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Home , Alley (company), Brendan Gill, Nora Bayes, Peter Pennoyer, Tin Pan Alley

SPRING 2018

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the metropolitan chapter of the victorian society in america

Drumming Up Support VSNY INITIATES LAND- MARK EVALUATION For Designation A request for evaluation filed On the snippet of West 28th Street that links on behalf of the Victorian and 6th Avenue in , the storefronts overflow Society New York by board member Alta Indelman asked with wigs, beaded slippers, paper lanterns, phone cases the Landmarks Preserva- and knit ponchos. What you will not find in its windows tion Commission to consider anymore, and what you would have been offered at designating the school at 131 every turn circa 1900, is brand-new sheet . in Manhattan as From the 1890s to the 1910s, composers, performers an individual landmark. and music publishers and impresarios rented offices on Now home to Chelsea the block in four- and five-story structures built as early Career and Technical Educa- as the 1830s. Hits like “Give My Regards to Broadway” tion High School and the New and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” were first played York City iSchool, the building was completed in 1905 to the on the tenants’ pianos, with cardboard muffling the design of C.B.J. Snyder, the soundboard strings (to keep competitors from hearing legendary superintendent the melodies in progress). The pervasive tinny sound of buildings for the Board of inspired the block’s nickname, Tin Pan Alley. Buildings from the glory days of Tin Pan Alley remain on West 28th Street in Manhattan.Photo courtesy of Historic Education from 1891-1922. The buildings where the immortal music was Districts Council The Beaux Arts style struc- dreamed up are substantially intact. The street is ture has a “J” shaped plan historic fabric, it obviously should be a historic district. full of facades with faceted bay windows, detailed rather than the “H” form But Tin Pan Alley has not yet come under New York moldings, leafy brackets and column capitals made Snyder used for numerous City Landmarks Preservation Commission protection, of stone, terra cotta and pressed metal. Given the schools. Its façade has a despite years of public demand for the street to at least limestone base and bands of block’s combination of significant past inhabitants and appear on the commission’s calendar. In an effort to light-colored brick accented crank up the push for designation, George Calderaro, with terra cotta detailing. A copper-clad cornice and co-chair of the Victorian Society New York’s Preserva- faux mansard parapet crown tion Committee, is spearheading a renewed Save Tin the structure. The building, Pan Alley landmark initiative, an advocacy campaign wrote Ms. Indelman, “stands to safeguard what he calls a “precious cultural legacy” as a graceful coda to the that is “acknowledged globally.” streetscape vista from the Calderaro’s team, which includes the 29th Street Cast-Iron Historic Neighborhood Association, Historic Districts Council District and the Sullivan- and Victorian Society New York, is raising public Thompson Historic District.” awareness by networking with politicians, journalists, Hilda Regier musicians and scholars and hosting events including After this article went to press, guided tours led by historians David Freeland and the Landmarks Preservation Miriam Berman. Lesley Doyel has developed a Tin Pan Commission denied the request. Alley curriculum that she introduced to P.S. 11 students Options to pursue designation Snyder school on Sixth Avenue is focus of a request to be evalu- will be explored. ated as a possible landmark. Photo by Alta Indelman Architect as part of her education initiative for the VSNY; she is

CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE Architecture And Technology: How Buildings Grew Tall

