![Phase_1_of_Skid_Row_Super_Mural](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Phase_1_of_Skid_Row_Super_Mural.jpg)
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking
North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people "
on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or forgotten by society. A skid row may be anything from an impoverished urban district to a
red-light district to a gathering area for homeless people and drug addicts. In general, ''skid row'' areas are inhabited or frequented by impoverished individuals and also drug addicts. Urban areas considered skid rows are marked by high
vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
, dilapidated buildings, and drug dens, as well as other features of
urban blight
Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...
. Used figuratively, the phrase may indicate the state of a poor person's life.
The term ''skid road'' originally referred to the path along which timber workers skidded logs.
Its current sense appears to have originated in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
.
Areas in the United States and Canada identified by this nickname include
Pioneer Square in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
;
Old Town Chinatown
Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
;
Downtown Eastside
The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues including disproportionately high levels of drug use, homele ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
;
Skid Row
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
; the
Tenderloin District of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
; and 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. ...
of
Lower Manhattan. The term Poverty Flats is used for some Western US towns.
The term “skid row” may often be interchangeable with the term
tent city
A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures.
State governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house evacuees, refugees, or soldiers. UNICEF's Supply Division supplies expandable te ...
. A tent city may exist on the premises of a skid row, but many tent cities are in areas not known as skid rows.
Origins
The term "skid road" dates back to the 17th century, when it referred to a
log road, used to skid or drag logs through woods and bog.
The term was in common usage in the mid-19th century and came to refer not just to the
corduroy roads themselves, but to logging camps and mills all along the
Pacific Coast. When a logger was fired he was "sent down the skid road."
The source of the term "skid road" as an urban district is heavily debated, and is generally identified as originating in either
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
or
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
United States
Albuquerque
International District, Albuquerque, New Mexico
The International District is a neighborhood in southeast Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is centered on Central Avenue, the historic alignment of U.S. Route 66, and contains the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. The community is one of the most divers ...
, specifically with some areas off
Central Ave, especially intersecting Louisiana, Texas, and Rhode Island Streets, have high homelessness rates, as well as a higher than average rate of public drug usage and high property-related crime and violence. The area is colloquially known as the “War Zone.” Albuquerque had a rising murder rate in the early 2020s, with the murder rate surpassing 20 per 100,000 people, as well as a surge of visible homelessness especially in the ID area.
Anchorage
Fourth Street in
Downtown Anchorage
Downtown Anchorage is a neighborhood in the U.S. city of Anchorage, Alaska. Considered the central business district of Anchorage, Downtown has many office buildings, cultural points of interest, shopping areas, as well as dining and nightlife ...
has a homeless and drug abuse problem. In 1978, a descriptive analysis document compiled by a
Department of Health
A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...
facility in Anchorage, regarding downtown Anchorage's social issues and vagrancy described parts of Fourth Street as "Skid Row." Today, the name is not as used professionally, but still has issues of homelessness, especially affecting
Native Americans and
Native Alaskans
Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number ...
. Forty-five percent of Anchorage's homeless population in Alaskan Native, as compared to less than 15% of Anchorage's population being of Alaskan descent. 1,100 Anchorage residents were homeless in 2019, over two percent of the city's population. However, this figure may include those homeless periodically at some point that year, as opposed to average counts where homeless are counted on a given day, which usually increases the percentage.
Austin
Sixth Street in
Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the north bank of the Colorado River. The approximate borders of Downtown include Lamar Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the U ...
has issues with homeless camping (which lead to a
proposition
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
passing to ban public camping in most city areas) and public crime and drug use.
Boston
It has been characterized as "the epicenter of
the region's opioid addiction crisis."
300 homeless residents were counted in the area in a November 2021 article.
The effects on local residents and the city's attempts to deal with the problem have generated considerable controversy.
[ Advocates also protested Acting Mayor ]Kim Janey
Kim Michelle Janey (born May 16, 1965) is an American politician who served as acting mayor of Boston for eight months in 2021. She served as president of the Boston City Council from 2020 to 2022, and as a member of the council from the 7th dist ...
