fbpx
Wikipedia

Doyers Street

December 15, 2023

40°42′52″N 73°59′53″W / 40.714354°N 73.998102°W / 40.714354; -73.998102

Doyers Street depicted in an 1898 postcard
The city's first Chinese Opera House was on Doyers Street

Doyers Street is a 200-foot-long (61 m) street in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is one block long with a sharp bend in the middle. The street runs south and then southeast from Pell Street to the intersection of Bowery, Chatham Square, and Division Street. Doyers Street contains several restaurants, barber shops, and hair stylists, as well as the Chinatown branch of the United States Postal Service. The Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened at 13 Doyers Street in 1920, and is still in operation; other longstanding business include Ting's Gift Shop at 18 Doyers which opened in 1957.

Etymology edit

The street is named for Hendrik Doyers, an 18th-century Dutch immigrant who bought the property facing the Bowery in 1791.[1] He operated a distillery at 6 Doyers Street and the Plough and Harrow tavern near the corner with Bowery.[2][3]

Notable sites edit

 
Doyers Street looking toward Pell Street in 2014

Doyers Street follows the old route of a stream.[4] From 1893 to 1911, 5–7 Doyers Street was the site of the first Chinese language theater in New York City. The theater was converted into a rescue mission for the homeless. In 1903, the theater was the site of a fundraiser by the Chinese community for Jewish victims of a massacre in Kishinev.[5]

Nom Wah Tea Parlor, opened in 1920, is the oldest continuously running restaurant in Chinatown.[6] The restaurant first opened at 15 Doyers Street and moved to 13 Doyers in 1968.[7]

Doyers Street, along with Pell Street, contains numerous barber shops and beauty salons.[8][9] The barber shops attract customers, many of whom are Chinese, from as far away as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.[9] Doyers Street is also home to many speakeasies including Apotheke and Peachy's. [10][11]

Crimes and shootings edit

Early in the century, the bend in the street became known as the "Bloody Angle" or "Murder Alley"[12][13] because of numerous killings among the Tong Gangs of Chinatown that lasted into the 1930s.[14] Hatchets were frequently used, leading to the creation of the expression, "hatchet man".[14] In 1994, law enforcement officials said that more people died violently at the "Bloody Angle" than at any other street intersection in the United States.[15] One shooting at the Chinese Theater in 1905 claimed the lives of three people, when members of the Hip Sing Tong fired on members of the On Leong Tong. The shooting took place at a time when the theater was packed with 400 people.[16] In one 1909 incident, two members of the On Leong Tong were shot, one fatally, by members of the rival Four Brothers’ Society, or See Sing Tong. The shooting came after three members of the Hip Sing Tong were executed in Boston for the murder of a member of the On Leong Tong.[17]

A number of old tenement houses are on Doyers Street, and these were sometimes subjected to fires. In 1910, four tenants died and five were injured when fire swept through the building at 15–17 Doyers.[18] In 1939, a fire at the same building, described by The New York Times as "an old rabbit warren," killed seven persons and injured sixteen. Fighting the fire was made difficult because of the narrowness of the street, and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said at the scene of the fire that someday Chinatown would have to be torn down and replaced.[19] Chuck Connors, a Tammany Hall operative and the political boss of Chinatown in the early part of the century, had his headquarters at the Chatham Club at 6 Doyers,[20] where Irving Berlin reportedly entertained.[21]

Usage edit

Writing in H. L. Mencken's American Mercury in 1926, Herbert Asbury pointed out that the street serves no logical purpose, because it is a link between Chatham Square, the Bowery, and Pell Street, which also connects to the Bowery a few feet from Doyers. He called it "a crazy street, and there has never been any excuse for it." He described Doyers Street as the "nerve center" of Chinatown because of the Chinese theater and Bloody Angle.[22] As Doyers and Pell Streets are only accessible from southbound Bowery and traffic from both Bowery and Doyers Street can only continue to southbound Chatham Square, Doyers Street is very lightly used.[23]

By 2011, the street was lined with barbershops, restaurants, a United States Post Office at 6 Doyers Street, and an employment agency at 15-17 Doyers Street that serves recent immigrants of all ethnic backgrounds.[24] As part of a September 2017 pilot program, the Chinatown Partnership converted Doyers Street to a pedestrian-only street during the daytime for one month. If the test is successful, the program would be expanded.[25] The 100 feet (30 m) of the street between Bowery and the Post Office would be available for commercial access.[26] The pavement of Doyers Street was painted in 2021 with Rice Terraces, a 4,800-square-foot (450 m2) mural by Dasic Fernández.[27][28] In September 2021, Chinatown Mural Project created a new tribute mural that honored the memory of beloved photographer Corky Lee on Doyers Street.[29] During the same month, yellow and green lanterns were hung up along Doyers Street as part of the Light Up Chinatown initiative.