With rare exceptions, church steeples were the tallest structures on the horizon in until the mid-1860s, with most buildings topping out at six stories—around 60 or 70 feet—or lower in height. In the early years of the Victorian era, floors and roofs were typically framed with wood beams supported by hand-laid masonry bearing walls, with building heights subject to the limitations of those materials and construction methods. Now, fast-forward to 1899 when the newly completed Park Row Building, designed by R.H. Robertson at 15 Park Row in , extended 386 feet into the sky. It was, for several years, the tallest building in the world. How did this happen? As construc- tion technologies evolved and were able to sustain taller structures and the functions within these structures, the push to make buildings higher picked up momentum. By the late 1880s, the die was cast for New York, along left to right: The Park Row Building was the tallest building in the world from 1899 to 1908. The Everett with , to be a city of skyscrapers. Building at 200 Park Avenue South exemplifies the new American architecture of the early 20th century. While buildings increased in height Photos by Alta Indelman Architect. significantly during the latter third of the th19 century and skyscrapers popped up in New (488 Broadway, designed by architect John the new American architecture of the 20th York City at a galloping pace by the 1910s, the P. Gaynor) illustrates how slender metal century, reflective of both New York and systems necessary for the development of columns, in place of masonry bearing walls, Chicago styles. high-rise buildings were in the works decades enable spacious interior layouts and generous Designed by Goldwin Starrett & Van Vleck earlier. For a building to grow tall, power- fenestration. Further refinement in metal and built in 1908 for the Everett Investing operated equipment was needed to do the frame construction was made possible by the Company, the building was lauded in the actual construction work and there had to be advent of the I-beam. Trenton Ironworks, trade journals of the day for being both a convenient way to travel up and down in founded by Peter Cooper, rolled the first functional and architecturally pleasing. 200 the building. The structure had to be flexible wrought iron I-beam, the precursor of modern Park Avenue South showcases the features enough to be braced for wind loads, able to steel framing, in 1855. of tall building design that made these be easily fireproofed, and slender enough to Fans for ventilating tall buildings were structures work so well for growing busi- not eat up valuable floor area. A brick bearing being developed by 1860, and plumbing nesses. Square, clear floor area, important wall in a 20-story building would need to be systems were able to achieve enough pres- for supervising large numbers of employees, four feet thick at the first floor! Clearly, metal sure to serve a tall building by 1858. Lighting was made possible by the regularity and framing to replace bulky masonry was key. remained the last problem to be solved for compact footprint of a steel frame. Terra Plumbing had to reach the top floors, active the design of high rise buildings. Gas was not cotta facade cladding was designed to custom ventilation was needed for a healthy environ- an optimal source at that scale and, although fit the shape of the steel, fireproofing and ment and artificial lighting was required for central electric power became available in New weatherproofing it, as well as contributing the interior spaces. York City in 1882, many new large buildings elegant architectural detail to the facade’s William Otis, an American inventor, continued to rely on private generators until strict grid. The snug fit of the terra cotta to patented the steam shovel in 1839, ringing World War I. the steel allowed for large window openings in the era of powered construction equip- The Everett Building, 200 Park Avenue at the exterior walls and maximum daylight ment. His cousin, Elisha Otis, designed the South at East 17th Street, is a solid case study in the work spaces. first commercial passenger elevator; it was in early skyscraper design and exemplifies The Everett Building, and other new installed in the Haughwout Building in 1857— the development of rapidly built, fireproof loft and office buildings of its type built the beginning of vertical transportation as we commercial buildings with simple, gridded during the last years of the Victorian era, know it today. facades and open plan interiors. Sixteen stretched the scale of New York’s commercial Cast iron, used for load bearing, facade stories (230 feet) high and sheathed in white streetscapes, laying the groundwork for the framing and decorative elements, hit its stride terra cotta with green and orange ornamen- very tall skyline to come. by the late 1850s. The Haughwout Building tation, the building is a true expression of Alta Indelman

