Devil's Mile: The Rich, Gritty History of the Bowery

by Alice Sparberg Alexiou

A fascinating cultural history of New York City's Bowery, from the author of The Flatiron.

The Bowery, which is the oldest street in Manhattan, was a synonym for despair throughout most of the 20th century. The neighborhood's name recalled visuals of drunken bums passed out on the sidewalk, and New Yorkers nicknamed it "Satan's Highway," "The Mile of Hell," and "The Street of Forgotten Men." It was so shameful for so many years that the little businesses along the Bowery--stationers, dry goods sellers, jewelers, hatters--periodically asked the city to change the street's name. To have a Bowery address, they claimed, was hurting them; people did not want to venture there.

But in the 1990s, as New York was exploding into real estate frenzy, developers discovered the Bowery. Around 2000, they rushed in and began tearing down. Today, the bad old Bowery no longer exists, and instead, Whole Foods, hipster night spots, and expensive lofts replace the flophouses and dive bars.

In Devil's Mile, Alice Sparberg Alexiou explores the history and future of The Bowery back to its origins, when farmland covered the areas around the boulevard and the area around it was considered outside of town. She'll explore the years after the Civil War when the Bowery rivaled Fifth Avenue for best Manhattan addresses. And she'll tell this story as soon as she can, before all its old buildings, and the memories associated with them, disappear.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, New York, Adult

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 24, 2018

Reviews

[Carolyn Di Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Preachy, preachy, preachy. Another book that appears to be an actual history book, but instead is a lecture on how awful white people and America is. I could not help rolling my eyes every other sentence, because I could hear that whiny teacher voice that I imagined she must have. Honestly, I think the over-educated, elitest author got her information from YouTube Videos by Danny Glover. A shame, really, I was really looking forward to this book, but it was just not good.
If you REALLY want a good book about the New York of old, try Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder. A book with actual historic references and not poorly researched lecturing.
Even the old Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury is pretty interesting, if a bit dated. There are lots of good books about old New York.
Just forget the Devil's Mile.

[Sean Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting topic ruined by an inept and obnoxious author. The writing is clumsy on a technical level. Worse, however, is the author's instance on pointing out how terrible or how racist things were. Most of the incidents are either totally obvious or an instance of judging a person by the standards of a later era. None of these asides are relevant other than as a way for the author to show how culturally sensitive she is. The lowest point is when she even finds an opportunity to criticize Trump. She also can't stop complaining about the present state of the Bowery. After showing us 400 years of dramatic change on the street she somehow can't wrap her head around that this is simply the continuation of that story of change.

[Melissa Miles · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a travesty. It delivers an error on every page, in grammar, syntax, research, and internal consistency. Even though this is an ARC, there is no excuse for letting it out in this condition. Who gave a historical book contract to someone who states that Europeans brought corn and squash with them from Europe? And for pity's sake, the past tense of "lie" is "lay," not "laid." I am going to go and read Dr. Seuss to restore my faith in the publishing industry and settle my nerves.

[Jamele (BookswithJams) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any book on a piece of New York's history is going to catch my eye, and this one on the Devil's Mile, aka the Bowery certainly did. It went all the way back to the beginning, before Manhattan was even a city, and told the story of the Bowery and its development over time in chronological order up until about the 1950's or so. This could have been a really dry, history textbook type read, but it really was not. The author kept the pace moving, and the stories were very interesting. I knew at a high level this was not always the best part of town to be in, but never really knew why, and I certainly had no idea how fascinating and important this piece of land and its history was to the city. I read this in basically one sitting, and I think it should be noted that for non-fiction that is pretty rare, but that's how interesting this book was. There are quite a few things that I learned originated in the Bowery that I had no idea, for example, the term 'go on a bender', and that the Yiddish plays were the precursor to Broadway musicals! If you like to learn about New York, or the history of cities in general, then this one is for you! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the electronic ARC of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

[Lee Cochenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at The Bowery neighborhood of NYC. Focuses heavily on the drinking and entertainment venues of the area.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you're interested in New York City history or in how neighborhoods change, this is a well-written book about the infamous (and famous) street in NYC called the Bowery. From the Dutch (Bowery is farm in Dutch) to giant glass structures (hello 21st century), the street has evolved. It is a microcosm of the ups and downs of NYC.

[Armand Rosamilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a historical book like this I always worry it will be dry and the real charm and personality of those being written about will be pushed aside in order to cram as much actual fact into the work as possible.

