Outside

From the front entrance on Duane Street, the lodging house looks rather like a brick seven-layer cake. Right above the door, a sign reads "Uhlig and Co. Cloth House", advertising one of the first-floor shops; above that, another reads "Brace Memorial Lodging House." That's the official name, but all the newsies just call this place "Duane Street." The second through seventh floors each sport a row of five windows looking out over the street. Wednesday is window-washing day, and you'd better show up with a bucket and sponge!

Basement and first floor:

Shops

When you walk into the lodging house, head right for the stairs. The basement and the first floor are rented out for shops. There's generally an interesting crowd bustling about, haggling over various fabrics, but us newsies ain't supposed to disturb them.

Second floor:

Dining Room

This room can sit nearly two hundred people. Breakfast and supper are served every day, but wait till you see one of Kloppman's giant holiday feasts!

Kitchen

This is where the cook does her good work, obviously--and the newsies, too, since we have to help out with the cooking, clean-up, and dishes on a rotating basis. Here you'll find a woodstove, an ice-box, a counter, drawers full of silverware, and plenty of cabinets full of food, dishes, and cooking supplies.

Laundry Room

Mondays are laundry day--another chore that's shared between us and the servants. This room is full of giant washtubs and bottles of strong soap, with a water pump in the corner. The clotheslines are right outside, but don't forget to fetch your laundry in if it looks like rain!

Reading Room

Kloppman calls it that 'cause he likes to think we use it to "edify our minds", but it's really just a lounge with couches and armchairs where we can relax after a hard day's work.

Private Rooms

These are the rooms where Kloppman and the servants live. Better stay out unless it's an emergency. There's also a storage room with lockers where you can keep anything of value; Kloppman even set up a bank where you can store your money and collect interest.

Third floor:

Auditorium

This is where you'll find Kloppman's desk! After each day of selling, we head right up to the third floor to sign the registration book and pay our six cents for a bunk. This giant hall is also used as a schoolroom. Kids who have jobs and can't attend regular school come here at all hours of the day to take lessons. If you're a scholarly type, get in by 7:30 for the evening class. The subject is different each day of the week--either reading, writing, spelling, history, geography, or arithmetic.

Washrooms

Here you've got privy stalls, tubs of hot water, soap, shaving cream, and towels a-plenty. A bath every morning is mandatory, and your roommates will enforce that rule even if Kloppman don't.

Fourth and fifth floors:

Bunkrooms

Each room has about a hundred bunks, with clean sheets and plenty of blankets. Just try not to get yourself a snoring bunkmate.

Sixth floor:

Gymnasium

Everything you could want in a gym: "dumbbells, shoulder and chest machines, roller skates, boxing gloves and a punching bag, and even a trapeze" (-No. 9 Duane Street). But half the time, we just use it for basketball games.

Seventh floor:

Attic

Used mainly for storage, though Kloppman's been known to put beds up here in the winter, when the house is most crowded, and open it up as an extra bunkroom. The rest of the year, it's a quiet place to come and think...or steal some alone time with your sweetheart.

Fire Escape and Roof

Every bunkroom has a window opening onto a fire escape, with a narrow metal staircase that leads all the way down to the ground or up to the roof. This has led to a time-honored method of dodging curfew, claiming a place to daydream if the weather's decent, and--most importantly of all--sneaking girls into the lodging house. Just for innocent social calls, of course!

 

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At the end of the tour, you find yourself standing on the roof with Jack and Racetrack. Race has lit yet another cigar and given one to his friend, and the two of them are smoking quietly, looking out over the bustling city spread out beneath them. You get the feeling that they've forgotten you're here. Finally, Racetrack shakes himself, pulls out a gold pocket watch, and turns to you. "Well, now that you's seen the house, I t'ink we got time for a quick tour o' the neighborhood, if you's willin'. Might as well point out all the landmarks."

"I'll take him, Race," Jack argues. "You been dyin' to get a card game started since the moment ya walked in."

"Hell, we'll both go," Racetrack suggests cheerfully. "Strength in numbers--might run into the Delanceys again. C'mon, kid." He heads for the stairs, beckoning you to follow. "It's time ya explored yer new territory."

NOTE: Most of the information on this page is owed entirely to the real-life layout of the Brace Memorial Lodging House as outlined on this page of No. 9 Duane Street. I owe my soul to this site and wish I could give it even more credit.