2 Victorian Era Foods Pique Interest

Scholars are revealing how Victorian chefs mint juleps at West Virginia spa towns, and Related exhibitions have gone on view at concocted and marketed meals, just in time the freed slave Emeline Jones spooned a puree the Museum of Food and Drink (mofad.org) in for the Victorian Society New York’s February of chicken, anchovies and truffles onto lettuce . Its current show (through February 24 three-course brunch at the new antiques- leaves at New York’s Carlton Club. Dr. Shields 16) covers the history of Chinese restaurants packed Oscar Wilde Bar in Manhattan. has peppered the text with recipes and tips for in America, with menus dating back to the David S. Shields, a professor at the Univer- cooking and serving. 1910s. In the former Lee’s Art Shop flagship at sity of South Carolina, has profiled 175 218 West 57th Street in Manhattan, an exhibi- influential chefs and restaurateurs in a new tion (through early spring 2018) explores the book, The Culinarians: Lives and Careers from the PBS series Downton Abbey’s sets, costumes, First Age of American Fine Dining (University plotlines, characters and social history context of Chicago Press). The chronological study (downtonexhibition.com). The three-story begins and ends with Frenchmen famed for show contains roomfuls of rarefied cooking soups: from 18th-century ’s Jean Baptiste and dining equipment. Kitchen shelves are Gilbert Payplat, who claimed that his turtle stocked with Virol, a bone marrow emulsion potages had “efficacy in purifying the blood,” advertised as a strengthener for “children & to Louis Diat, who popularized vichyssoise invalids.” A formal table is glitteringly set with at New York’s Ritz-Carlton in the 1910s. The everything an aristocrat required around 1910, The picture shows a version of snow pudding made biographies are particularly revealing about with a recipe used by my grandmother, mother including pudding forks. A vintage cookbook culinary feats by African-American restau- and siblings. It differs from “Aunt Mary’s” version is displayed open to an appetizing page that rateurs, who served elite white customers slightly: the chilled gelatin/egg white/sugar depicts fanchonettes (jam-slathered tarts) and right after the Civil War. The freed slave John pudding is cut into squares and rolled in Graham molds for making timbales (pastry shells). Dabney piled shaved ice and fresh flowers onto Cracker crumbs. Photo by John Grahan Eve Kahn

SNOW PUDDING WITH LEMON CUSTARD SAUCE The following recipe is re-printed fromAunt Mary’s New England Cook Book: A Collection of Useful and Economical Cooking Receipts, published in 1881. While the procedures Aunt Mary lists often seem anachro- nistic—she includes instructions for plucking hens, the preparation of potted pigeons and recipes calling for “a lump of butter the size of an egg”—it seems Aunt Mary was an up-to-date Victorian, perfectly ready to accept 19th-century innovations into her kitchen. Unfla- vored dried gelatin, the basis for this dessert, was first marketed to housewives in 1845, and the rotary egg beater was patented in the in 1859.

SNOW PUDDING ingredients—One half box of gelatin; the juice of one lemon; one pint boiling water; two cups sugar; the whites of two eggs.

Soak the gelatin in cold water to cover for ten minutes until softened. Add the lemon juice. Pour the boiling water over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Add the sugar and let the mixture cool. While the gelatin mixture cools, beat the two egg whites until they are stiff with an egg beater. Fold the egg whites into the cool gelatin mixture and beat for five minutes. Pour the mixture into a dish, rinsed with cold water, smooth the top, and chill until firm. Serve with Lemon Custard Sauce.

LEMON CUSTARD SAUCE ingredients—One whole egg; the yolks of two additional eggs; a pint of milk; a tablespoon of sugar; a few drops of essence of lemon.

Heat the milk to just below boiling; lightly beat the egg and the yolks; remove the milk from the heat and pour it slowly over the eggs, stirring constantly; stir in the sugar and the lemon essence; chill before serving with the Snow Pudding. John Graham

