Bandit's Roost

Crime, murder, filth, and tension. These are all aspects and feelings that play into the photograph that creates Bandit’s Roost, figure 1. This photograph was taken by the infamous Jacob Riis in 1888 for his studies, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York. While this photo rests within a compressed, dirty alley on the lower East Side of New York City, the alley itself is set within “the Bend”, the slum of Mulberry Street. Mulberry Street is historically known as the center Little Italy, and includes many family owned shops and residences. The slum which is known as “the Bend” can be described as a “vast human pig-sty”. Riis made the explanation of “the Bend” very clear by stating, ““There is but one “Bend” in the

world, and it is enough”. The black and white photo itself was taken at 59 Mulberry Street, mapped in figure 2, and was one of Riis’ first photographs taken for his series. Lining the narrow alley are men dressed in jeans, high button coats, waistcoats, and high top derby hats. However, unlike the middle class men, the suits on these men are not as fine tailored and tucked. One man in the front looks to be holding a long rod, most likely to be used as a weapon, therefore imposing a threat and creating a sense of anticipation. There are also folk peering outside of the building through the windows. The people are looking directly at the viewer as if they had sensed a new presence and stopped what they were doing to look. We, the audience and middle class, are foreigners and have ventured into uncharted territory, otherwise known as these men’s alley. The sun peaks innocently through the slender opening between the buildings and shines behind the distressed clothing flying on the line. For being such a small alley, it is very well lit, which is due to the recent invention of flash powder that allowed Riis to photograph inside and outside at night. Riis legitimately brought light to “places that many could not imagine.” The streets looks damp with a few puddles scattered about, while barrels of garbage, staircases and boxes line the rest of it. The outsides of the buildings do no justice for the insides, a pastor William T. Elsing commented on the inner workings of the tenements: “The halls in nearly all the houses are more or less dark…In the old-style halls there is no way of getting light and air.” In addition to the lack of circulation and light, the tenements are crowded. It was noted that Riis saw the “population of the slums had grown to a staggering one million by 1880, equal to the city’s entire population only a decade earlier.” Due to the inflation of immigrants, many diseases were brought to these slums, such as Yellow Fever, Smallpox and Cholera. After the release of How the Other Half Lives, people were shocked by the startling conditions that so many residents had to endure on a day to day basis. The photo offers a menacing depiction of hell, as if we, the audience are touring hell. Furthermore, the dark and dirty alley that Riis termed Bandit’s Roost quickly became a well-known photograph and is one that looms in many Art History books and museums.
The other photos in Riis’ How the Other Half Lives focus on the same general idea and themes of poverty, and the New York City slums and tenements.

Due to this book Riis took great fame, his name spread largely across New York and there is even a beach named after him. In fact, western photographer Ansel Adams marveled over Riis’ work and exclaimed, “I am walking in their alleys, standing in their rooms and sheds and workshops, looking in and out of their windows. And they in turn seem to be aware of me.” Another image that relates to that of Bandit’s Roost also comes from Riis’ book and is entitled The Tramp, figure 3. Similar to Bandit’s Roost, this photo depicts an older man wearing baggy, torn clothes, sitting on the stairs of a building in what looks to be a dark, dirty alley. There are puddles on the group, torn rooftops, and dirty doorways that show the same filth as in Bandit’s Roost that these people endure. Additionally, in his book, the man in the photo is described to be “a tramp” which Riis explains as a homeless thief and in the winter “the sanitary police corral the tramps here and in their lodging-houses and vaccinate them.” Another fascination of Riis’ were slum children, whom he also called “Street Arabs”. In his photograph The Growler Gang in Session (Robbing a Lush), figure 4, Riis intended to show how these young children can take after bad examples they see on the street, such as pick-pocketing and stealing, and are thus known as “future thugs”.

Specifically in this photograph, Riis paid these boys in cigarettes to reenact a common crime, mugging one of their own. In addition to the horrible examples that are being set for these “Street Arab”, Riis also used this photo as warning, noting in How the Other Half Lives, “The Street Arab has all the faults and all the virtues of the lawless life he leads.” Another example of these reckless children is portrayed in Shooting Craps, figure 5. The image shows a group of children gathered in an alley being addressed by an older gentleman on how to gamble. Craps is not traditionally considered an appropriate children’s game, which shows how these children of the street were raised with a very different perspective. Riis’ photos all tie together in How the Other Half Lives because they “revealed the conditions of the tenements to the middle class and popularized the belief that reform needed to begin with the environment.” While it was a call for the middle class to help out those less fortunate, it also addressed environmental issues and how changing one’s attitude can help.
Riis’ photos not only depict a different view on life in the Lower East Side, but it also represents a history behind it.

Specifically, Riis’ photos speak to the overwhelming violence and crime that took place in the Lower East Side in the 1880s. To put it simply, Riis made the decision to publish this book in order to document crime in this area as well as bring attention to the horrible living conditions. As stated by the Tenement Museum, “Rather than blame the poor for these deplorable conditions, he asserted that the environment itself contributed to poverty.” Additionally, the prior theory to Riis’ was that the poor were to blame for their own suffering. However, the Progressive Era soon challenged this notion by examining the economic structure at the time. Author Clayton Patterson comments on the issue of the time: “Two decades ago New York’s loss of housing and jobs, and increase in violence and drugs, created an unforeseen crisis in the Lower East Side, setting the stage for political, social and artistic upheaval.” All of this corruption and turmoil for the citizens eventually affected New York greatly in later years to come. However, focusing on the 1880s and 1890s, lots of gangs were emerging partially due to the influx of immigrants. Cultures clung and stuck together, traveling as one and competing with one another for territory. The tension was prominent, especially among gangs such as the Jewish gang, the Black Hand, and an Italian gang also known as the

Black Hand. Prostitution was also a common theme throughout immigrant neighborhoods. As stated by the Tenement Museum, “One observer remarked that in ‘broad day light you can see [prostitutes] at their windows and calling to passers by at night.’” Many people also remarked that it was impossible for women to travel along the streets at night without becoming a victim of rape or theft. While theft was prominent especially with handbags and watches, very violent crime in the early 20th century decreased, unless it was conflict with neighboring gangs. Riis noticed this crime, and thus, thought it was an important issue to comment on and emerge to the rest of the world.
The overall feel of Jacob Riis’ photographic book, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York, has a distinctive look, as well as a strong history and message. Riis strongly believed that it was the environment that was to be blamed for the cause of poverty and not the people consumed in it. Thus, Bandit’s Roost is exemplary because it shows the cause and effect of Riis’ theory. The men in the photo symbolize the danger with gangs, as well as the ethnic tensions that comes from living in this area. Additionally, the type of dress the men don represents their impoverished nature. The setting that this group is set in within the photo with the damaged building, crowded alleys, and dirt-ridden street envelop the men, create an ominous vibe, and give them a sense of place, thus forcing the viewer to categorize poverty with filth. If these men were placed in a brightly lit green field, one would have a different perspective of these men and what they may be doing. Overall, it is not the people that create the deep message found within these photos, but instead it is the setting they are placed into and thus, why Jacob Riis believed that change started with the environment.