I was quite happy to read the book and have so much history as well as the many characters that made up the Bowery, and so many references and tidbits it makes you feel like you've lived it.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, those two Astor brothers! (Kindle location 1023) (And how appropriate that the term “going on a bender” originated on the Bowery!) (l. 1126) What a clever rogue Dixon was! (l. 1289) Oh, that Thomas Hamblin. (l. 1341) But Comstock had the law -- his law! -- on his side. (l. 2219) Yes, the Bowery! (l. 2231) No siree Bob! (l. 2564)

This is a fun book to read, but in my sight overcontaminated with exclamation mark-laden asides, see above. All of them could be removed -- they add nothing to the book. Don’t tell me, show me.

I can’t imagine people without a long-term alliance with New York City enjoying this book much, but if you are a New Yorker, by birth or choice, it will be entertaining and interesting. It is very readable and full of entertaining anecdote. If you from out of town, it might be a good book to read while you find yourself staying at one of the trendy new Bowery hotels or frequenting one of the trendy new Bowery bars that the author excoriates in the final chapter.

The book chronicles the successive waves of escapees and castoffs of other areas of the world who invaded the Bowery, including but not limited to the Dutch, the English, American nativist, “bedizened wantons” (l. 1795), flaneurs (l. 1802), well-meaning do-gooders, Tammany Hall politicos, Yiddish thespians, hobos, Chinese, and today’s craft-beer swilling hipsters. Each generation has a dramatic story to tell.

Sometimes, one is left wishing for more details: “At 252 Bowery, photographer David Landau was fined $400 for manufacturing obscene mirrors” (l. 2241). Call me a pervert if you wish, but I really wish to know more about this case and, if possible, the design and manufacture of obscene mirrors. It seems a line of artisanal craftsmanship which is woefully overlooked in our time.

I will admit that I sometimes had a quarrel with the author. She seemed to come down with undue harshness on the excessively pious and on self-appointed guardians of the public morals, while people who engaged in human sex trafficking and forced or coerced others into a life of prostitution were given a pass as a regrettable but colorful part of our part.

Still, this history is well-researched and fun to read, so worth a look if you are a New Yorker or are planning to be, however temporarily.

I received a free unfinished galley of the ebook for review. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for their generosity.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid read for New York history buffs.

This is more a history of Manhattan than the Bowery specifically in the early going, though that's likely part of the point, in that the Bowery has always been instrumental in the evolution of the city.

This is fun and well-researched, though none of the information will be new to you if you're up on your New York history.

Very little to complain about, except for two small things. The first is that this book really needs visuals. Photo plates would be ideal, but maps were an absolute must. It's not hard to conceive the earlier iterations of the Bowery in your mind if you are very familiar with New York and its layout, but visualizing most of the content will be difficult if you are not from/well-acquainted with Manhattan.

My only other complaint was with the excessive segments on theater. They're much too long, tend to drag, and seem to be featured disproportionately to other topics.

Finally, I'm struggling with exactly how to classify this book. Much of it is very academic in nature, but there’s also a lot of editorializing which, while a welcome addition, doesn’t achieve the objectivity required to call this a purely academic work.

Call it a People’s History, I suppose, or something else trite but fittingly touched with the type of irreverence so frequently associated with the charming, gritty history of the Bowery.

*I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

[Nick Spacek · Rating 3 out of 5]

alexiou does cover the entire history of the street, from its dutch origins through today, but there's way more editorializing than i would've liked. the asides are awkward, as the book takes a pretty standard historical tone throughout, but there are points where the author inserts herself to make a point and it never feels like it's particularly well done.

a shame, really, because the points are valid, but they're just made in ways which fail to land effectively. it's like you're reading along, and all of a sudden, someone taps you on the shoulder to say -- eyebrows wagging exaggeratedly -- "you know, this politician is espousing values which are an awful lot like trump. you know that, right? right?"

yeah, of course. i didn't need you interrupting my reading to point it out, alice. have some faith in your readers to get the obvious comparisons being drawn. shit.

[Ryan Kiracofe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear. There are definitely some interesting stories and fun facts here - but this book doesn’t know whether it wants to be a serious urban history, a folksy script for a walking tour, or something else. There’s a grammatical error or incomplete sentence on nearly every page. The author clearly cares about her subject, which is great - but also feels the need to throw in unsolicited (and mostly incorrect) personal opinions on architecture, urban planning, even music. I think this feels like a first or second draft before being sent to the editor...

