A Glimpse of What SoHo Used to Be
The “Streetscapes” column by Christopher Gray in yesterday’s NY Times real estate section focused on the block on White Street where I reside. The article can be found here (wonder how long this link will actually work). Mr. Gray, speaking of my building, writes:
“Peaceful as it is now, when operating at full tilt White Street was an unforgiving machine. In 1904, The Times reported on a Children’s Court hearing involving Louis Deimstein, who was 14 and worked for an unidentified firm in Wood’s Mercantile Buildings.
He did not know where his parents were and wanted only to be left alone so he could look after his 11-year-old brother, with whom he lived at the Newsboys’ Lodging House, a well-known charitable enterprise. “I earn $4 a week, and that is enough to keep my brother and myself,” he told the court.
Nevertheless, a guardian was assigned to look after the boys “until their parents can be found and compelled to support them,” The Times reported.”
InkBlot
Monday, March 19, 2007
