Sammy’s Bowery Follies was not the first “dive bar” nor did they invent the idea of “slumming” but for a stretch of time through the 1940s to the 1960s, Sammy’s was New York’s best example of both.
Epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks, plagues, or scourges? How many words in English spell h-a-r-d–t-i-m-e-s? For centuries virus and disease have been topics we think about, talk about, and write about. Here are some postcard messages from “regular folk” writing about their “hard times.”