3 lectures left to right: Alice Austen’s home on Staten Island, photo by Floto + Warner. Ladies of the Ticker The Victorian Society New York sponsors a Ken Lustbader, Jay Shockley and Amanda series of lectures at The Church of the Holy book cover, published by University of Illinois Davis will focus on sites from the 1840s to Trinity, 316 E. 88th St., between Second and Press, 2017. Oscar Wilde Bar in Manhattan,photo First Avenues in Manhattan. No reservations the 1920s. Special attention will be given to courtesy of Oscar Wilde Bar. Sagamore Hill, Oyster are required for the free lectures that begin the project’s work in amending the National Bay, photo courtesy of Friends of Sagamore Hill. Larz at 6:45 p.m. A reception beginning at 6 p.m. Register of Historic Places nomination of the and Isabel Anderson: Wealth and Celebrity in the precedes the lectures. Alice Austen House. Other sites include Walt Gilded Age book cover, published by iUniverse, 2016. Whitman’s Brooklyn residence and the Henry Tombstones in the Wycoff-Snedicker Cemetery THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8 Street Settlement, co-founded by progressive in Woodhaven, Queens, photo courtesy of the LADIES OF THE TICKER: reformer Lillian Wald, as well as early bar and Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society. WOMEN OF WALL STREET social spaces in downtown Manhattan. Long overlooked in histories of finance, THURSDAY, MAY 10 women played an essential role in areas such THURSDAY, APRIL 12 MARK TWAIN AND CHARLES DARWIN: as banking and the stock market during the WEALTH AND CELEBRITY IN THE GILDED THE EVOLUTION OF LITERATURE th th late 19 and early 20 centuries. Yet their AGE: LARZ AND ISABEL ANDERSON Mark Twain (1835-1910) and Charles Darwin presence sparked ongoing controversy. A Stephen T. Moskey, author of a new dual biog- (1809-1882) met only once, but Darwin influ- pioneering study by George Robb, professor raphy of a married couple, will offer a fresh enced Twain’s work and view on society, while of history at William Paterson University look into America’s Gilded Age. His research Twain was one of Darwin’s favorite novelists. in Wayne, NJ, sheds light on the financial has focused on the lives of the Andersons James Joseph Golden, director of education methods, accomplishments and careers of within the intersection of wealth, celebrity, at the Mark Twain House and Museum in three generations of women during this politics, gender and race as one century ended Hartford, CT, has explored the unexpected pivotal era. and another began. Moskey will describe connections between two Victorian intel- Larz’s professional achievements as well as lectual titans, examining the full range of THURSDAY, MARCH 8 Isabel’s emergence as an American woman of Twain’s oeuvre, including fiction, travelogues, HIDDEN HISTORY OF LGBT the early modern era whose words and deeds philosophical works, social commentary VICTORIAN NEW YORK anticipated women’s roles in culture and and personal correspondence. It shows the The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, founded society today. enduring relevance of Darwin’s thought and in 2015, is the first cultural heritage initia- the surprising depth of what, on the surface, tive to document historic LGBT spaces in the seems like simple humor. city’s five boroughs. Panelists Andrew Dolkart,

ARGOT GAYLE FU MARGOT GAYLE FUND EVENT M ND DEADLINE

Susan Tunick, president of The event venue has not yet 

Friends of Terra Cotta, will speak been determined.

Margot Gayle Fund grant at an April 19 event to benefit The Margot Gayle Fund provides the Margot Gayle Fund for the applications are due on monetary grants for preservation Preservation of Victorian Heritage. Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, or conservation of Victorian era The terra cotta expert’s topic will February 14, 2018. A grant material culture. Each year 5% of be “Don’t Take It for Granite.” application form can be found the fund’s principal is available for She is the co-author of Te r r a C o t t a on The Victorian Society New grants. With continuing low bank Skyline: New York’s Architectural York website (vicsocny.org). rates, the need to replenish the Ornament and a ceramist whose fund has become an annual problem. works may be seen in New York  City schools and subways.

