Beer Steak Bullshit

Tin Pan Alley, the block in New York where songs like God Bless America by Irving Berlin or Give My Regards to Broadway by George M. Cohan were written is up for sale.

Real Estate website is recommending tearing down old buildings in the area to make way for a modern high rise and mentions that five Tin Pan Alley four-storey brownstone buildings are for sale for $44 Million.

Tin Pan Alley was once home to songwriters and music publishers and is located on West 28th Street in New York. The name Tin Pan Alley itself is said to date back to 1885 and was popularized by piano playing song pluggers who walked up and down the street singing in order to promote the sales of sheet music.

When radios were invented, the music industry changed a lot, but Tin Pan Alley remained the place of music till 1950. Some recognizable American songwriters are closely associated with Tin Pan Alley having worked and written many of their songs on the street. We can mention Fats Waller, Cole Porter, Scott Joplin, Hoagy Carmichael and George Gershwin for instance.

Anarchist Emma Goldman started the magazine called Mother Earth out of one of Tin Pan Alley buildings, namely the one on 55 W. 28th St.

Many New Yorkers are unhappy with intentions to sell such an important part of New York history as Tin Pan Alley claiming that part of New York heritage would be lost.

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