Gotham Court, Sweeney's Shambles and Paradise Alley

Knickerbocker Village's favorite NYC historian Kevin Baker will be speaking before Bronx teachers next month as part of a Teaching American History Grant. The topic will be his book Paradise Alley. Here, in an excerpt from the full interview, Kevin discusses the history surrounding the book

A Conversation with Kevin Baker
Q. You've written Dreamland, a novel set in 1910s New York, and you've done research for Harold Evan's The American Century. How did you come across the historical events described in Paradise Alley and why did you decide to write about them?
KB: I first came across the events depicted in Paradise Alley, when my father gave me a copy of Herbert Asbury's The Gangs of New York to read, over 30 years ago. Having grown up in America in the 1960s, I was not terribly surprised by the idea of urban riots, or by protests over a draft — it seemed, in those days, that every time you turned on the TV you saw a halftrack rolling down a city street — but I was stunned by how violent and furious these protests from the 1860s were. Asbury's book, which is now emerging as a classic of our hidden history, is not terribly long on accuracy; an estimated 119 people died, instead of the 2,000 he claims. But it was, still, the worst riot in American history, and something that was very alien to the received history I had about the Civil War, and what kind of a fight it was, and who the good guys and the bad guys were. I wanted to know more — and what I learned, I thought, made for a great story.
Q. You've placed three women at the center of your narrative and each is portrayed with a striking degree of intimacy. How did you, as a man, get to know these characters? Was it difficult finding their voices?
KB: I always find it difficult to get any character's voice down. I know that the conventional wisdom of today is that one should not be able to truly depict anyone not exactly one's own self, but that would mean the death of literature. There is always a lot of groping in the dark, and it's even harder, of course, when you're dealing with a different time period. I have been fortunate enough to know many wonderful women in my life, my wife, sisters, mother, many friends. I have learned a great deal from them all, and I feel that I know many of them better than the male friends and relatives I have. The gap between the sexes is great, but it is not so wide as to preclude the basics of human love, fear, desire, greed, etc.
Q. In Paradise Alley, you're delving deep into the heart of Irish Roman-Catholicism. Was it easy to become familiar with the cultural norms and behavioral patterns of a different religion?
KB: As it happens, much of my father's family is Catholic, and I have attended a number of masses in my life. It's not exactly another world to me. But yes, I was brought up in different Protestant faiths — and on top of this difference, I had to find out what the Catholic church in America was like in the 19th century. In this endeavor, I was fortunate enough to have the help of several priests in the New York area, all of whom had a good historical perspective, and several books that I cite in the bibliography. The differences between then and now are not vast, but in general the Catholic church in America was, at the time of Paradise Alley, poorer, more defensive, more besieged, more persecuted, somewhat more proper and conservative, and perhaps a little more directly involved with life in the streets, where most of its communicants were living.
Q. Your use of geographical landmarks brings to life vividly the anatomy of historical New York. Which places are real and which are fictional? Where could we find Paradise Alley today?
KB: Paradise Alley was a very real place, an alley that emerged from a terrible double tenement known as "Sweeney's Shambles." Both are long gone, thank goodness. Their approximate location was just off Cherry Street, behind where the New York Post printing plant is today, and about where the Smith Houses currently stand. The anatomy of the whole Fourth Ward over there is very much changed now, and scarcely recognizable. Gone, too, are the old homes of The New York Times and the Tribune, the grand old hotels such as the Astor House and the St. Nicholas, and most of the tenements of the old Five Points.
But many other buildings are still standing, such as the churchyard of the Old St. Patrick's (the church itself burned and was rebuilt shortly after the Civil War), where Tom meets Deirdre; New York's graceful, Georgian City Hall; Federal Hall, the old Sub-Treasury building, where they kept the gold, and quite a few older residential buildings. The oldest known tenement, for instance — dating back to at least 1824 — still stands, at 65 Mott Street, in the heart of Chinatown. The Lower East Side of New York is truly a unique place in America, a neighborhood that has been a poor, immigrant community continuously for at least 175 years. The ethnic groups have changed — from Irish and German, to Jewish, Eastern European, and Italian, to Hispanic and Asian — but the flavor of struggle, of aspiration, of sheer density and poverty, still remains. To get a very vivid idea of how new Americans lived from the 1850s to the 1930s, I would highly recommend that one visit The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, at 97 Orchard Street, which has preserved an old tenement and created inside replicas of how various apartments looked during different ages. I certainly did — which is why no location in Paradise Alley is made up out of wholecloth.