4 tours SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 12 NOON SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2 PM Founded in New York City BRUNCH AT THE OSCAR WILDE BAR A WALK IN WOODHAVEN in 1966, the Victorian Enjoy a drink and three courses in a private The serenity of a spring afternoon in a Society in America is room in the ornately decorated Oscar Wilde park-like setting may belie a troubled past. dedicated to fostering the Bar that celebrates the legendary English Neglected for nearly a century, the Wyckoff- appreciation and pres- author and wit. During our meal, Russell Snedicker Family Cemetery was rescued and ervation of our nation’s Needham will enlighten us on how the space restored through the efforts of the Woodhaven 19th-century heritage as came to be filled with an unusual collection Cultural & Historical Society. The grounds well as that of the early of antiques. The bar is near Tin Pan Alley, and were cleared of fallen trees, weeds and 20th century (1837–1917). George Calderaro will describe the initiative to garbage. The Victorian Society New York made The Victorian Society New save this historic streetscape. a small grant from its Margot Gayle Fund York (VSNY), the oldest of FEES: $65 FOR VICTORIAN SOCIETY for garbage bags to help in the cleanup. The numerous chapters now NEW YORK MEMBERS, $75 FOR NONMEMBERS cemetery was created in the 1700s when two flourishing throughout the neighboring farmers donated the land. Burials USA, is an independent continued there for more than a century. Our nonprofit organization guided walk will unveil elements of the history affiliated with the of Woodhaven through biographies of the national Society. dead researched by students involved in the project. Proceeds from the tour will benefit Membership contribu-  the Margot Gayle Fund for Preservation of tions at any level help to Victorian Heritage. provide the foundation TERMS AND CONDI- FEES: $20 FOR VICTORIAN SOCIETY for all that we do—from TIONS OF TOUR NEW YORK MEMBERS, $30 FOR NONMEMBERS our lecture series, walking PARTICIPATION tours and excursions, to SATURDAY, MAY 5, 8:30 AM-4:45 PM Meeting places will be provided our grant and awards AN OYSTER BAY DAY in the confirmation of registra- programs honoring worthy tion. Participants in our tours On Long Island’s North Shore we will visit preservation projects in must be in excellent health. Sagamore Hill, the mansion Theodore Roosevelt New York. Members also They must be able to participate built in 1884-85 and used during the summers help provide scholarships safely in all activities and keep of his presidency, 1901-08. Family furnishings to the Victorian Society in pace with the groups. Sites we remain in the house. Time permitting, a drive America Summer Schools visit may have challenging through part of what was Louis Comfort Tiffa- for advanced study. ARGOT GAYLE FU M ND stairs or steep or rocky hills. ny’s estate will afford glimpses of remaining DEADLINE Donations to the Margot If you have any doubt about elements. After lunch we go to Raynham Hall. Gayle Fund make possible your ability to participate fully The oldest part of this house, built in 1738, has monetary grants for pres- because of health conditions

ties to Revolutionary War spies. A Victorian or disabilities, please contact ervation and conservation [email protected] or call (212) wing was added in 1852. Our last stop will be at of Victorian material 886-3742. The Victorian Society Coe Hall and Planting Fields Arboretum. The culture in our region. New York reserves the right to 65-room Tudor Revival style mansion was built decline to accept or to refuse to in the early 20th century for William R. Coe, an retain any person as a partici- insurance executive, and his wife, Mai, heiress pant in its tours at any time. of a Standard Oil fortune. Hundreds of acres of  gardens surround the mansion. FEES: $140 FOR VICTORIAN SOCIETY NEW YORK MEMBERS, $165 FOR NONMEMBERS

