Skid row

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For the '80s rock band see Skid Row (heavy metal band). For other uses of the term Skid Row see Skid Row (disambiguation).

The term skid row or skid road is used to refer to a run-down or dilapidated urban area. There are formally recognized neighborhoods named Skid Row in Seattle and Los Angeles. Informally, there is an identified skid-row neighborhood in almost every major North American city, such as The Bowery in New York City and the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, which like Seattle's was one of the original locations where the term was first coined.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Seattle 3 Vancouver 4 Los Angeles 5 Trivia 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Origins

The origins of the term 'skid row' date back to the 19th century.^[1] The source of the term is heavily debated, and is generally identified as originating in either Vancouver, British Columbia or Seattle, Washington.

Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA are geographical neighbors, roughly 240 km apart.^[2] Both cities are located on the west coast of North America and are port cities.^[3][4] To further complicate research, Vancouver, Washington was incorporated January 23, 1857 and named after George Vancouver.^[5] Vancouver, British Columbia was incorporated in 1791 and was also named after George Vancouver.^[6] The term did not become popular until well into the 20th century, while the incorporation dates either postdate or coincide with the earliest estimates of the term's origins, mid 1800's.^[7]

Yesler Way, Seattle, Washington, the street for which the term "Skid Road" was coined is still used to this day, although not for skidding logs. The street runs east-west over First Hill, also known as "Pill Hill", because of the numerous hospitals built on top of the hill,^[8] from the shores of Lake Washington to Elliott Bay. Yesler Way is one of the few streets that follow a direct east-west path from shore to shore except for a park built on the shore of Lake Washington in the 1970s, which cut off Yesler Way from the lake.

The logs were floated from the foothills of the Cascade Mountains across Lake Washington to Skid Road. The logs were then "skidded" by attaching a "choke" chain, or cable, to one end of the log. The log was then pulled by overhead cables, dragging or skidding the other end over the hill to the Seattle Waterfront, to a saw mill owned by Henry Yesler.^{[citation needed]}

Murray Cromwell Morgan, in his 1952 book "Skid Road", described how the loggers spent the summers in the mountains cutting down trees and how the winter snow and mud hampered operations.^{[citation needed]} The out-of-work loggers would hang out on Skid Road hoping to find work and would often run out of money, sleep on the streets, and beg for food or money. This is where the connection between the operation of skidding logs and being poor and unemployed originated.^{[citation needed]}

The term "Skid Road" was in common usage in the mid 1800's, and referred to logging camps and mills all along the Pacific Coast.^[7] Vancouver, British Columbia started off as a sawmill settlement called "Granville," in the early 1870's.^[6] By the 1960's, "Skid Road" was commonly used to describe the more dilapidated areas in the city's Downtown Eastside.^[9]

Rev. Mark Matthews, a well-known prohibitionist, is attributed to the popularization of the term "Skid Road" to be synonymous with "bad neighborhood," in the early 20th century.^[7] The term most likely evolved into "skid row" to reflect a more contemporary urban neighborhood.

[edit] Seattle

Seattle's Skid Row was gentrified and designated the Pioneer Square Historic District in 1970.

[edit] Vancouver

A portion of Vancouver's Skid Row, Gastown, has also been rejuvenated but is in a difficult coexistence with the Downtown Eastside, a nearby impoverished district along East Hastings Street infamous for its open drug trade, prostitution and high rate of HIV and AIDS infection. The poorest urban area in Canada,^{[citation needed]} it is wedged between Downtown, Chinatown and Gastown. These areas are frequented by tourists, and East Hastings Street is a major throughfare. These avenues of exposure make the Downtown Eastside a highly visible example of a skid row.

[edit] Los Angeles

Main article: Skid Row, Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles's Skid Row, in an area of downtown Los Angeles also known as Central City East, is home to one of the largest stable populations of transient persons (homeless) in the United States. Informal population estimates range from 7,000 to 8,000. First-time visitors to this area are often shocked by the sight of the cardboard box and camping tents lining the sidewalks; the juxtaposition with the gleaming glass-sheathed skyscrapers on nearby Bunker Hill is quite striking. A common joke about the high prices of houses and taxes in Los Angeles city and county is that "you can't even buy a cardboard box for that price" (with "that price" being a budget that would pay for housing in many other parts of the country). L.A.'s Skid Row is sometimes called "the Nickel," because it is centered on Fifth Street. Most of the city's homeless and social service providers (such as Frontline Foundation, Midnight Mission, Union Rescue Mission and Downtown Women's Center) are based on Skid Row. While downtown Los Angeles has gone through a revitalization in recent years, development has mostly skipped over the Skid Row neighborhood. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, several local hospitals and suburban law enforcement agencies were accused by Los Angeles Police Department and other officials of transporting those homeless people in their care to Skid Row. [1] [2] According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the official boundaries of skid row are Third and Seventh Streets to the north and south and Alameda and Main Streets to the east and west, respectively. ^[10]

The name is official enough that fire engines and ambulances serving the neighborhood have historically had "Skid Row" emblazoned on their sides. On 1 June 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported[3] that fire officials plan to change the legend on the vehicles to read "Central City East". Many residents support the change, but it is opposed by firefighters and some residents who take pride in the sense that they live in a tough place.

[edit] Trivia

• The term was memorialized in the song "Skid Row" from the musical Little Shop of Horrors.
• Downtown Santa Cruz, California features a "Squid Row", in which a Calamari festival is held.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Stingaree - San Diego

[edit] External links

• Some Seattle history
• More history
• Guardian Article