44th Street @ Broadway

Today it’s just a bare alley, but from the time that the Schubert Theater was built in 1913 until the middle of the twentieth century, the space that runs beside the theater between 44th and 45th streets (called Schubert Alley) was often filled with chorus girls, dancers, singers, and actors all hoping to get cast in the next big show—a sort of backstage casting center for the entire theater district. At the time, the powerful Theatrical Syndicate ran most of Broadway and the Schuberts were one of the few theater groups in New York that remained independent.