A Performance Genealogy of US Tenderloins

Chapter 1 draws on original oral histories, archival research, and the published archive of surveys, sociological studies, reportage, and memoirs to survey the central city “stems” and amusement districts in and through which “throwaway” youth regularly circulated, usually in sync with the seasons or the local political climates, from the late nineteenth century through the 2010s. The chapter explores the reciprocities, moral norms, and performance practices street kids created through migration, including conventions for collective housing, self-policing mechanisms, and networks for pooling resources to increase the chances of mutual survival. Street youth ultimately developed a flexible view of social norms and obligations, of the proper economic functions and performances of the many actors that made up the vice and entertainment economies—among them johns, chicken queens, bartenders, hotel managers, and bouncers.