[Eve Ottenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

For much of the twentieth century, the Bowery meant destitution. It was where hobos slept in flophouses, where the homeless dozed on sidewalks, where vagabonds flocked to saloons and immigrants crowded in tenements. Nowadays the destitute don’t even have the Bowery. Where once they shared dormitories with bedbugs for 25 cents a night, now instead loom swanky high-rises. Manhattan, remade in the era of mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, erased its poor, while promoting the interests of real estate moguls like Donald Trump. Who knows where the vagrants went – the outer boroughs, other cities, rusting inner suburbs, a few can doubtless still be spotted drifting like ghosts around their fast-disappearing old haunts. But they won’t be there long. According to Alice Sparberg Alexiou’s “Devil’s Mile, the Rich, Gritty History of the Bowery,” the thoroughfare has been remade in typical New York style: developers get rich, as they sweep inconvenient locals away.

Over forty years ago, when the real estate boom first picked up steam, New York landlords targeted middle class and poor families in rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments. The idea then was to drive them out, renovate the property and make millions, selling it as co-ops. Throughout the eighties and nineties, this pattern repeated in almost every Manhattan neighborhood. Why should the Bowery have remained untouched? Even if it was the world-famous destination of the down and out, the Bowery too, inevitably and finally became a magnet for real estate speculation.

New bars and fancy hotels “are the Disneyfied version of the old Bowery saloons, refashioned and glammed up for the young moneyed class that crowd into these places to party and decompress from Manhattan’s ferocious work environment,” Sparberg writes. “This is the demographic that now drives the Bowery economy.” The thoroughfare that added the term “Bowery bum” to the American lexicon, what Sparberg calls “the street synonymous with despair,” is now, like much of Manhattan, the playground of the rich. And the homogenization, the elimination of all classes except the very affluent, continues apace. “Notice all the half-finished towers that are going up, some as high as sixty stories, imperiously dwarfing the old brick walk-ups…that house artists, Chinese families and small businesses.” Those walk-ups are doomed, and not just because the logic of capitalism – unending, ultimately cancerous growth – dictates it. But because the Bowery metamorphosed often in its past, and each change was distinct, discrete and a nearly complete rupture with what came before.

Back when Manhattan was primeval forest, in the 1600s, the Bowery, Sparberg reports, was originally a Lenape footpath. “To the west of the path and surrounded by hills (where now stand the state supreme court and parts of Chinatown) was a huge freshwater pond…Between the hills stretched flat, marshy terrain teeming with aquatic life: redwinged blackbirds, coots, herons, bullfrogs, beavers. Several streams undulated through the flat area…Indians in canoes traversed the island via streams…” Sparberg traces the endeavors of the Dutch in New Amsterdam, then the British, noting a key abattoir on the Bowery, which linked the street in everyone’s mind with the meat business. In the late 1700s, Sparberg writes, the Astors came to the Bowery and, stingy and penny-pinching, amassed their fortune. In the 19th century, theaters crowded the Bowery, drawing a working class audience, including Walt Whitman, while Irish and German gangs, most famously the Bowery Boys, fought nearby.

Sparberg also portrays the civil war’s impact, especially with theatrical productions of the smash-hit, abolitionist tale, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” German beer gardens proliferated along the Bowery; one, according to Sparberg, held 3,000 people. She also sketches the infamous ties between Tammany Hall and the Bowery, how the bums were shipped from one polling place to another, voting repeatedly for the Democratic machine. Indeed it was in this post-civil war era that derelicts first began flocking to the Bowery. Then came Italian and Jewish immigrants, making the Lower East Side “the most densely populated place on earth, at the beginning of the twentieth century.” Prohibition squeezed the Bowery, but once lifted, more alcoholic wrecks than ever thronged the street, especially during the Depression. Lastly, in the 1970s, punk rock and its internationally famous venue, CBGB, flourished on the street Sparberg calls “New York’s dumping ground.”