's October 19, 2021 announcement that Boston would be begin clearing out the tent city.[ Janey cited the lack of hygienic facilities in tents, the sexual assaults and crime in the area, and the four or five overdoses that are reversed each day in the area.][ Opponents say that the dismantling of the tents and other makeshift structures, forcibly if necessary, is a criminalization of homelessness and addiction.][
]
Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
has a homelessness issue in the Inner Harbor. Some housing projects and gang plagued neighborhoods bare social issues similar to skid rows.
Honolulu
Chinatown has had issues with blight of homelessness and poverty. Initially more predominately Chinese when it was established and active in the 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, it became a red-light district after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
era. Today, the neighborhood still experiences problems with people dealing with addiction and mental health problems, as well as homelessness and public crime.
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Skid Row is an area on the East side of Downtown Los Angeles, roughly bounded by Los Angeles Street on the West, Central Avenue on the East, 4th Street on the North, and 8th Street on the South. The area was originally home to many cheap, low-quality hotels, popular with itinerant laborers and new arrivals to the city owing to its proximity to the train station and central location. In an attempt to rehabilitate the area in the 1960's, most of the run-down single room occupancy hotels were demolished. This led to major reduction in the amount of very low-cost, bare minimum housing available to the area's extremely low-income population, contributing to the severe homelessness problem in the area. Skid Row was once located at the industrial periphery of Los Angeles' often neglected downtown area. As downtown has been revitalized since the 1990's and the adjacent Arts District area has gone from a desolate industrial wasteland to a major center for tourism, entertainment, and upscale housing development, Skid Row has become increasingly hemmed in by bustling, populated neighborhoods. This has contributed to a substantial increase in the density of homeless residents living on the streets in Skid Row, since many of the new residents and businesses in the surrounding areas do not want the encampments to spread.
Local homeless count estimates have ranged from 3,668 to 8,000. In 2011, the homeless population estimate for Los Angeles' Skid Row was 4,316. L.A.'s Skid Row is sometimes called "the Nickel", referring to a section of Fifth Street.
Several of the city's homeless and social-service providers (such as Weingart Center Association, Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America (VOA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1896 that provides affordable housing and other assistance services primarily to low-income people throughout the United States. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, the organiz ...
, Frontline Foundation
Raymond Jay Castellani (February 13, 1933 – October 18, 2021) was an American character actor. As a former alcoholic, he founded the Frontline Foundation, which serves meals to the homeless on the Los Angeles' Skid Row.
Castellani was born ...
, Midnight Mission
The Midnight Mission is a human services organization in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row. , Union Rescue Mission
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''U ...
and Downtown Women's Center) are based in Skid Row. Between 2005 and 2007, several local hospitals and suburban law-enforcement agencies were accused by Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
and other officials of transporting those homeless people in their care to Skid Row.
Within Skid Row, the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) is a performance group whose members are mostly homeless or formerly homeless people who create performances and multimedia art that highlight connections between their lived experiences and external forces that impact their lives.
Westlake and Venice Beach
Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...
have had issues with street crime and homelessness, and elements of skid rows and red-light districts. As per a 2020 count, there were nearly 2,000 homeless people in Venice of its 41,000 residents in general. up from 175 in 2014. Many of them lived on Venice Beach on the sand by the shoreline, until a city-ordered sweep done in August 2021. Many homeless still reside in inland Venice, more towards Abbott Kinney Road.
Oakland area
There are some facets of skid row in nearby Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, especially on International Boulevard, where homelessness and prostitution has been problematic. There are scattered elements of skid row and tent cities
A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures.
State governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house evacuees, refugees, or soldiers. UNICEF's Supply Division supplies expandable te ...
in Downtown Oakland
Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lak ...
and East Oakland
East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest portio ...
. People's Park, Berkeley has struggled with drug abuse and homelessness, with social services nearby. The area is a concentration of tents in Berkeley. Although the area is benign in comparison to major cities, it has a multi-decades-long history of homeless settlements.
Portland
Old Town Chinatown
Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland ...
, a mostly defunct Chinatown of Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, has a high prevalence of hard drug use, homelessness, poverty, and property and violent-related crimes.
