BYGONE BROADWAY – Installment One 'Getting Ready'

Welcome to Part 1 of a 5 part series as Sheri Tor takes us through the history of Broadway's early days from the 17th century - through today! You may learn something new. You may learn something interesting. And you may never look at the world of New York theatre through the same eyes again.

Ask any American where the hub of stage work is located and they will inevitably tell you Broadway. Ask any New Yorker about the most popular shows and they will rattle off a long list of local offerings. Theatre is in our blood. It is a much-treasured, well-respected form of entertainment that has stood the test of time and launched many a love affair with footlights and greasepaint. Yet there is hardly anyone who knows – or even thinks to ask - how the whole thing got started. This series of articles is going to change that….

Journey with me back to an era before the box office. When Broadway the street already existed yet held the distinction for being an area of large, impressive homes rather than the destination of hopeful, young starlets. Lower Broadway, opposite Bowling Green on the western side, was New York's best address. Following the removal of the old military fort, the entire area to the south was opened up and the Battery became its glittery promenade. Scores of ultra-wealthy – among them the Varicks, Livingstons, Jays, and Van Cortlandts – immediately took up residence. With that stature came privilege and Broadway received many of the newest amenities. It was lit in 1697, had the local government assume responsibility for the lamps and posts in 1762, and enjoyed the first installed gas lines in 1825. (Perhaps a subconscious effort on the part of early city planners to get ready for all those marquees!) Mass transportation was conducted with horse-drawn omnibuses and later replaced in 1905 by the nation's first experimental, model complete with a gas-electric motor. These open-topped, double-decker buses were extremely popular with residents and charged a whopping ten-cent fee…or nearly double the amount of their animal-tugged counterparts. Pretty expensive for the day, but a virtual necessity to our favorite thoroughfare's more well-off inhabitants.

Merchants also flocked to Broadway in droves. Starting in the area below Canal Street, the retail trade slowly but steadily pushed its way farther and farther along as many of their patrons migrated uptown. Anxious to go where the money was, the best hotels and shops soon dotted the entire street in an effort to follow the tide of the city's most affluent population. Store owners typically waited until people became well rooted in one spot before making a move, but no sooner had they relocated than their customers had switched themselves to an area north of the retail entanglement. The result of this action was a shopping area that was perpetually "downtown" of their principal target and away from the more prominent residential sections.

An 1837 New York guidebook once noted that "The number of bedding establishments in New York is exceedingly limited when we consider the size and business of theplace and the great number of strangers to be accommodated." The newly forming retail and service base along Broadway did much to solve that problem. Suddenly there were a wide variety of hotels to choose from with most attracting a loyal and specialized clientele. William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, a well-known corrupt politician and one time member of the House of Representatives, and his associates made the Metropolitan Hotel at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street their informal headquarters. Yet at the other end of the block, Morton House drew large crowds of actors and journalists while Everett House was a favorite among singers and orchestra players. No one quite understands the reasoning behind these self-imposed choices and segregations, but the traditions were strictly followed for years to come by visiting elite. Even the restaurants were leaving their old "steeped in history" sites – and formally all-male patrons – and heading to Broadway. It wasn't long before everything from the most up-scale dining facilities to the lowly oyster bar were catering to the palates of fashionable New Yorkers. (At the time the city was in the middle of an apparent obsession with oysters and Broadway was no exception. One report printed in the local newspaper had its residents consuming up to $15,000 worth of the shellfish per day!) Clubs and coffee houses also came into vogue and were usually filled to capacity during the afternoon hours as weary shoppers stopped to have a snack and catch their breath.

By mid-century, Broadway, from Park Place to Astor Park, was the city's most attractive walking, shopping, and meeting area. Everyone who was anyone came to see and be seen. Yet with the rapidly exploding growth rate and migrating businesses, Broadway was slowly losing its standing as the prime residential street. This notoriety would be quickly restored, however, as word spread of the next jewel in its crown….the reputation of being a mecca for pleasure seekers and entertainment lovers. As one local observer was heard to point out, "The citizens of New York are eminently disposed to patronize dramatic establishments, and I question if there be a city in the world of the same size and population which can exhibit a theatrical prosperity equal to New York. The money they spend nightly on these amusements must be enormous." Well, hold on to your hats, boys and girls! Cause Broadway's curtain is about to go up…….