References edit

Notes

  1. ^ Jerry E. Patterson, (Museum of the City of New York), The City of New York: a history illustrated from the collections 1978:212.
  2. ^ Feirstein, Sanna (2001). Naming New York: Manhattan Places & How They Got Their Names. New York: New York University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8147-2712-6.
  3. ^ Ostrow, Daniel and Sham, Mary (2008) Manhattan's Chinatown 105ff
  4. ^ Kimmelman, Michael (December 2, 2020). "Chinatown: Time Travel Through a New York Gem". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Seligman, Scott D. (February 4, 2011). "The Night New York's Chinese Went Out for Jews". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  6. ^ Lohman, Sarah (December 6, 2016). Eight flavors : the untold story of American cuisine (First Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York, London. ISBN 978-1-4767-5395-9. OCLC 944380367.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ Mishan, Ligaya (April 12, 2011). "Nom Wah Tea Parlor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  8. ^ Yang, Stephanie (May 7, 2020). "New York's Chinatown Businesses Struggle to Survive Coronavirus Shutdown". Wall Street Journal. Photographs by Alan Chin. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Fam, Mariam (July 6, 2003). "Neighborhood Report: Chinatown; Shave and a Haircut, 200 Miles". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  10. ^ Kim, Jinny (October 21, 2015). "The 10 Best Speakeasy Bars In New York City". Culture Trip. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  11. ^ Dai, Serena (April 26, 2018). "Chinatown's Newest Bar Goes Hard on Superfood Cocktails". Eater NY. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  12. ^ Schroeder, Jessa (September 30, 2016). "We unearth the secrets of NYC's 'Murder Alley' - the dangerous streets where notorious gang warfare once lived". nydailynews.com. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  13. ^ Bono, Sal (October 26, 2019). "Is the 'Most Violent Street in America' Haunted?". Inside Edition. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  14. ^ a b Kifner, John (August 21, 1994). "On Sunday; Benny Ong: A Farewell To All That". The New York Times. p. 45. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  15. ^ Lii, Jane (June 12, 1994). "Neighborhood Report: Chinatown; On Pell Street, Only Memories Of a Violent Past". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  16. ^ "Three Shot Dead in Chinese Theater" (PDF). The New York Times. August 7, 1905. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  17. ^ "Tong War Renewed in Our Chinatown". The New York Times. November 6, 1909. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  18. ^ "Four Meet Death in Chinatown" (PDF). The New York Times. May 30, 1910. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  19. ^ "7 Dead, 16 Injured in Chinatown Fire" (PDF). The New York Times. June 22, 1939. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  20. ^ New York City: Vol 1, New York City Guide. Best Books on. 1939. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-62376-055-7.
  21. ^ Herbert Asbury (July 1, 2008). The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. Vintage Books. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-307-38898-8.
  22. ^ Asbury, Herbert (1926). "Doyers Street". American Mercury. 8: 118.
  23. ^ Google (November 18, 2014). "Doyers St, New York, NY 10013" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  24. ^ Dolnick, Sam (February 22, 2011). "Many Immigrants' Job Search Starts in Chinatown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  25. ^ Perler, Elie (September 11, 2017). . Bowery Boogie. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  26. ^ (PDF). nyc.gov. Manhattan Community Board 3. June 27, 2017. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  27. ^ Pozarycki, Robert (June 27, 2021). "Historic street in Chinatown gets beautiful mural as part of comeback campaign". amNewYork. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  28. ^ Weaver, Shaye (June 23, 2021). "See the incredible mural covering an entire Chinatown street right now". Time Out New York. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  29. ^ "Corky Lee, activist photographer, is saluted in new Chinatown mural". Retrieved January 21, 2022.