As of November 2021, a surge of meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...
was reported to be used amongst the homeless community in Greater Portland. In the 1980s and 1990s, where the meth epidemic was at a high in Portland, 35% of the drug was locally produced, as opposed to nearly zero percent of meth used by the homeless communities as reported in 2021.
Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...
suffers a homelessness issue at large, as of the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Seattle
The name "Skid Road" was in use in Seattle by the 1850s when the city's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood began to expand from its commercial core. The district centered near the end of what is now Yesler Way
Yesler Way is an east–west street in Seattle named for Henry Yesler, the founder of Seattle. East–west streets in Seattle south of Yesler Way are prefixed "South"; avenues are suffixed with "South" as they cross Yesler Way. The street origina ...
, the original "Skid Road" named after the freshly‑cut logs that were skidded downhill toward Henry Yesler
Henry Leiter Yesler (December 2, 1810 – December 16, 1892) was an entrepreneur and a politician, regarded as a founder of the city of Seattle. Yesler served two non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Seattle, and was the city's wealthiest resident ...
's mill.
Henry Yesler acquired land from Doc Maynard
David Swinson "Doc" Maynard (March 22, 1808March 13, 1873) was an American pioneer, doctor, and businessman. He was one of Seattle's primary founders. He was an effective civic booster and, compared to other white settlers, a relative advocate ...
at a small point of land at what is today near the intersection of 1st Avenue and Yesler Way
Yesler Way is an east–west street in Seattle named for Henry Yesler, the founder of Seattle. East–west streets in Seattle south of Yesler Way are prefixed "South"; avenues are suffixed with "South" as they cross Yesler Way. The street origina ...
. He also acquired a swath of land wide, from his property up First Hill
First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washing ...
to a box of land about in size, full of timber, spanning what is today 20th to 30th avenues. Logs would be moved down the skid road of Yesler Way to his mill. In the words of Murray Morgan, "This district south of Yesler Way, this land below the Deadline, has helped fix the word on the American language. The Skid Road: the place of dead dreams." His steam-powered logging mill was built in 1853 on the point of land that looked south towards a small island (Denny's Island, part of his land purchase from Doc Maynard) that has since been expanded with infill
In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an urban environment, usually open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any undeveloped land that is not on the urban ma ...
and is the heart of today's Pioneer Square. The mill operated seven days a week, 24 hours per day, on the waterfront.
The Skid Road became the demarcation line between the affluent members of Seattle and the mill workers and more rowdy portion of the population. The road became Mill Street, and eventually Yesler Way, but the nickname "Skid Road" was permanently associated with the district at the street's end. The street's end near the mill attracted cookhouse
A cookhouse is a small building where cooking takes place. Often found at remote work camps, they complemented the bunkhouse and were usually found on ranches that employed cowboys, or loggers in a logging camp. Prior to the 20th century, cookh ...
s and inexpensive hotels for itinerant workers, along with several establishments that served beer and liquor.
San Diego
East Village, near Barrio Logan
Barrio Logan is a neighborhood in south central San Diego, California. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of East Village and Logan Heights to the north, Shelltown and Southcrest to the east, San Diego Bay to the southwest, and National Cit ...
, Logan Heights, and Sherman Heights, has struggled with homelessness and drug abuse.
San Francisco
The Tenderloin neighborhood is a small, dense neighborhood near downtown San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. In addition to its history and diverse and artistic community, there is significant poverty, homelessness, and crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
.[The Sidewalks of San Francisco by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal Autumn 2010](_blank)
City-journal.org (2010-10-14). Retrieved 2012-09-16.
It is known for its immigrant populations, single room occupancy
Single room occupancy (more commonly abbreviated to SRO) is a form of housing that is typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a small desk. SRO units are ren ...
hotels, ethnic restaurants, bars and clubs, alternative arts scene, large homeless population, public transit and close proximity to Union Square, the Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
, and Civic Center
A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
. The 2000 census reported a population of 28,991 persons, with a population density of 44,408/mi2 (17,146/km2), in the Tenderloin's 94102 Zip Code Tabulation Area, which also includes the nearby Hayes Valley neighborhood.
