<br /><br />It's depressing to walk down that street today and imagine what it once was before the onslaught of concrete and steel. <br /><br />@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@<br />my kids had never seen me cry until the time i went back over to west 52nd and started to walk west bound from bdwy to 10th,as this was my old nabe-i was totally disorientated and had only been away about 10 years or so due to gentrification,we had to move out and being we were among the last to go,no one belonging to us was around anyway. A sad trip indeed and never will be repeated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-60304713555635675642011-01-27T16:35:18.157-05:002011-01-27T16:35:18.157-05:00I will just add that today the block has the CBS b...I will just add that today the block has the CBS building on it, and the Paley Center for Media. Also, didn't the block also have a nightclub owned by Toots Schoor [sic?].Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-24603979962422484922011-01-26T19:17:48.449-05:002011-01-26T19:17:48.449-05:00Jeremiah - Great post. I actually had no idea of 5...Jeremiah - Great post. I actually had no idea of 52nd street's post-jazz identity, or the reasons for its transformation into the corporate landscape we see today. <br /><br />Why does 'progress' go one way in our society? Welcome to turbo-capitalism, the only god that matters . . . at the moment at least. <br /><br />T.City Of Strangershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12158677428956744517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-36682317025134214372011-01-26T17:49:57.750-05:002011-01-26T17:49:57.750-05:00. . . it's remarkable, the way "progress&...<i>. . . it's remarkable, the way "progress" always seems to go in one direction--toward the dead and the dull.</i><br /><br /><br />Was about to say the same thing, but you said it first, and better. <br /><br />Why is this true? A smart group could riff on the topic for hours, I'm sure.<br /><br />Thanks again for this fantastic 52nd St. series.BrooksNYChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03001832037256411973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-23094986082376527842011-01-26T16:55:40.910-05:002011-01-26T16:55:40.910-05:00really ugly. i hope some blocks west of this can s...really ugly. i hope some blocks west of this can stay as is. how many skyscapers & offices do we need?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-91770809809307649262011-01-26T15:04:14.134-05:002011-01-26T15:04:14.134-05:00thanks for the info about the walk of fame, king. ...thanks for the info about the walk of fame, king. <br /><br />love that Auden poem.<br /><br />Eleanor Roosevelt was very cool.<br /><br />this is definitely the sort of street that makes one wish for a time machine. for many reasons. it's remarkable, the way "progress" always seems to go in one direction--toward the dead and the dull.Jeremiah Mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11791516443125872364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-45261040075155806222011-01-26T14:39:14.172-05:002011-01-26T14:39:14.172-05:00I wonder if the people running the K Lounge, with ...I wonder if the people running the K Lounge, with its erotic decorations on the walls, know or were motivated by the street's history?enodohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138988705153844006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-7304166265679734852011-01-26T12:04:43.811-05:002011-01-26T12:04:43.811-05:00On a related topic, a new book came out on Gypsy R...On a related topic, a new book came out on Gypsy Rose Lee (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132746887/gypsy-for-an-american-rose-a-thorny-story). I had no idea how much of a national icon she was, so much so that Eleanor Roosevelt sent her a telegram stating "May your bare ass always be shining"! <br /><br />Wonderful posts. What nightlife. I would have loved to have seen Sherry Britton in action. But to have seen Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy, Bird, Miles Davis, and Billie Holiday at the Three Deuces or any one of the clubs back then would have been priceless.Claribelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11852854870468578618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-37172467344459873742011-01-26T11:53:33.955-05:002011-01-26T11:53:33.955-05:00Great historical data and stories on that street. ...Great historical data and stories on that street. Sad what its become today, but oh if I had a time machine!Marty Wombacherhttp://www.aguywalksinto365bars.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-75752053679368526292011-01-26T10:44:55.728-05:002011-01-26T10:44:55.728-05:00W.H. Auden's masterful "September 1, 1939...W.H. Auden's masterful "September 1, 1939" immediately comes to mind.Kevinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-89705793160391909582011-01-26T10:29:04.561-05:002011-01-26T10:29:04.561-05:00In the early '80s, a project to place small si...In the early '80s, a project to place small sidewalk plaques commemorating the great entertainers, mainly jazz musicians, who played The Street in its heyday, was started on the north side of the block, in front of CBS' Black Rock. Eventually, the plaques were due to reach eastward to 5th Avenue. After the initial dozen or so black, hard-to-read plaques were put down, that seems to have been the end of it, and even those are now gone. <br /><br />This follows the same fate as a plaque on the building at 47th and Broadway which once houseed the Royal Roost nightclub--the "Metropolitan Bopera House"--back in the '40s. When that place was torn down, I guess the memorial went with it.kingofnycabbiesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-45441820125565060282011-01-26T09:49:28.164-05:002011-01-26T09:49:28.164-05:00Fantastic post. Thanks.Fantastic post. Thanks.Joe Bonomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17743930286048945869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-9724371023570091842011-01-26T09:46:22.481-05:002011-01-26T09:46:22.481-05:00Fantastic post! Thanks for putting this together.Fantastic post! Thanks for putting this together.Willnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-91097486607707955962011-01-26T08:29:55.290-05:002011-01-26T08:29:55.290-05:00Ah, a much more detailed account than my own, espe...Ah, a much more detailed account than <a href="http://hellospider.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/swing-street/" rel="nofollow">my own</a>, especially about the declining years.<br /><br />It's depressing to walk down that street today and imagine what it once was before the onslaught of concrete and steel.Rob Hillhttp://hellospider.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-683382864156505640.post-54863076241507131582011-01-26T08:26:37.462-05:002011-01-26T08:26:37.462-05:00Great piece. I was not aware of all these happenin...Great piece. I was not aware of all these happenings and clubs on 52nd Street now named Swing Alley.Melaniehttp://melaniemusings2.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com