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TIN PAN ALLEY AND DENMARK STREET
Jewish immigrants who arrived in America between 1880 and 1910 found themselves discriminated against and barred from many professions. Some turned to what were then considered “low-life” entertainment industries: movies and popular music. They founded Tin Pan Alley, America’s popular music songwriting and publishing industry.
In the 1880s, the vaudeville houses clustered around New York City’s Union Square, which became the first home of Tin Pan Alley. As the entertainment venues moved north, so did Tin Pan Alley, to 28th Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway.
Tin Pan Alley did not get its name until around 1903, after it had moved to 28th Street. The name came from the sound of the out-of-tune pianos in the publishing houses on both sides of the street. (London, England, had its version of Tin Pan Alley— Denmark Street.)