During the 1960s, when development interests and the Redevelopment Agency were using eminent domain to clear out a large area populated by retired men in the South of Market area, that area was termed "Skid Row" in the media. The City's convention center was built after the clearing of long term low-income residents. The neighborhood continues to be a plight of drug-related use and crime and homelessness of San Francisco, along with nearby South of Market
South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, situated just south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill.
SoMa is home to many of the city's museums ...
, by Market and 6th and Market and 7th Streets. Tent cities were concentrated along Market Street in San Francisco, towards downtown, but are more scattered around the city as of November 2022.
New York
In New York, Skid Row was a nickname given to 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. ...
during much of the 20th century.
Along East 125th Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, there is a noticeable density of homelessness and drug use. There are elements of a drug and poverty-related society along with homelessness around in Lower Manhattan. On October 5, 2019, four homeless men were beaten to death with a heavy blunt object, and a fifth was injured. They were found between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the streets of Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown () is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 1 ...
. A 24-year-old unhoused man was arrested.
New York City's climate is colder during the autumn and winter, thus more homeless are sheltered (less than 10% of the city's homeless are unsheltered), and elements of blight are usually less visible than that of west coast cities. As of 2019, 5% of NYC homeless were unsheltered, compared to the San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
's 67% being unsheltered.
Chicago
Traditional Skid Row areas in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
were centered along West Madison Street just west of the Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...
and, to a lesser degree, North Clark Street just north of the Chicago River. Since the 1980s both of these areas have been gentrified.
Philadelphia
Philadelphia once had a highly visible skid row centered on Vine Street, just west of the approaches to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge
The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and ...
. This area was essentially obliterated by highway construction starting in the 1970s.
Today, the area most often referred to as Philadelphia's modern-day skid row is in the Kensington neighborhood, along Kensington Avenue near the intersections of Somerset Street and Allegheny Avenue. The area is known for its high rates of open-air recreational drug use, poverty, and homelessness. A long-time camp largely hidden from public view in a gulch alongside Conrail tracks, spanning an area roughly from N 2nd Street to Kensington Avenue, was cleared in 2017. In late 2018, the city cleared a series of large homeless camps along Kensington Avenue, Emerald Street, Tulip Street, and Frankford Avenue. The homeless population in the Kensington neighborhood alone is estimated to be over 700 individuals.
Minneapolis
The twenty-five-block area that became known as the Gateway District in downtown Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
was once the city's Skid Row. The area was a dense collection of bars, liquor stores, flop houses and rescue missions. Many on Skid Row were seasonal laborers who came from different parts of the country to work on farms or in lumber mills. During off-season months they crowded into the city, and onto Skid Row.
Denver
Union Station, Denver, Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
has a homelessness and vagrancy problem. Reports of public drug consumption, including that of opiates
An opiate, in classical pharmacology, is a substance derived from opium. In more modern usage, the term ''opioid'' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonist ...
and meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...
, are daily or regularly reported on the public train and buses, and the district is amongst the top 3 areas of highest violent crime. In July 2020, an estimated 1,350 people were camped out within Denver city limits, and a homeless advocacy group counted 664 tents. Lincoln Park has a high concentration of tent-dwelling homeless individuals, and reports of criminal activity and drug abuse are commonplace. Although, some tent cities are well kept in the area.
Houston
In the 1800s much of what was the Third Ward, the present day south side of Downtown Houston. According to some, the eastern boundary is a low rent group of houses near Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...
referred to as "Sugar Hill." and among musicians, the Third Ward's boundaries are usually thought of as extending southward from the junction of Interstate 45
Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...
(Gulf Freeway) and Interstate 69/ U.S. Route 59 (Southwest Freeway) to the Brays Bayou, with Main Street forming the western boundary. The Third Ward was what Stephen Fox, an architectural historian who lectured at Rice University, referred to as "the elite neighborhood of late 19th-century Houston." Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle said that Fox said that area was "a silk-stocking neighborhood of Victorian-era homes." Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, caused the "residential character" of the area to "deteriorate." Hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area "began a long downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s" and the hotels were changed into flophouses. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station. The City of Houston abolished the ward system in the early 1900s, but the name "Third Ward" was continued to be used to refer to the territory that it used to cover.[Wood, Roger]
''Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues''
(Issue 8 of Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture). 2003, University of Texas Press
The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...
