Weegee Daily… January 21, 1941… New York Shelters protect 7000 of the city’s homeless residents every cold wintry night.

PM Daily, January 21, 1941, Vol. 1, No. 155, p.1
New York Shelters…
protect 7000 of the city’s homeless residents every cold wintry night. There are two city shelters, one for men, one for women, and others like this one, the Bowery Mission, where these men are allowed to sit up all night… after they’ve sung hymns for an hour or so.

PM Daily, January 21, 1941, Vol. 1, No. 155, p. 12
Here’s How a PM Reporter Spent a Night on the Bowery…
You don’t have to sing for your sleep, but men who spend the night at the Municipal Lodging House at 432 E. 25th St. are turned out at 5 a.m. regardless of the weather. It’s a long, hard walk from the Bowery to the lodgings, yet it’s mostly the old men who go there.

“…Then I retraced my steps with a photographer and took these pictures, finishing at 5 a.m. at the Municipal Lodging House, where I watched and he photographed the homeless old men being turned out into the bitter cold.
That’s right. They turn these men out at 5 a.m. into the cold, bitter morning.”

PM Daily, January 21, 1941, Vol. 1, No. 155, p. 13
…And Here’s How Hundreds of Homeless Men Spend Every Night.
At No. 8 Bowery [believe there was a correction issued the next day] is the dark, dingy Bowery (All Night) Mission. Those who come early have to sing hymns for their sleep. Late comers stand out in the cold until services are over. Services last about two hours, till midnight. Sleepers at the Mission have to lean over the bench in front. They walk in and out all night. They cough. They snore. Drunks babble, dogs[!] bark. Sleep ends at 5 a.m.

PM Photos by Weegee

The amazing article by Gene De Poris begins: “I was a bum on New York’s Bowery. I told my mother I didn’t want any dinner, not even a cup of coffee…”

Weegee Daily, January 21, 2013
Approximate location of the Municipal Lodging House, 432 East 25th St., Manhattan. Today it’s the rear of the VA hospital, and after three months, it’s still closed after Super Storm Sandy…

Weegee Daily, January 21, 2013
…And Here’s How Hundreds of People Spend Saturday Afternoons…
Stuck in traffic while driving on the Bowery; shopping on the Bowery, shopping in the Lower East Side, and shopping in Nolita…
The Bowery Mission, at 227 Bowery (229 Bowery, was, among other things, the studio of the great Charles Eisenmann, etc.), the best looking building on the block, is still offering shelter, and song, etc…
Two homeless in NYC snapshots:
In the winter of 1941: 7,000 homeless people.
In the fall of 2012:
Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: 48,694
Number of homeless families: 11,678
Number of homeless children: 20,383
Number of homeless adults in families: 17,843
Number of homeless single adults: 10,476
Number of homeless single men: 7,728
Number of homeless single women: 2,740
(2012 info from the Coalition for the Homeless website.)

Weegee Daily Photos by Ceegee

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