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August 23, 2009
The First 'Hood.
Jacob Riis photo of Bandits' Roost (1890).
Above: Infamous Hell's Kitchen, NYC, before it got cute. The work, images and outcry of Riis were all famous at the time. So was this photograph. Next door to Times Square, Hell's Kitchen always seems worlds away. It keeps changing but stays famous: from Irish and German immigrant sub-city to gangland neighborhood to actors' quarter to, these days, a yuppie heaven. Real estate brokers years ago came up with the new labels of Clinton and Midtown West. But those handles will never replace the real name. Older neighborhoods, like older people, are feisty as hell.
Posted by JD Hull at August 23, 2009 01:34 AM