. 1st Edition. , 9780292786639.
Canada
Vancouver
The 100-block of East Hastings Street in Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, the heart of that city's "skid road" neighbourhood, lies on a historical skid road. The Vancouver Skid Road was part of a complex of such roads in the dense forests surrounding the Hastings Mill
Hastings Mill was a sawmill on the south shore of Burrard Inlet and was the first commercial operation around which the settlement that would become Vancouver developed in British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1865 by Edward Stamp, the sawmill oper ...
and adjacent to the settlement of Granville, Burrard Inlet (Gastown
Gastown is the original settlement that became the core of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and a national historic site and a neighbourhood in the northwest section of the Downtown Eastside, adjacent to Downtown Vancouver.
Its hi ...
).
The city began as a sawmill settlement called Granville, in the early 1870s. By at least the 1950s, "Skid Road" was commonly used to describe the more dilapidated areas in the city's Downtown Eastside
The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues including disproportionately high levels of drug use, homele ...
, which is focused on the original "strip" along East Hastings Street due to a concentration of single room occupancy
Single room occupancy (more commonly abbreviated to SRO) is a form of housing that is typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a small desk. SRO units are ren ...
hotels (SROs) and associated drinking establishments in the area. The area's seedy origins date back to the early concentration of saloons in pre-Canadian Prohibition (1915–1919) and its popularity with loggers, miners and fishermen whose work was seasonal and who spent their salaries in the area's cheap accommodations and public houses.
Opium and heroin use became popular early on; Vancouver was for many years the main port-of-entry for the North American opium supply. During the Great Depression, the railway rights-of-way and other vacant lots in the area were thronged by the unemployed and poor, and the pattern of social decay became well-established. In the 1970s, the endemic alcohol and poverty problems in the area were exacerbated by the expansion of the drug trade, with crack cocaine becoming high-profile in the 1980s as well as a reconcentration of the prostitution trade in the area because of the relocation of hooker strolls in conjunction with city policy for Expo 86
The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicatio ...
.
A portion of Vancouver's Skid Row, Gastown
Gastown is the original settlement that became the core of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and a national historic site and a neighbourhood in the northwest section of the Downtown Eastside, adjacent to Downtown Vancouver.
Its hi ...
, has also been gentrified
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
; however it is in a difficult coexistence with the nearby impoverished Downtown Eastside
The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues including disproportionately high levels of drug use, homele ...
along East Hastings Street.
The Downtown Eastside is deemed to be one of the poorest urban areas in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It is wedged between popular tourist destinations such as Downtown, Chinatown and Gastown. East Hastings Street is also a major thoroughfare. These avenues of exposure make the Downtown Eastside a highly visible example of a skid row.
The Downtown Eastside (sometimes abbreviated D.T.E.S.) is also home to Insite
Insite is the first legal supervised drug injection site in North America, located at 139 East Hastings Street, in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. The DTES had 4700 chronic drug users in 2000 and h ...
, the first legal intravenous drug
Drug injection is a method of introducing a drug into the bloodstream via a hollow hypodermic needle, which is pierced through the skin into the body (usually intravenously, but also at an intramuscular or subcutaneous location). Intravenous t ...
safe injection site in North America, part of a harm reduction
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to d ...
policy aimed at helping the area's drug addicted residents. Additional sites have been established with approval from Health Canada in 2017 and 2018 as part of the strategy for dealing with the epidemic of lethal opioid (primarily fentanyl
Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocain ...
) overdoses.
Montreal
The Centre-Sud
The Centre-Sud is a neighbourhood located in the easternmost edge of the Ville-Marie borough of the city of Montreal.
Home to Montreal's Gay Village and to the Sainte-Marie area, the Centre-Sud has long been seen as one of the city's most c ...
neighbourhood of Montreal, located directly east of downtown, has long been notorious for prostitution (particularly on Ontario Street
Ontario Street (officially in french: rue Ontario) is an east-west artery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the boroughs of Ville-Marie and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. In the latter borough, the street becomes a mix of residential a ...
and Dufresne Street) as well as poverty and drug trafficking more broadly.
