Title
Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville : Excavating Manhattan's Lost Places of Leisure / David Freeland.
ISBN
9780814728543
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2009]
Copyright
©2009
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource : 24 black and white illustrations
Other Standard Identifiers
10.18574/nyu/9780814728543.001.0001 doi
Summary
Winner of the Publication Award for Popular Culture and Entertainment for 2009 from the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in AmericaNamed to Pop Matters list of the Best Books of 2009 (Non-fiction)From the lights that never go out on Broadway to its 24-hour subway system, New York City isn't called "the city that never sleeps" for nothing. Both native New Yorkers and tourists have played hard in Gotham for centuries, lindy hopping in 1930s Harlem, voguing in 1980s Chelsea, and refueling at all-night diners and bars. The slim island at the mouth of the Hudson River is packed with places of leisure and entertainment, but Manhattan's infamously fast pace of change means that many of these beautifully constructed and incredibly ornate buildings have disappeared, and with them a rich and ribald history.Yet with David Freeland as a guide, it's possible to uncover skeletons of New York's lost monuments to its nightlife. With a keen eye for architectural detail, Freeland opens doors, climbs onto rooftops, and gazes down alleyways to reveal several of the remaining hidden gems of Manhattan's nineteenth- and twentieth-century entertainment industry. From the Atlantic Garden German beer hall in present-day Chinatown to the city's first motion picture studio-Union Square's American Mutoscope and Biograph Company-to the Lincoln Theater in Harlem, Freeland situates each building within its historical and social context, bringing to life an old New York that took its diversions seriously. Freeland reminds us that the buildings that serve as architectural guideposts to yesteryear's recreations cannot be re-created-once destroyed they are gone forever. With condominiums and big box stores spreading over city blocks like wildfires, more and more of the Big Apple's legendary houses of mirth are being lost. By excavating the city's cultural history, this delightful book unearths some of the many mysteries that lurk around the corner and lets readers see the city in a whole new light.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Available in Other Form
print 9780814727621
Frontmatter
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Chinatown, Chatham Square, and the Bowery
1 A Round for the Old Atlantic.
2 Chinatown Theater.
Part II. Union Square and the East Village
3 A Roof with a View.
4 Caretakers of Second Avenue.
Part III. The Tenderloin
5 If You Can Make 'Em Cry.
6 Tenderloin Winners and Losers.
Part IV. Harlem
7 A Theater of Our Own.
8 Rise and Fall of the Original Swing Street.
Part V. Times Square
9 The Strike Invisible.
10 Last Dance at the Orpheum.
11 Nights of Gladness. (Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe)
Epilogue
A Note on Sources
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
