Thursday, October 25, 2012

ON THE HIGH LINE -- BOOK REVIEW -- PART 8

EXPLORING AMERICA'S
MOST ORIGINAL URBAN PARK

Chapter Six 26th -- 30th Streets


The author has this to say about Hell's Kitchen, which is touched by the High Line:

"The WPA Guide To New York City pronounced Hell's Kitchen 'one of the most dangerous areas on the American continent.'"

"The neighborhood took its name from the Hell's Kitchen Gang, an 1860s organization of gangsters and hoodlums whose specialty was raids on the New York Central Railroad, which operated many of the trains that ran at street level along Tenth Avenue."

"To combat the mayhem and robberies the railroad organized a special police force in 1910 and , after much violence that included clubbing and shooting, it finally broke the back of the gangs."

"The name remained, but today the neighborhood, which begins at 34th Street, is quickly gentrifying."

High Line book review continues tomorrow, October 26 


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