homelessness

Self-governed homeless institutions, associated with Jeff Davis (pictured elsewhere in Bain Collection), "King of the Hoboes" From a Seattle account (though these pictures are presumably from the New York branch): "One of the most innovative responses to the homelessness of this era was an institution known as the Hotel de Gink, a self-managed lodging house which in its heyday (1913-1915) sheltered and helped provide employment for as many as 1,500 homeless men at a time. Located first in the old Providence Hospital at 4th Avenue and Madison Street (the present-day site of Seattle’s federal courthouse), and later in a large building near the corner of Rainier and Dearborn Avenues, the Hotel de Gink was a bustling endeavor, lively and as novel as its name implies. “Gink” was hobo slang meaning “guy” or “fellow.” The hobo history Knights of the Road recognizes the term as an appellation for fellow hoboes and defines it as a “poor unfortunate." The hotels were the brainchild of Jeff Davis, one of many to be proclaimed “King of the Hoboes." who organized the International Itinerant Workers (IIW), a short-lived labor union more popularly known as the “Hoboes of America." The IIW was a self-consciously patriotic response to the more politically radical Wobblies, or IWW – Industrial Workers of the World." www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&...

Times account of grand opening of New York Hotel de Gink at Worth and Centre Streets, on 1/21/15, with this headline: "HOTEL DE GINK OPENS IN A BLAZE OF GLORY; City Officials and Others, in Evening Dress, See 'King Jeff' Davis Ascend His Throne. GALA NIGHT FOR HOBOES Itinerant Workers Hear Speakers Praise Them, and Actors Once Tramps Give Vaudeville Show." query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C11FD3E5C13738...

wonderful photo!

İmpressive photo sir

Thanks so much artolog for providing these great links. Please ignore my question on the previous record about the Hotel de Gink, as I now have a much better understanding. We'll add some of the additional information to the record(s) the next time we update.

Superb!! Amazing image.

Haha a funny fella too. Folk hit hard times and addiction to 'numb' memories can set in. A shame really but he kept his humour.

Incredible how people back then could suck up their misfortune and keep on. But I guess they didn't have a lot of choice...