Hobohemia
Hobohemia is a low-rent district in a city where artistic bohemians and the down-and-outs or hobos mix. In Chicago from the turn of the century to circa 1940s this was Tower Town and the area often known as "The West Madison Stem"[1] (Madison Street west of downtown) which was known as "Skid road" and home to thousands of transient men and women, and Ben Reitman's Hobo College.[2] In New York City it was the neighborhood of the Bowery, and Greenwich Village.[3] It was the title of a short story by Sinclair Lewis originally published in The Saturday Evening Post, which Lewis subsequently reworked into a three-act comedy which was first performed at the Greenwich Village Theatre in 1919.[4] A reference appears in the Rodgers and Hart song The Lady is a Tramp: "My Hobohemia is the place to be."[3]
See also
References
- ↑ "Hobohemia West Madison Street". University of Illinois Chicago.
- ↑ Gershon, Livia (May 16, 2019). "The Hobo College of Hobohemia". JSTOR Daily.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Irving Lewis Allen (1995-02-23). The City in Slang. ISBN 9780195357769.
- ↑ John Corbin (1919). "Drama". New York Times.
Further reading
- Beck, Frank O. (1956). Hobohemia. Richard R. Smith.