Further reading

  • "Manhattan's Chinatown," by Daniel Ostrow, Mary Sham, Arcadia Publishing: 2008

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doyers Street (Manhattan).
  • Chinatown’s "Bloody Angle" – A Trip Down Doyers Street
  • A Journey Through Chinatown

December 15, 2023
doyers, street, 714354, 998102, 714354, 998102, depicted, 1898, postcardthe, city, first, chinese, opera, house, foot, long, street, chinatown, neighborhood, manhattan, york, city, block, long, with, sharp, bend, middle, street, runs, south, then, southeast, f. 40 42 52 N 73 59 53 W 40 714354 N 73 998102 W 40 714354 73 998102 Doyers Street depicted in an 1898 postcardThe city s first Chinese Opera House was on Doyers StreetDoyers Street is a 200 foot long 61 m street in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City It is one block long with a sharp bend in the middle The street runs south and then southeast from Pell Street to the intersection of Bowery Chatham Square and Division Street Doyers Street contains several restaurants barber shops and hair stylists as well as the Chinatown branch of the United States Postal Service The Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened at 13 Doyers Street in 1920 and is still in operation other longstanding business include Ting s Gift Shop at 18 Doyers which opened in 1957 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Notable sites 2 1 Crimes and shootings 3 Usage 4 References 5 External linksEtymology editThe street is named for Hendrik Doyers an 18th century Dutch immigrant who bought the property facing the Bowery in 1791 1 He operated a distillery at 6 Doyers Street and the Plough and Harrow tavern near the corner with Bowery 2 3 Notable sites edit nbsp Doyers Street looking toward Pell Street in 2014Doyers Street follows the old route of a stream 4 From 1893 to 1911 5 7 Doyers Street was the site of the first Chinese language theater in New York City The theater was converted into a rescue mission for the homeless In 1903 the theater was the site of a fundraiser by the Chinese community for Jewish victims of a massacre in Kishinev 5 Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened in 1920 is the oldest continuously running restaurant in Chinatown 6 The restaurant first opened at 15 Doyers Street and moved to 13 Doyers in 1968 7 Doyers Street along with Pell Street contains numerous barber shops and beauty salons 8 9 The barber shops attract customers many of whom are Chinese from as far away as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts 9 Doyers Street is also home to many speakeasies including Apotheke and Peachy s 10 11 Crimes and shootings edit Early in the century the bend in the street became known as the Bloody Angle or Murder Alley 12 13 because of numerous killings among the Tong Gangs of Chinatown that lasted into the 1930s 14 Hatchets were frequently used leading to the creation of the expression hatchet man 14 In 1994 law enforcement officials said that more people died violently at the Bloody Angle than at any other street intersection in the United States 15 One shooting at the Chinese Theater in 1905 claimed the lives of three people when members of the Hip Sing Tong fired on members of the On Leong Tong The shooting took place at a time when the theater was packed with 400 people 16 In one 1909 incident two members of the On Leong Tong were shot one fatally by members of the rival Four Brothers Society or See Sing Tong The shooting came after three members of the Hip Sing Tong were executed in Boston for the murder of a member of the On Leong Tong 17 A number of old tenement houses are on Doyers Street and these were sometimes subjected to fires In 1910 four tenants died and five were injured when fire swept through the building at 15 17 Doyers 18 In 1939 a fire at the same building described by The New York Times as an old rabbit warren killed seven persons and injured sixteen Fighting the fire was made difficult because of the narrowness of the street and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said at the scene of the fire that someday Chinatown would have to be torn down and replaced 19 Chuck Connors a Tammany Hall operative and the political boss of Chinatown in the early part of the century had his headquarters at the Chatham Club at 6 Doyers 20 where Irving Berlin reportedly entertained 21 Usage editWriting in H L Mencken s American Mercury in 1926 Herbert Asbury pointed out that the street serves no logical purpose because it is a link between Chatham Square the Bowery and Pell Street which also connects to the Bowery a few feet from Doyers He called it a crazy street and there has never been any excuse for it He described Doyers Street as the nerve center of Chinatown because of the Chinese theater and Bloody Angle 22 As Doyers and Pell Streets are only accessible from southbound Bowery and traffic from both Bowery and Doyers Street can only continue to southbound Chatham Square Doyers Street is very lightly used 23 By 2011 the street was lined with barbershops restaurants a United States Post Office at 6 Doyers Street and an employment agency at 15 17 Doyers Street