The Bowery’s ongoing, posh transformation breaks abruptly with the immediate past. But it is in tune with the gentrification that has swept American cities in recent decades, making rents everywhere unaffordable for those working full time at minimum wage. When even the working poor cannot pay for shelter in urban America, is it any surprise that the homeless cannot find a sidewalk to sleep on? With gentrification come laws criminalizing loitering, eating in public, sitting on park benches – things homeless people do. Ejected from city centers, they pitch their tents on the outskirts, as in Seattle, or the slums, as in Los Angeles. They have to go somewhere, but everywhere they turn in gentrified America, the sign says “Keep Out.” Even the Bowery.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though Broadway is by far the best-known street of New York and arguably in the world, the Bowery holds an equally long history but with a more checkered past. In Devil’s Mile, author Alice Sparberg Alexiou explores this in a fascinating tour of the Bowery throughout its history and the way the times influenced it. The Bowery is likely less talked of because of its reputation (until recent gentrification has started to take over) as a seedy environ hosting the likes of saloons, multitudes of brothels, crooked politicians, opium dens and etc. In the past it was so well known as an area of sin, it often drew those interested in slum tourism and went there simply to experience the dangerous life.

However, as Sparberg Alexiou makes the case, the Bowery has made its own positive contributions to history. Theater for instance was big on the Bowery and the Astor brothers actually competed both with theaters and real estate in the area. There were large populations of varying ethnicities that immigrated to New York settling on the Bowery due to affordability. And though the crowded and unsanitary conditions of the housing available to immigrants was far from desirable, the cultures and traditions they brought with them were. Jewish Yiddish theaters –the precursor to Broadway musicals – formed there and were popular among the masses. Tap dancing originated on the Bowery, and the Bowery was the first major thoroughfare to have electric lights. CBGB’s on the Bowery also hosted a newer alternative to rock and roll and helped many bands – punk and otherwise – get their starts.

In short, Sparberg Alexiou argues persuasively in the Devil’s Mile for the contributions – both good and bad - of the Bowery. A well written, approachable history with a fascinating mix of culture and historical detail, Sparberg Alexiou has taken a rowdy street with a lurid past and brought its personality to life – an enjoyable read.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free Kindle copy of Devil's Mile by Alice Sparberg Alexiou courtesy of Net Galley  and St. Martin's Press, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as  I am an avid reader of New York City history and the description of the book sounded interesting and covered a subject about which I have not previously read. This is the first book by Alice Sparberg Alexiou that I have read.

This is a well written and researched book. It holds your interest which makes it a fairly fast read. The book concentrates on the history of the bowery from the 1600's until the present day. The only drawback is that it concentrates itself on the pre 1930's history with the time after that getting more of a once over lightly treatment.

I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the history of New York City and the Bowery in particular.

[Bob Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who grew up in NYC, I’ve always been fascinated by The Bowery and its colorful history. Alice Sparberg Alexiou has written an entertaining and informative history of The Bowery from its earliest days in New Amsterdam to the contemporary period of over-gentrification. One of the strengths of Dr. Alexiou’s book is her descriptions of the many vivid characters who made their mark here from Peter Stuyvesant to Big Tim Sullivan and from John Jacob Astor to Hilly Kristal, the founder of CBGB’s. It’s a truly fascinating history backed up by Dr. Alexiou’s prodigious research. I was also impressed at her specifying the exact locations of the historically significant buildings on The Bowery so that any history-minded visitor to NYC could tour The Bowery and see the locations where the events cited occurred.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It was where you went to drink away your sorrows. The mere mention of it invoked images of bums passed out on the sidewalk. People called it Satan's Highway, the Mile of Hell, the Devil's work, the Street of Sorrows, the Street of Forgotten Men, the One-Way Street. Officials were always wringing their hands over the bad old Bowery. Sometimes they made half-hearted attempts to clean it up. But New York's outcasts needed a place that embraced them, and so did the city. For more than a century, the Bowery functioned as New York's dumping ground - and also its shame (p 1)." -Alice Sparberg Alexiou

[skip thurnauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Devil's Mile is more than "The Rich, Gritty History of the Bowery", it's the history of NYC viewed through the lens of the Bowery. From the first Dutch settlers through wave after wave of immigrants - Germans, Italians, Blacks, Irish, Jews, and more, the Bowery was where they first set down roots in America. Where woods and farms once stood, the city grew up from and around and beyond the Bowery. The book is replete with the characters who made NYC the city it is today - cons, politicians, theater owners and actors, merchants, etc. The Devil's Mile is an easy, fun read for anyone interested in the history of NYC and especially so for anyone who has lived or worked in the city.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting tidbits of history, some that I knew greatly and taught (1863 draft riots) and others not so much (the far-reaching influence of Big Tim Sullivan.) I was struck by how much theater historically was a flashpoint for all manners of nativism and anti-Blackness. I would recommend Marvin McAllister's White People Do Not Know How to Behave... to those who are interested in how Black theater, both its entrepreneurs and performers, endured racism. It delves much deeper into this.

