Tin Pan Alley exists both as a cultural construct, and as a physical place, the latter being a rough grouping of apartments, offices, rooms, spaces on West 28th Street between Fifth and Broadway in Manhattan. If you were to go there now, chances are you’d be underwhelmed by its mundane appearance. But, at the turn of the 20th century, this typical Manhattan neighborhood block represented a creative and commercial energy that was to have a hand in American music today.