that serves recent immigrants of all ethnic backgrounds 24 As part of a September 2017 pilot program the Chinatown Partnership converted Doyers Street to a pedestrian only street during the daytime for one month If the test is successful the program would be expanded 25 The 100 feet 30 m of the street between Bowery and the Post Office would be available for commercial access 26 The pavement of Doyers Street was painted in 2021 with Rice Terraces a 4 800 square foot 450 m2 mural by Dasic Fernandez 27 28 In September 2021 Chinatown Mural Project created a new tribute mural that honored the memory of beloved photographer Corky Lee on Doyers Street 29 During the same month yellow and green lanterns were hung up along Doyers Street as part of the Light Up Chinatown initiative References editNotes Jerry E Patterson Museum of the City of New York The City of New York a history illustrated from the collections 1978 212 Feirstein Sanna 2001 Naming New York Manhattan Places amp How They Got Their Names New York New York University Press p 59 ISBN 978 0 8147 2712 6 Ostrow Daniel and Sham Mary 2008 Manhattan s Chinatown 105ff Kimmelman Michael December 2 2020 Chinatown Time Travel Through a New York Gem The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 3 2020 Seligman Scott D February 4 2011 The Night New York s Chinese Went Out for Jews The Jewish Daily Forward Retrieved February 23 2011 Lohman Sarah December 6 2016 Eight flavors the untold story of American cuisine First Simon amp Schuster hardcover ed New York London ISBN 978 1 4767 5395 9 OCLC 944380367 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Mishan Ligaya April 12 2011 Nom Wah Tea Parlor The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 8 2020 Yang Stephanie May 7 2020 New York s Chinatown Businesses Struggle to Survive Coronavirus Shutdown Wall Street Journal Photographs by Alan Chin ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved May 24 2020 a b Fam Mariam July 6 2003 Neighborhood Report Chinatown Shave and a Haircut 200 Miles The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved May 24 2020 Kim Jinny October 21 2015 The 10 Best Speakeasy Bars In New York City Culture Trip Retrieved January 21 2022 Dai Serena April 26 2018 Chinatown s Newest Bar Goes Hard on Superfood Cocktails Eater NY Retrieved January 21 2022 Schroeder Jessa September 30 2016 We unearth the secrets of NYC s Murder Alley the dangerous streets where notorious gang warfare once lived nydailynews com Retrieved December 3 2020 Bono Sal October 26 2019 Is the Most Violent Street in America Haunted Inside Edition Retrieved December 3 2020 a b Kifner John August 21 1994 On Sunday Benny Ong A Farewell To All That The New York Times p 45 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2010 Lii Jane June 12 1994 Neighborhood Report Chinatown On Pell Street Only Memories Of a Violent Past The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2010 Three Shot Dead in Chinese Theater PDF The New York Times August 7 1905 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2010 Tong War Renewed in Our Chinatown The New York Times November 6 1909 p 1 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2010 Four Meet Death in Chinatown PDF The New York Times May 30 1910 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2010 7 Dead 16 Injured in Chinatown Fire PDF The New York Times June 22 1939 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 20 2010 New York City Vol 1 New York City Guide Best Books on 1939 p 106 ISBN 978 1 62376 055 7 Herbert Asbury July 1 2008 The Gangs of New York An Informal History of the Underworld Vintage Books p 293 ISBN 978 0 307 38898 8 Asbury Herbert 1926 Doyers Street American Mercury 8 118 Google November 18 2014 Doyers St New York NY 10013 Map Google Maps Google Retrieved November 18 2014 Dolnick Sam February 22 2011 Many Immigrants Job Search Starts in Chinatown The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved February 23 2011 Perler Elie September 11 2017 Doyers Street Pedestrian Plaza Closes the Angle to Vehicular Traffic for the Next Month Bowery Boogie Archived from the original on August 24 2022 Retrieved September 24 2017 Community Board 3 Board Meeting Agenda PDF nyc gov Manhattan Community Board 3 June 27 2017 p 11 Archived from the original PDF on September 24 2017 Retrieved September 24 2017 Pozarycki Robert June 27 2021 Historic street in Chinatown gets beautiful mural as part of comeback campaign amNewYork Retrieved January 21 2022 Weaver Shaye June 23 2021 See the incredible mural covering an entire Chinatown street right now Time Out New York Retrieved January 21 2022 Corky Lee activist photographer is saluted in new Chinatown mural Retrieved January 21 2022 Further reading Manhattan s Chinatown by Daniel Ostrow Mary Sham Arcadia Publishing 2008External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doyers Street Manhattan Chinatown s Bloody Angle A Trip Down Doyers Street A Journey Through Chinatown Doyers Street Slideshow Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Doyers Street amp oldid 1147812464, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.