Gentrification has changed this somewhat in recent years.
Mexico
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalaj ...
's "romantic area" by its boardwalks has issues of homelessness, vagrancy, open drug abuse, fighting, and public violence. Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
as a country struggles with poverty and migrants to the U.S. often end up homeless or near the Mexican border awaiting arrival. Elements of skid row and shantytowns may exist along the U.S.-Mexican border with awaiting migrants. While specific "skid rows" are not thoroughly documented in articles, at least mainly in English, crystal meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...
is often shipped in from Ciudad Juarez
Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City
Ciudad may also refer to:
* La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona
*La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico
*''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970
*La Ciudad ''The City ...
and , both border cities. Both cities also have issues of meth consumption as well as other drugs, and homelessness and poverty are rampant in some districts.
According to a 2018 article by KPBS Public Media (KPBS), with the BBC World Service, Tijuana has 1,800 people who are described as "living on the streets". It is uncertain whether this figure includes those in homeless shelters or sleeping in vehicles. This number is less than half a percent of Tijuana's population, and far fewer than the 9,160 homeless in neighboring San Diego County, California. However, the count in Tijuana does not include thousands of people who live in makeshift homes on canyons, often without running water or electricity. The academic research institute, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, concluded in 2014 that nearly half of the homeless in Tijuana are deportees from the US, based on their surveys of a specific shelter. Violent crime in Tijuana reached unprecedented levels in 2017, with 1,780 murders in Greater Tijuana, a rate of more than 100 per 100,000 people.
Australia
Melbourne
Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
Elizabeth Street is one of the main streets in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, part of the Hoddle Grid laid out in 1837. It is presumed to have been named in honour of governor Richard Bourke's wife.
The street ...
, Australia, has an issue involving drug abuse, homelessness, and vagrancy. The '' Herald Sun'', in two 2016 articles about the growing homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, and disturbance issues, described the street's southern end towards Flinders Street as Melbourne's 'skid row.'
In 2010, an Elizabeth Street housing project organisation was founded, endeavouring to help homeless and needy people find housing and treatment for health and job-related issues. 131 studio apartments and 30 two-bedroom apartments were built.
In January 2017, reports of a homeless camp being moved from under Flinders Street station
Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, the historic station serves the entire metr ...
to an organised housing facility made the News.com.au
news.com.au is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance, and sport.
Staff
The organiza ...
headlines. The Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
n state government spent $10 million on this project, with the intent of providing 30 new permanent modular and relocatable homes on public land to be in place by the end of 2017.
During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...
in March, to June 2020, the Victorian government provided $15 million to homelessness organisations to find temporary accommodation in hotels for people who were sleeping on the street. On June 13, 2020, it was announced that a further $9.8 million was spent on the project to keep them there in the short term, but also help them plan a pathway into more long-term, stable accommodation. During these three months, at least 4500 people have been put up in hotels across the state of Victoria, 1000 in the Central Business District of Melbourne alone.
Japan
Tokyo
San'ya
is an area in the Taitō and Arakawa wards of Tokyo, located south of the Namidabashi intersection, around the Yoshino-dori. A neighborhood named "San'ya" existed until 1966, but the area was renamed and split between several neighborhoods.
It ...
has an issue with poverty, crime and homelessness, and is among the poorest districts in Tokyo.
Popular references
*"The Wall Street Shuffle
"The Wall Street Shuffle" is a single by the British pop/rock band 10cc, released in 1974 on the UK Records label, from the band's 1974 album ''Sheet Music (10cc album), Sheet Music''. It was the most successful single to be released from the al ...
" by 10cc mentions Skid row in the lyrics.
*"Skid Row
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
" is the name of an American heavy metal band formed in New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
*"Skid Row
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
" is also the name of a Dublin, Ireland-based blues-rock band from the late 1960s and early 1970s that included such musicians as singer Phil Lynott and guitarist Gary Moore, both of whom later were part of Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or som ...
. Conversely, a "skid row" is mentioned in the Thin Lizzy song "Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed", from the 1976 album '' Johnny the Fox''.
* Kurt Cobain, playing in a band that at the time had no name, came up with the name "Skid Row" to put on the marquee at a gig on the spur of the moment. That band's name would change frequently after that. He would later go on to form Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
.