5 A Look Back at a VSNY Honoree

Since 1925, writers who’ve wanted to have an chairman emeritus of the Preservation League impact upon Gotham, the United States and of New York State at the time of his death. He the English-speaking world have set their served as a trustee of the Whitney Museum of eyes on the urbane pages of . American Art for 15 years. And, perhaps most For 92 years, the magazine has published the importantly in terms of preservation, Mr. Gill best. And for over 60 of those years, its pages was the chairman of the Municipal Art Society. were the professional home of the recipient In 1988, MAS established the Brendan Gill of the Victorian Society New York (VSNY) Prize, awarded to a person whose work in the 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award, presented fine arts celebrates city life. posthumously to Brendan Gill. In 1978 Brendan Gill and MAS took on a Mr. Gill was raised among the insurance major role in the famous battle to save Grand aristocracy of Hartford, Ct. After receiving Central Station. Penn Central, which owned his diploma from a local prep school, he the station, was determined to challenge the followed the approved path for men of his constitutionality of the New York City Land- class and enrolled at Yale. But during his time mark Preservation Law. The company was Brendan Gill as an undergraduate, he realized he wanted eager to maximize income with alterations more than life among the actuarial tables that would have destroyed the architectural and country clubs of central . He integrity of the building. Lower courts had wanted to write. He wanted New York. And he supported the company, but in 1978 the city had the ability to achieve both aims. Within a decided to take the case all the way to the year of graduating with Yale’s class of ’36, he Supreme Court. Mr. Gill was able to persuade was hired as a staff member atThe New Yorker. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to lend her It’s the sort of life-changing transition most support to the city’s case. On April 17, 1978, aspiring authors can only dream about. they boarded the “Landmarks Express,” to Brendan Gill proceeded to produce Washington, D. C. to bring public attention to hundreds of polished articles on books, films, this threat to our architectural heritage. And theater and architecture. He wrote anony- on June 26, 1978, the Court decided 6–3 in favor mous pieces for the magazine’s famous “Talk of New York City’s Landmark Law. of the Town” feature; he became its film critic Brendan Gill was also an early member of in 1960, and from 1987 to 1996 he was the the Victorian Society in America, the national successor to as the author of organization of which VSNY is a chapter. In the influential “Skyline” column. The latter 1958, a few years before the organization’s post provided him with excellent opportu- founding, following the prompting of Margot nities to celebrate the city’s architectural Gayle, he’d written aNew Yorker essay on the heritage and to mourn the loss of important Jefferson Market Courthouse, calling it an buildings. But Mr. Gill didn’t limit his writing “invincibly romantic confection.” to articles that would fit between the covers of Brendan Gill died on December 27, 1997. a weekly. He also wrote 15 books. They include When the Board of VSNY learned of his death, biographies of , members were shocked to realize that the and Frank Lloyd Wright; Late Bloomers, a organization had never officially recognized collection of essays on people whose creativity his work in preservation. In the spring of 1998, refused to recognize their biological clocks, the Board approved the Awards Committee and his 1975 best seller, Here At The New Yorker. proposal to present the first posthumous life- His life outside literature was just as busy. time achievement award in honor of Mr. Gill. He was a trustee of the New York Society His widow, Anne Gill, attended the Annual Library from 1973 to 1993. He was chairman of Meeting and Awards Ceremony at the Judson the board of the Foundation for Memorial Church that June. the Visual Arts from 1992 until 1997. He was John Graham

6 Acknowledgments The Victorian Society New York gratefully acknowledges the generous support of members, individuals, firms and sponsors who help to further the Chapter’s mission to preserve, protect and promote our Victorian heritage.

GENERAL MEMBERS Gale Harris president’s circle Richard Iversen Brian Coleman Pamela Jerome Jack Taylor Jim Mackin Joseph Murin sustainer R. Jay Shockley George Calderaro and William Megevick Sheila Smith Chris Daniel Sydney Starr Eve Kahn Frampton Tolbert John D. Metcalfe, CMBHI Evelyn Trebilcock Hilda Regier Gertrude Wilmers Joanne Witty and Eugene Keilin Suzanne Wray Albert and Claire Zuckerman lifetime

patron Clark S. Marlor Daniel and Nadezhda Allen Stewart Manville William S. Ayres John F. Beddingfield daniel d. badger circle members Virginia Brody sustainer Mary M. Cope The Green-Wood Cemetery William J. Dane Peter Pennoyer Architects Christabel Gough CTA Architects Lewis I. Haber and Carmen Dubroc

Franklin Headley and Jeff Becker patron Joyce Mendelsohn Alta Indelman, Architect Mary P. Miller Edward Mohylowski in-kind contributors Russell Needham and Dennis Pepper Mark Masyga, Panorama designer Jeffrey Sholeen McVicker & Higginbotham, Inc., printing Nancy Till and Michael Ashby and distributing Panorama Stephen H. Van Dyk special thanks contributor The Victorian Society New York gratefully John Bacon acknowledges: Marie Bingham Christopher Broadwell for support of the Anne Blaugrund 2017-18 Lecture Series Elizabeth Broman Lewis I Habert for support of the Jason Busch 2017-18 Lecture Series.

