A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from June 15, 2019
Big Rue (Broadway)

Broadway in Manhattan has long been known for its theatrical entertainments, In 1926, it was sometimes called the “Big Rue”—where a French word is substituted for “Big Street” (a nickname popular since the 1900s).
 
Robert Hage wrote in the New York City humor magazine Life on June 17, 1926:
   
“No cowboys on a Saturday-night spree ever shoot up the Big Rue, but, oh, what the taxi chauffeurs do to it! You haven’t lived if you have never seen Broadway. And you probably won’t if you do.”
   
O. O. McIntyre (1884-1938), who wrote a syndicated column about New York City, used “Big Rue” several times in 1926. “And knows everyone along the Big Rue” was printed on August 17, 1926. “It is an old story along the Big Rue” was printed in September 10, 1926. “One of the most popular scribblers along the Big Rue” was printed in October 24, 1926.
   
     
Wikipedia: Broadway (Manhattan)
Broadway /ˈbrɔːdweɪ/ is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for 13 mi (21 km) through the borough of Manhattan and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx, exiting north from the city to run an additional 18 mi (29 km) through the municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County.
 
It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, dating to the first New Amsterdam settlement, although most of it did not bear its current name until the late 19th century. The name Broadway is the English-language literal translation of the Dutch name, Brede weg.
 
Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American commercial theatrical industry, and is used as a metonym for it, as well as in the names of alternative theatrical ventures such as Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. 
   
Google Books
17 June 1926, Life (New York, NY), “The Main Stem,” pg. 5, col. 1:
No cowboys on a Saturday-night spree ever shoot up the Big Rue, but, oh, what the taxi chauffeurs do to it!
 
You haven’t lived if you have never seen Broadway.
 
And you probably won’t if you do.
Robert Hage.
   
13 August 1926, Lexington (KY) Leader, “New York Day by Dy” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 4, col. 3:
And knows everyone along the Big Rue.
 
10 September 1926, Fresno (CA) Bee, “New York, Day by Day” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 22, col. 7:
It is an old story along the Big Rue that unscrupulous night clubs, speak-easies and other gilded gypping parlors are able to pay all expenses by “indirect addiction.”
 
11 October 1926, Austin (TX) Statesman, “New York by Day and by Night” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 4, col. 1:
NEW YORK, Oct. 11.—It is an old story along the Big Rue that unscrupulous night clubs, speakeasies and other gilded gypping parlors are able to pay all expenses by “indirect addiction.”
 
24 October 1926, Sunday American-Statesman (Austin, TX), “What No Parsnips!” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 4, col. 5:
Leo Marsh has fallen heir to the managing editorship of the Morning Telegraph and also writes its front page column signed “Beau Broadway.” Marsh succeeded the late Rennald Wolf as dramatic critic on the Telegraph and filled his shoes ably. he is one of the most popular scribblers along the Big Rue and is the husband of Helen Rockwell, also a talented writer.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityStreets • Saturday, June 15, 2019 • Permalink


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