The “down town back allies” depicts how the lower class of

New Yorker’s lived. Riis writes of disgusting, dilapidated conditions of

tenement housings. Families are packed into small windowless rooms where

they are forced to live due to insufficient funds. People had more trust in one

other in those times. They would keep their apartment doors open for air.

Because of this neighbors developed a closer relationship. The buildings these

people lived in were run down for various reasons. Tenants did not have much

money to fix their houses up and landlords cared more about their wallets than

people. There were often fires and hazar

Some topics in this essay:
Downtown Allies”, English Due, Brighton BeachBrooklynNY, Jacob Riis,