❍ $30 YOUNG VICTORIANS* Join the VICTORIAN SOCIETY NEW YORK today! *Members age 35 and younger, please provide a copy of your Additional Special Contribution(s): valid ID. VSA SUMMER SCHOOL Scholarships $ MARGOT GAYLE FUND $ ❍ $40 INDIVIDUAL* Please make checks payable to: Metropolitan Chapter, VSA *Seniors and full-time students Mail this form with check to: VSNY, 232 East 11th Street, New York, NY, 10003 receive a $10 discount at this level. Please provide a copy of your valid ID. ❍ $60 DUAL* Name(s) Please print *Seniors receive a $10 discount at this level. Address Apartment ❍ $75 CONTRIBUTOR ❍ $150 PATRON ❍ $250 SUSTAINER City State Zip Code ❍ $500 PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE Please visit www.vicsocny.org for a complete list of benefits and to Phone Email learn about Daniel D. Badger Circle memberships. Check Number Total Enclosed: $ 7 232 East 11th Street New York, NY 10003

CONTINUED FROM PAGE1 making it available for other educators to use. game until two decades after the tune made It can be downloaded from www.vicsocny.org/ him famous. His brother Harry published preservation/HandsOnHistory/Teaching Tin another hit, “My Old New Hampshire Home,” Pan Alley Teacher’s Manual. without having traveled to the Granite State. During a recent stroll down Tin Pan Alley, By the early 1900s, however, the street had Freeland and Berman pointed out where developed an unsavory reputation. Police particular first reached the public’s squads cracked down on gambling and other ears and which buildings housed the teams vices. The pluggers were considered insuffer- that published the likes of the original able nuisances and a “din-making drove,” “Wizard of Oz” musical and “Daisy Bell (Bicycle the Evening World reported in 1905. By the Built for Two).” The music publishers kept 1920s, the had headed north- brazen pianists called pluggers on salary. west, closer to ’s lavish new (Their ranks at one point included a teenager cinemas and theaters. Decades of ensuing named .) When a fresh song was neglect helped preserve the West 28th Street ready for and the footlights, plug- block. It even evaded urban renewalists in gers were dispatched to perform it loudly at the 1960s. In the 1970s, a sidewalk plaque theaters, cafes and saloons. Celebrity crooners commemorating Tin Pan Alley was installed would be accosted as they dined out or headed at the southeast corner of Broadway and 28th backstage, and the pluggers’ pitch went some- Street (just east of the subway entrance). thing like this: if you’ll sing our irresistibly The landmarking initiative has garnered catchy tune in public, we’ll all get rich. 45 W. 28th St. was the headquarters of music support from Manhattan Community Board 5 Every genre of was avail- publisher, Jerome K. Remick. Photo courtesy of and all the local elected officials, Calderaro able on Tin Pan Alley: marches, , , Historic Districts Council reports, and 40,000 people have signed sentimental and comic . The block was publishing company. William Morris, a German petitions to protect the area. In October 2017, also thronged with people patronizing or Jewish immigrant, had changed his name from Calderaro’s team organized “Save Tin Pan gawking at dancehalls, brothels and gambling Zelman Moses. Women managed to have some Alley Day,” an afternoon of activism that was dens. Filmmakers made the occasional silent agency on Tin Pan Alley, too; the singer and headquartered at mid-block Pergola restaurant. movie on the rooftops.The New York Clipper, an composer (née Goldberg) co-wrote It included five tours and seven performances, entertainment and sports weekly newspaper the hit “Shine On, Harvest Moon” with lyricist made possible by a tuned piano from Steinway (later folded into Variety), set up offices there, , one of her five husbands. & Sons and professional audio equipment th near the headquarters of the then-new William No one cared much whether the music from Samson Technologies. The 19 -century Morris Agency that promoted talent. makers actually knew anything about the facades, and the storefronts full of wigs and “It was a world within a world,” Freeland says. topics that inspired their lyrics. “They wrote knit ponchos, echoed with odes to Broadway, Various ethnicities found a way to thrive their lives as they wrote their songs. Authen- ball games and harvest moons. Summing up on Tin Pan Alley, despite facing prejudice ticity didn’t even enter into their conception,” the importance of the designation of the block, elsewhere. The prolific African-American Freeland says. , the Berman said, “It’s too wonderful to lose.” composer Richard Cecil McPherson, who used composer of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” To learn more about the street—and ways to the pseudonym Cecil Mack, co-founded a music (lyricist Norworth) did not see a real baseball get involved—see savetinpanalley.org. Eve Kahn