*SKiDROW
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
is one of the prominent warez groups in software. Whether this is based on the band is unknown.
*'' Breaking Bad'' Season 4 Episode 4 features Jesse turning his house into a Skid Row for the homeless.
*The '' Little Shop of Horrors'' films and subsequent musical are all set in various downtown neighborhoods called Skid Row and include the song ''Skid Row (Downtown)''. The original 1960 film was set in Los Angeles while the 1982 musical and its 1986 film adaptation were set in New York.
*In Alfred Hitchcock's
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
''Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
'', Scotty, played by Jimmy Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
, says "Why, that's Skid Row" in response to hearing a MIssion-xxxx (MI or 64 prefix) phone number. He is referring to the Dogpatch shipyard in San Francisco, on the east waterfront side of Potrero Hill. Back then, the MIssion telephone exchange covered all the southern city.
*In ''Rocky
''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...
'', near the beginning of the movie, Mick gives Rocky's gym locker to another prospect who in Mick's eyes deserves it more. When Rocky discovers this on his next visit he says "I've had this locker for six years and you hang my stuff on skid row". There are other various references throughout the ''Rocky'' films.
*Lana Del Rey
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...
sings "I wear my diamonds on skid row" on "Cola
Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imi ...
", a song from her second studio album titled '' Born to Die: The Paradise Edition''
*Skidrow is the name of the dystopian neighborhood where the player character of the 1999 video game '' Kingpin: Life of Crime'' begins his quest for revenge.
*Skidrow is the last song on the B side on the album Spritz by Herman Brood
Hermanus "Herman" Brood (; 5 November 1946 – 11 July 2001) was a Dutch musician, painter, actor and poet. As a musician he achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was called "the greatest and only Dutch rock 'n' ...
and His Wild Romans.
Notes
See also
* Cannery Row
Cannery Row is the waterfront street bordering the city of Pacific Grove, but officially in the New Monterey section of Monterey, California. It was the site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 1973 ...
of Monterey, California
* Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, sub ...
, Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
* Chungking Mansions
Chungking Mansions is a building located at 36–44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Though the building was supposed to be residential, it is made up of many independent low-budget hotels, shops and other services. As well ...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, has issues with public crime, drugs, and prostitution"China, hip-hop and the new Sudan"
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
*Deinstitutionalisation
Deinstitutionalisation (or deinstitutionalization) is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder or developmental disability. In the lat ...
* Homelessness
* The Jungle (San Jose)
The Jungle was a large homeless encampment located in San Jose, California. It was located off Story Road and along Coyote Creek (Santa Clara County), Coyote Creek, in an area called Coyote Meadow, and consisted of various makeshift dwellings, sha ...
, a former tent city, and Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California. Downtown is one of the largest tech clusters in Silicon Valley, as well as the cultural and political center of San Jose.
History
The town was first settled in 1777. T ...
has elements of skid row
* List of tent cities in the United States
* Patient dumping
Patient dumping or homeless dumping is the practice of hospitals and emergency services inappropriately releasing homeless or indigent patients to public hospitals or on the streets instead of placing them with a homeless shelter or retaining the ...
* People's Park (Berkeley)
People's Park in Berkeley, California is located just east of Telegraph Avenue, bounded by Haste and Bowditch Streets, and Dwight Way, near the University of California, Berkeley. The park was created during the radical political activism of ...
* Poverty
* Santa Rosa Avenue (adjacent to South Park) in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
* Skidder
* Slum
* Stingaree, San Diego
References
Notes
Bibliography
*.
*.
External links
Some Seattle history
Down On Skid Row, A Tape's Rolling! Special
Documentary produced by Twin Cities Public Television
Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (abbreviated TPT, doing business as Twin Cities PBS) is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two PBS member television stations, KTCA-TV (channe ...
A group page for Portland, Oregon's "Felony Flats"
Yelp review page for Portland's "Felony Flats"
Article from 2008 on gentrification in Portland's "Felony Flats"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skid Row
*
Economy of Seattle
*
Poverty in Canada
Poverty in the United States
Urban decay
Vagrancy