Stallone's Paradise Alley 2

Supposedly the movie was to entitled Hell's Kitchen, but Paradise Alley sounded more intriguing. Even though it took place in 1946 Hell's Kitchen, it could have taken place in Ward 6 of 1946. This youtube reviewer thought it was an underrated film

Stallone's directing debut is a forgotten gem, back when it was released crushed by the critics and snubbed by the audiences. Wrongfully so, because this is great film that especially today makes you wonder whatever happened to Sylvster Stallone the artist. Here he was in all his glory: writer, director, star (even singer of the title song), and maybe that was the reason this film was ignored and critically lambasted back then. When Rocky came out, everybody body loved the writer-actor, but as we know, more sooner then later, people (especially the press) love to turn on the one they once favored. Paradise Alley is a beautiful film that needs to be rediscovered. Its made by someone who loves to tell a good, human story, captured in beautiful shots (just watch credit montage - the rooftop contest) Its full of colorful characters, full of warmth and feeling and wonderful humor. This film was a promise Stallone sadly later on never fulfilled, maybe because everyone turned so harsh on this one, which is something I will never understand. After decades of forgettable movies I wish Stallone would finally defy all nay-sayers and go back to stuff like this. He did by starring in Copland, but since then he made horribly choices as an actor, doing movies which didn't even make it to the theatres.

Stallone's Paradise Alley

Paradise Alley is a 1978 movie about three brothers (known as the Carboni Boys) in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the 1940s who become involved in professional wrestling. It was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, and was given the green light to be produced by Universal Pictures after Stallone's success with 1976's Rocky. Stallone also stars as Cosmo, one of the brothers. This was the first major film in which Armand Assante appeared. Anne Archer also starred. Joe Spinell played the emcee of the wrestling matches.
A number of professional wrestlers appeared, including Terry Funk as the foil to the hero of the film. Cameos include Ted DiBiase, Bob Roop, Dick Murdoch, Dory Funk Jr., Don Leo Jonathan, Don Kernodle, Gene Kiniski, Dennis Stamp, Ray Stevens, and Uliuli Fifita; all were pro wrestlers. The playwright and screenwriter John Monks Jr returned to the screen in the role of Mickey the bartender.
The movie first chugs along in the style of what some critics called Damon Runyon-esque, and eventually focuses on professional wrestling, as Victor, one of the brothers (Cosmo and Lenny are the other two) becomes a local wrestler (named Kid Salami and played by Lee Canalito). The fighting is real in this case as far as the plot is concerned; the storyline eventually revolves around betting on the winner of the bouts, as Cosmo and Lenny look to Victor to win enough matches so they can get out of Hell's Kitchen (Victor wants to marry his Asian girlfriend and live on a houseboat they plan to buy in New Jersey).
Each brother has his own style and character. Stallone's Cosmo is a hustler and con-artist, always looking for the next easy buck, Armand Assante's Lenny is the ex-WWII hero, an undertaker who came back to the neighborhood with a limp in his walk and a bitter (if essentially cool) attitude, but who also has savvy and respect and eventually becomes Victor's manager, and Victor himself, the gawky, strong, dumb yet sincere hulk of a man, who quickly leaves his job hauling ice up tenement stairways once he realizes he has talent as a wrestler.
Initially, it is Cosmo that dominates the proceedings, aggressively encouraging Victor to participate in wrestling matches, who is reluctant at first, and against the wishes of his girlfriend. Lenny is at first unsure of all this, and constantly tries to warn-off Victor, reminding him that he could get hurt, and often castigating Cosmo for involving Victor. As the film progresses, the roles begin to reverse . . . Cosmo becomes unsure, and guilty, about his behavior towards Victor, while Lenny becomes ever more keen to push, and exploit Victor as far as he can. Eventually, Lenny seems to have a complete personality change, losing his cool, retiring demeanor and becoming an aggressive, manipulative high roller who uses Victor for his own ends, seeming to not care that his own brother is getting hurt.

