The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-09-04
PASSING OF TENDERLOIN.

] the right town, 1OE there IS uLlic Jul
the sidewalk left of the Tenderloin ne
formerly knew. OF course, Herald
Square is still there, ard, if any one
ever used it for a landmark, so is the
| OF the wrecker las been laid upon ey-
erythfng else and nothing but ruin and
| desolation remain
Business has at last driven out pleas
ure. In the place where James J. Cor
bett once showed himself to admirlng
patrons there is now nothing but an
/ empty, silent stretch of rooms. On the
SPOT where he was won't to tell his ad
mirers how he disposed Of Sullivan
steam drill is hard at work giving
free exhibition OF what it can do IN
| the way Of knocking holes in Mammal
/ tan rocks.
Childs' restaurant known gratefully
! to many a needy seeker after fortune,
| has been reduced to it's original brick,
| and Wilson'S corner drug store-once
| the favored rendezvous OF sWeethearts,
the shelter for street car patrons, and
the emporium for stamps, directories.
grease paint and cold cream to the
Tenderloin at targets in the hands Of
the wreckers
Roster & Bial's-the survivor ofmany
a financial wreck-has succumbed at
last to a foe against which its spirit
battles in vain. It has received its
quietus from the house wreckers. Daily
its walls grow less and another three
weeks will see its end. There is perhaps
no place in town-with the single ex-
ception of the Eden Musee-better or
more widely known than this once fam
GUS music hall.
The Hotel Aulic is doomed. That good
grayNwau against which SO many aspir-
ing vaudeville backs have leaned is al
ready undergoing demolition and there
is a deep hole behind il. The story that
a disengaged actor fell into the hole
the other night because he took the old
familiar place on trust and omitted to
look for the wall before he leaned
against it, causes no amusement IN the
Tenderloin. The habitues of the Ten
derloin are sad. They are past jesting.
Generations of budding tragedians
have leaned against the Aulic while
they gazed upon a thankless world. AS
we'll might they expect to fall through
the solid earth as through the stanch
walls of the Aulic.
Progress has at least been given the
whip hand and 1t is driving what some
people call vice before it in a fashion
that all the reform societies in the
world cannot equal The beer gardens,
chop houses, music halls and other
places Of amusement with which the
old Tenderloin was filled have scatter
ed in many directions and a whole sec
ton has moved bag and baggage to the
vicinity of Longacre Square
The lower class of houses of amuse-
ment still hover around TWenty-ninth
street west of Broadway, but it is not
long until these too must go. Since
business has claimed the ground in this
part of town for its own it has become
too Valua BILE for concert halls and
places of this kind. The first step in
the direction of reform was taken when
the ground was bought for what is
promised to be the largest and finest
department store in the world. Al
ready the ground lying between Thirty
fifth street on the north, Broadway on
the east and the west wall OF Roster
& BiaTs on the west. swarms with
workmen.
From a little distance that site. which
was once the center of the Tenderloin.
looks like a great ant hill, with hum
dreds Of ants running this way and
that each busily doing his own little
share of the work. It is less than three
weeks since ground was first broken (
there. but already much has been done |
toward getting the ground ready for I
work night and day. Three big engines 7
supply power for the drills and cranes /
on the Thirty-fourth street side There I
is another powerful plant on the Thir- /
ty-hfth street side, where q long incline +
has been built to allow the loaded /
teams to reach the street The engine I
at this point provides power for a cable /
which is fastened to the tongues of the i
wa CONS, for the slope is so steep that 1
unless this help were accorded the /
horses could not haul the loads. IA 4
dozens of places no work at all has /
been done on the site and yet in an /
other eighteen months, G. department |
store complete in every detail, will /
stand on this ground and business will +
hold sway where pleasure once reigned +
supreme.
The district which every one knew as
the Tenderloin extended from Thirty
fourth street and Broadway south, I
north, east and west. the center Of /
gaiety being on TWenty-ninth street be- /
tween Broadway and Sixth avenue. /
Here the Bohemia, the Cairo Cafe the |
Berlin and the Savoy Concert halls still /
hold sway. All have altered very much /
for the better. but still they are DOOM
ed. Not far away is the Haymarket. /
once noted as the most disreputable /
place in the world. There is a church /
service there every Sunday now. One
of the gambling houses which the vice
crusaders could not find is also in the /
neighborhoOd and though all these
places still hold their own, it is only a
question of time until they too must
make way for business houses.
With three solid blocks devoted |
strictly to business right in the heart
of the Tenderloin. it was inevitable
that gaiety should give place to dollars
When Hammerstein built his big thea
ter on I.ongacre Square he was looked
upon as lunatic for going so far
center of the amusement world, and
soon it is likely to be one of the most
southernmost, for the cry is North
ward" The Tenderloin has followed
the theaters- Nowadays-or rather,
nowanights- Square is the |
center of that pleasure loving whirl
which once made the Tenderloin bright.
The big and rather dingy square has
blossomed out in few months until
il aspires to take the place of Herald
Square 1t is a poor imi ation-an imi-
tatiOn that the TenderlOsn would not
tolerate if it could help it. It is help
less, however. a dozen times it was
warned that the beer gardens of Broad
way were to be de1nolish ed-that the
old time Tenderloin was to be wiped out
The people Of the Tenderloin, with
their typical carelessness, let the warn
ing pass. They thought the Tender
loin was an Institution. not a location
Now they are realizing that some
things don't bear transpianting. Long
as was the warning the Tenderloin.
nevertheless was caught mapping It's
houses Of amusement were literally
pulled down over its head
In the theatrical season the pleasure
seekers on Broadway nightly number
over half million, but the greatest