The Gay Nineties

I'm borrowing this from a post I made to another blog in 2011

The following photos are of some of the young men who were working boys at Paresis Hall (aka Columbia Hall), one of up to six New York male for male brothels in the late 19th century. It was located on Fifth & Bowery, off of Coopers Square. The photos date from 1890 - 1899 and were either sold or given to clients.

Billy Walsh

Francis "The Horse" Kane

Amos John

Charley Ford

George Horn

Arnold Doyle

Johny Gibson

Danny Moore

Nathaniel "The Kid" Cullen

Jimmy Smith

Willy "The Bull" Pearson

Joshua

Raymond

Tim Kelly

Tommy O'Rourke

The last photo is apparently of the boys masquerading as working boys of another kind. If this is in fact a true photo, it's obvious that some of the boys were quite young, in their early teens. Despite our moral perspective, I suppose it's something that shouldn't be all that surprising given the poverty of the time. Even putting aside poverty, many children left school by the time they were 14, often earlier, (the 1900 U.S. census reported only 519,000 students in public high schools, which was double what it was in 1890) and began working, taking on what we now consider to be adult roles. Something which would have carried over into areas like prostitution.

I first saw most of these photos a few years ago on a blog. I believe it was Queerpitcher which, unfortunately, is now closed. In addition to these photos there were others, including those of clients like E.C. Bald, the cyclist.

The photos of both boys and clients had inscriptions on the back, written by one of the boys named Jacob Miller from whose collection most of these came, with names, sexual preferences and sizes (I don't mean shoe size.) You can see transcripts of two of these at the following links. A word of caution, some of the language is NSFW

Two clients of Paresis Hall

Another working boy

Bits and Bites

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Put your arms around me honey

Wanna wrestle?

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.

---

Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180)

Put your arms around someone

Just put your arms around someone
Never know whose waiting for a little love
It's not a waste of time
We got enough
So put your arms around someone
There's a whole lot of hurt going around
If you got a smile
Won't you pass it down
It's going to mean so much
So go on go on and put your arms around someone

---

Jeannettte McCurdy
Lyrics from Put your arms around someone

Good things

come in all kinds of packages.

The Five and Dime

Source: Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library

Start at the northwest corner of King and Hughson, and move slowly up the sidewalk, alongside the old Right House building. It helps if it’s a sunny day. Peer across the street. And there on a slab of stone set into the brick wall, you’ll spot the outline of six big letters pulled down years ago – KRESGE. That name was once on hundreds of stores across the continent. It belonged to Sebastien Spering Kresge, who got his start in 1899 in Detroit. Link to the full article is at the bottom of this post

When I was growing up in the late 40's, early 50's I lived in a small city of about 35,000. Everything was centred in the downtown. The five & dime stores were Woolworth, Kresge, and Metropolitan, The higher end department stores were Eatons and the Right House. Around and among them were clustered all kinds of local stores as well as 4 theatres. You didn't have to travel to find things you needed or wanted no matter what the quality you were looking for or the price you could afford. That, of course, was a function of its time. While there were lots of cars many families, including mine, didn't own one, so the centralised businesses made sense. People went downtown to shop. Saturdays the sidewalks were packed, even more so because the open-air farmers' market was there as well.

The roots of the changes that happened are pretty well the same as in other cities no matter the size - growth, population shift and increased mobility. More people meant that they lived farther from the downtown. When we moved out of the city in 1952 we ended up in the outskirts surrounded by market gardens with a handful of neighbours. By 1958 the tar & chip street had become 4 paved lanes and there was a high school beside us. Plazas sprouted up with stores like Woolco and K-mart, followed by enclosed malls. No one went to the centre of the city anymore because there was no need; just hop in your car, park it for free and shop to your heart's content at the new downtown.

One by one the five and dimes closed as did the department stores. I think the Right House lasted the longest, eventually moving to one of the malls before the company closed its doors. Woolworth, Kresge, Metropolitan, and Eatons, the iconic Canadian department store, are also gone. So too are their replacements Woolco and K-mart. Relics of the past that only exist in photos and in memories stirred by newspaper articles.

Read the complete story A Sign Past Its Time

I must go down to the seas again

I have this thing about sailors. Perhaps because my family has a history of sea-faring. My grandfather, one uncle and a cousin were all master mariners; others in the family held various positions in the merchant marine. Even my father went to sea - once and only once - as a deck boy when he was 16. Then again, perhaps it's the uniform. Who knows.

All images have full size views. Just click on any one

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

---

John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
Sea Fever