Didn't entirely like how casually this was written at times. I guess it's to reflect the "bawdiness" of the Bowery, but it fell flat in that regard.

[Frieda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author writes the history of the Bowery in story form, making it much more enjoyable to read, allowing the reader to feel as if s/he is actually witnessing the accounts in real life. My favorite story about was Big Tim Sullivan and his 30 year life on the Bowery and foray into city and state politics where he developed various policies affecting the livelihood of its citizens, including a gun control policy where individuals must be licensed to carry a pistol. As an avid reader of NYC history, this book was a great addition to what I have already read.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topic is really interesting and I enjoy learning about it, but I lost confidence in the narration when the author declared that Fort Sumter, famous as the place where the U.S. Civil War began, is in North Carolina (pg 118). It is and has always been in South Carolina. NYC is interesting, I concede readily, but it is not the only place worth knowing about in the United States.

[Auderoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

FAV QUOTES:

Nothing, after all, is forever. Especially in New York, the city that never stops demolishing structures and rebuilding and where new people arrive daily in pursuit of their dreams.

[Paul G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-researched, brief, and interesting, but written in a somewhat clunky style. This book offered some new factoids and trivia that I hadn't picked up from others, on related topics.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lively, coloful, entertaining history.

[Stacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid 3, maybe 3.5 great intro into nonfiction and easy to read. The author writes likes she's talking to you which is nice. I learned some things and found some things to look into further.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

proof history repeats itself

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun read about the Bowery with a focus on the 1700s to today. Amazing stories. Definitely read it.

[Kate Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read like textbook with attempts at humor.

[Katie Bassel]

Alexiou begins her account in 1625, when three Dutch vessels dropped anchor off the southern tip of the island the native inhabitants called Mannahatta. She paints a beautiful picture of the island as it once was: “hilly in parts, thickly wooded, and crisscrossed with streams…a Garden of Eden filled with all sorts of resources ready for the picking.” We learn how quickly the white settlers upended the lives of the native people, and meet the men whose names now grace many a New York street sign, and who were responsible for building up the Bowery (Peter Stuyvesant, James Delancey, and Henry and John Jacob Astor, to name a few).

She tackles it all. How, I don't know! A truly fascinating, if sometimes troubling, cultural history of the street that began as a Native American footpath, and grew from a country estate-lined thoroughfare, to a haven for drunks and bums, to the birthplace of punk, to prime real estate for developers.

A few of my favorite facts from the book:
-Bowery comes from bouwerij, the old Dutch word for “farm.”
-The Bowery and Broadway were originally Lenape footpaths. When the Dutch landed in Manhattan in the 1620s, they appropriated both of the original Indian paths, widened them, and used them as their highways.
-African slaves, freed by their Dutch owners during the 17th century, acquired farms along the Bowery.
-In 1926, the Dutch “bought” Manhattan Island from an unknown Indian tribe for sixty guilders’ worth of goods.
-Peter Stuyvesant’s wooden peg was the result of an amputation of his lower right leg, after having been mangled by a cannonball in a sea battle.
-The Jim Crow character went “viral,” thanks to Thomas “Daddy” Rice, a Bowery Theatre headliner who, his face blackened with burnt cork, performed his “Jump Jim Crow” act every night there during 1832. Rice was said to have based his Jim Crow routine on an elderly slave he met in Louisville.
-Tap dance originated on the Bowery in the 19th century.
-Park Row, a ten-minute walk from the Bowery, was the site of P.T. Barnum’s five-story high American Museum, entertaining crowds with freak shows, fortune-tellers, exotic animals, aquariums filled with fish, and dead creatures. Dime museums, too, were popular in the Bowery, showcasing all kinds of freaks: “living skeletons,” giants, dwarfs, albinos, fat ladies, bearded ladies, and more.
-Starting in the 1880s, the Bowery became home to a thriving gay bar scene (dubbed “fairy resorts”).
-The first Salvation Army mission in America opened in 1890 on the Bowery.
-During the Great Depression, some 14k bums were living on the Bowery.
-Punk music started on the Bowery.