Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.ption
This week's photo is of Inman's Casino, which was located on the Bowery of Coney Island. The Bowery was south of Surf Avenue and ran from Jones Walk to West 16th Street on the east side of Steeplechase Park. Its main drag, known as Ocean Avenue until around 1905 and as Bowery Lane thereafter, ran parallel to Surf Ocean.
The Vaudeville opened prior to 1900, and claimed to cater to women and children. But if this article from August 1, 1893 is to be believed, things at Inman's still got a little rowdy. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
"Lizzie Martin and Alice Willis, two soubrettes who do a nightly "turn" at Inman's Casino on "Little Bowery", Coney Island had a falling out yesterday over a stage manager named Louis Parville, whom both the girls loved. Lizzie Martin, it is said, started the fight by jabbing her opponent several times in the face with her fists. The irate Alice, it is charged, thereupon drew a razor and slashed the other girl in the neck. Alice Willis was locked up by the police to await the results of Lizzie's injuries.
Phew, don't mess with the Vaudeville crowd!
Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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