Into the slums: the spatial organization, cultural geography, and regulation of a new urban pastime -- Beyond the slums: commercial leisure and the reorganization and policing of urban space -- Adventures in the slums and red-light districts -- The search for Bohemian thrillage -- The Negro vogue: excursions into a "mysterious dark world" -- The pansy and lesbian craze in white and black.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"During Prohibition, 'Harlem was the 'in' place to go for music and booze, ' recalled the African American chanteuse Bricktop. 'Every night the limousines pulled up to the corner, ' and out spilled affluent whites, looking for a good time, great jazz, and the unmatchable thrill of doing something disreputable. That is the indelible public image of slumming, but as Chad Heap reveals in this fascinating history, the reality is that slumming was far more widespread-and important-than such nostalgia-tinged recollections would lead us to believe. From its appearance as a 'fashionable dissipation' centered on the immigrant and working-class districts of 1880s New York through its spread to Chicago and into the 1930s nightspots frequented by lesbians and gay men, Slumming charts the development of this popular pastime, demonstrating how its moralizing origins were soon outstripped by the artistic, racial, and sexual adventuring that typified Jazz-Age America. Vividly recreating the allure of storied neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village and Bronzeville, with their bohemian tearooms, rent parties, and 'black and tan' cabarets, Heap plumbs the complicated mix of curiosity and desire that drew respectable white urbanites to venture into previously off-limits locales. And while he doesn't ignore the role of exploitation and voyeurism in slumming--or the resistance it often provoked--he argues that the relatively uninhibited mingling it promoted across bounds of race and class helped to dramatically recast the racial and sexual landscape of burgeoning U.S. cities. Packed with stories of late-night dance, drink, and sexual exploration--and shot through with a deep understanding of cities and the habits of urban life--Slumming revives an era that is long gone, but whose effects are still felt powerfully today"--Provided by publisher.
OTHER EDITION IN ANOTHER MEDIUM
Title
Slumming.
International Standard Book Number
9780226322438
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
City and town life-- Illinois-- Chicago-- History.
City and town life-- New York (State)-- New York-- History.
Sex customs-- Illinois-- Chicago-- History.
Sex customs-- New York (State)-- New York-- History.
Slums-- Social aspects-- Illinois-- Chicago-- History.
Slums-- Social aspects-- New York (State)-- New York-- History.