Hobohemia is a low rent district in a city where artistic

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

s and the down-and-outs or

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

s mix. In Chicago from the turn of the century to circa 1940s this was

Tower Town The Old Chicago Water Tower District is a historic district along the Magnificent Mile shopping district in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. The district is located on both sides of North Michigan Avenue between Eas ...

and the area often known as "The West Madison Stem" (Madison Street west of downtown) which was known as "skid road" and home to thousands of transient men and women, and Ben Reitman's Hobo College. In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

it was the neighbourhood of the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

, and

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. It was the title of a short story by Sinclair Lewis originally published in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'', which Lewis subsequently reworked into a three act

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

which was first performed at the Greenwich Village Theatre in 1919. A reference appears in the Rodgers and Hart song The Lady is a Tramp: "My Hobohemia is the place to be."

See also

References

Further reading