Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name for the music publishers and songwriters who dominated American popular music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.1
Where it was
The center was West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan, in today's Flower District. On 2 April 2022 New York officially co-named that stretch "Tin Pan Alley".1
When
The era is usually dated from around 1885. Its end is debated: some put it at the Great Depression of the 1930s, others at the rise of rock and roll in the 1950s.1
Two stories behind the name
- The most common account credits Monroe H. Rosenfeld, who used the phrase for the tinny sound of cheap upright pianos.1
- Another credits songwriter Harry von Tilzer, who stuffed paper strips into his piano for a percussive sound, prompting a journalist to coin the name.1
Names associated with it
| Songwriters | Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Dorothy Fields |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Willis Woodard and T.B. Harms (early pioneers); Witmark, the first to move to West 28th Street |
The iOS app Tin Pan borrowed the name, see the app page.