New York's Bunker Hill

from pseudo-intellectualism in August of 2005

Follow the path: The 1894 map led to a search for more info on the People's Theater on the Bowery. Unearthed was information on forgotten-ny's site about Bunker Hill. This provides a more complete solution to the Paradise Alley question of where was the exact site of the Bunker Hill that Tom went to view a bull being tortured by wild dogs.

The Place Of Blood

from pseudo-intellectualism back in August of 2005

I got my copy out of Paradise Alley to check on the passage where Tom was working as a butcher on Houston Street and then went to watch a dog fight. Rereading it spurred some online research to try and find the exact site of "The Place of Blood." I didn't have any luck but I realize now that its location might have been further westward then I thought. After working he went to watch a bull that was tied to a pole fight off some wild dogs. BTW, any value judgments on what merits the definition of sport should be set aside when today's most popular spectator sport is NASCAR racing.
This took place at a fort near Bunker Hill on Grand Street. I knew there was a hill near eastern Grand Street, but that was incorporated into Fort Pitt. (now the approximate sight of the 7th Police Precinct). Finding an early topographic map I saw that the Bunker Hill area was on the western part of Grand (now in SOHO). There are lots of hills shown on the map], I tried to pinpoint it by drawing an arrow to where Grand Street should be. I did some further notation on the map which is dated 1826. Wonder where they got the land to expand the shoreline of Manhattan? They did it by leveling all the pre-existing hills. I've also provided a link to the passage from Paradise Alley

The Fourth Ward In the 19th Century

Fourth Ward 2
From Professor Baldwin's comprehensive site at the University of Connecticut

The Fourth Ward: Life and Death in New York, 1860-1870
The tenant-house population of this city would make a city almost as large as Philadelphia, or two larger than Baltimore and Washington, or Boston and Chicago.It has been ascertained by those who have searched out the matter, that over four-fifths of the poverty and crime in the city are due to drunkenness.Were the victims of this vice -- the ruined in fortune and character -- the ill-clad, cold, hungry, sick, crushed wives and children -- the friendless widows and orphans -- the homeless and perishing young girls -- to come down from their garrets, or up from their basements and cellars, and out from their burrowing places where a ray of sunlight never enters -- where pure air is never breathed -- the sad procession would reach from the Battery to Harlem. Whose sympathy would not be moved to its depths at such a sight? yet these unfortunate creatures are here all around us, packed in their miserable abodes in a manner which surpasses belief.There are blocks not over 400 feet square that contain about twice as many people as the whole of Fifth avenue. The Fourth Ward, in which this Mission is located, contains about 50 acres (35 to 40 small blocks), yet its population would make a larger city than Utica, N.Y., or three such cities as Saratoga Springs.One tenant house in it (Gotham Court) often contains over 1,000 of these poor creatures. On one little spot near the Mission, 240 feet by 150, there are 20 tenant-house, 111 families, 5 stables, a soap and candle factory, and a tan-yard. There are less than two dwelling-houses in the ward for each rum-hole.

Gotham Court

An attempt was made in the late 1800's to provide better living conditions in this area of Cherry Hill known as Gotham Court. Formerly it was the site of the notorious Paradise Alley which was the backdrop for part of Kevin Baker's novel of that name
gotham-court-1871-1892

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