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 April 08, 2016
“The man who butts his head against the stock market soon learns why it’s called Wall Street”

Wall Street. the financial center of the United States, originally had a wall, but it was removed by 1700. A joke about the name “Wall Street” circulated in newspapers in April 1924:
 
“The lamb who butts his head against it understands why it Is called Wall Street.—Columbia Record.”
 
This was slightly changed by June 1924 to:
 
“The fellow who butts his head against the stock market knows why it is called Wall street.—Charleston Gazette.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Wall Street
Wall Street is a 0.7-mile-long (1.1 km) street running eight blocks, roughly northwest to southeast, from Broadway to South Street on the East River in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial sector (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or signifying New York-based financial interests.
 
Anchored by Wall Street, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, and the city is home to the world’s two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange.
(...)
In the 1640s, basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony. Later, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant, using both African slaves and white colonists, collaborated with the city government in the construction of a more substantial fortification, a strengthened 12-foot (4 m) wall. In 1685, surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade. The wall started at Pearl Street, which was the shoreline at that time, crossing the Indian path Broadway and ending at the other shoreline (today’s Trinity Place), where it took a turn south and ran along the shore until it ended at the old fort. In these early days, local merchants and traders would gather at disparate spots to buy and sell shares and bonds, and over time divided themselves into two classes—auctioneers and dealers. Wall Street was also the marketplace where owners could hire out their slaves by the day or week.The rampart was removed in 1699.
   
16 April 1924, Ukiah (CA) Republican Press, pg. 3, col. 4:
The lamb who butts his head against it understands why it Is called Wall Street.—Columbia Record.
 
5 June 1924, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, pg. 6, col. 3:
The lamb who butts his head against it understands why it is called Wall Street.—Columbia Record.
 
10 June 1924, The Herald (Miami, FL), pg. 7, col. 7:
The fellow who butts his head against the stock market knows why it is called Wall street.—Charleston Gazette.
 
21 October 1970, Atchison (KS) Globe, pg. 6, col. 8:
The guy who butts his head into the stock market soon learns why it’s called Wall Street.
 
Google Books
20,000 Quips & Quotes
By Evan Esar
New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books
1995, ©1968
Pg. 768:
The man who butts his head against the stock market soon learns why it is called Wall Street.
   
Google Books
The World’s Greatest Wacky One-Line Jokes
By Bob Phillips
Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers
2005
Pg. 118:
Wall Street
The man who butts his head against the stock market soon learns why it is called Wall Street.
 
Twitter
Matt Johnson
‏@VivaMattyVegas
@LasVegasLisa it’s called Wall Street because you want to slam your head against a wall after you lose all your money.
7:19 AM - 3 Oct 2011

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityBanking/Finance/Insurance • Friday, April 08, 2016 • Permalink


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