Flophouse
Encyclopedia
A flophouse doss-house or dosshouse (British English) is a place that offers very cheap lodging
, generally by providing only minimal services.
facilities and reside in very tight quarters. The people who make use of these places are often transients. By the early 21st century, the typical cost might approach US$
9 per night. Quarters in flophouses are typically very small, and may resemble office cubicles more than a regular room in a hotel
or apartment building.
In the past, flophouses were sometimes called "workingmen's hotels" and catered to hobos and transient workers such as seasonal railroad
and agriculture
workers, or migrant lumberjacks who would travel west during the summer to work and then return to an eastern or midwestern city such as Chicago
to stay in a flophouse during the winter. This is described in the 1930
novel The Rambling Kid by Charles Ashleigh and the 1976
book The Human Cougar by Lloyd Morain
. Another theme in Morain's book is the gentrification
which was then beginning and which has led cities to pressure flophouses to close.
Some city districts that currently have or once had flophouses in abundance became well-known in their own right, such as the Bowery
in Manhattan
, New York City
. As of 2006, building prices and value in the Bowery have significantly increased, and this combined with increased gentrification in the area seriously threatens the ability of flophouses and inexpensive boarding-style hotels to remain open.
Lodging
Lodging is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions.Lodgings may be self catering in which case no...
, generally by providing only minimal services.
Characteristics
Occupants of flophouses generally share bathroomBathroom
A bathroom is a room for bathing in containing a bathtub and/or a shower and optionally a toilet, a sink/hand basin/wash basin and possibly also a bidet....
facilities and reside in very tight quarters. The people who make use of these places are often transients. By the early 21st century, the typical cost might approach US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
9 per night. Quarters in flophouses are typically very small, and may resemble office cubicles more than a regular room in a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
or apartment building.
In the past, flophouses were sometimes called "workingmen's hotels" and catered to hobos and transient workers such as seasonal railroad
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
workers, or migrant lumberjacks who would travel west during the summer to work and then return to an eastern or midwestern city such as Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to stay in a flophouse during the winter. This is described in the 1930
1930 in literature
The year 1930 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 6 - The first literary character licensing agreement is signed by A. A. Milne, granting Stephen Slesinger U.S...
novel The Rambling Kid by Charles Ashleigh and the 1976
1976 in literature
The year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
book The Human Cougar by Lloyd Morain
Lloyd Morain
Lloyd L. Morain was an American businessman, philanthropist, writer, environmentalist, art collector and film producer, who uniquely served two terms as President of the American Humanist Association .-Life and career:...
. Another theme in Morain's book is the gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
which was then beginning and which has led cities to pressure flophouses to close.
Some city districts that currently have or once had flophouses in abundance became well-known in their own right, such as the Bowery
Bowery, Manhattan
Bowery , commonly called "the Bowery," is a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. As of 2006, building prices and value in the Bowery have significantly increased, and this combined with increased gentrification in the area seriously threatens the ability of flophouses and inexpensive boarding-style hotels to remain open.
In popular culture
- John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
refers to the "Palace Flophouse Grill" in his book Cannery RowCannery RowCannery Row is the waterfront street in the New Monterey section of Monterey, California. It is the site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 1973...
where the central characters of the novel establish their residence in what is described as a storage shed that had to be cleared of fish meal prior to making it a suitable residence. - Seasick SteveSeasick SteveSteven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician. He plays guitars, and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work.-Childhood and early life:...
references flop-houses in his song "Shirly Lov" on the album Dog House MusicDog House MusicDog House Music is the second album by Seasick Steve, and his first as a solo artist. It was released on 27 November 2006; however pre-release CDs were available for sale to members of mailing list....
. In the song the term flop-house is used to describe what seems to be a brothel, or a place where prostitutes can be found easily. - George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
discussed dosshouses in the UK in his book Down and Out in Paris and LondonDown and Out in Paris and LondonDown and Out in Paris and London is the first full-length work by the English author George Orwell , published in 1933. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities. The first part is a picaresque account of living on the breadline in Paris and the experience of casual...
. He described them as having rather poor cleanliness standards, often issuing unwashed and badly stained blankets, and sometimes renting beds in a large common room resembling barracksBarracksBarracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
more than private rooms. He noted that at the time he wrote the book (1933) the term "dosshouse" was already falling out of use. - Jack KerouacJack KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
stayed in such places in San FranciscoSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and other cities, referring to them as "skid rowSkid rowA skid row or skid road is a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population. The term originally referred literally to a path along which working men skidded logs. Its current sense appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest...
hotels" in his books. The low prices allowed him to stretch his money from writing, and from jobs such as firewatcher and railroad brakemanBrakemanA brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job it was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions...
. He would often keep a typewriter and hot plate in his room. - The Charlie ChaplinCharlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
film The KidThe Kid (1921 film)The Kid is a 1921 American silent dramedy film written by, produced by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, and features Jackie Coogan as his adopted son and sidekick. This was Chaplin's first full-length movie...
(1921) depicts a barracks-style flophouse. - In a number of his plays, notably in Vieux CarreVieux Carré (play)Vieux Carré is a play by Tennessee Williams. It is an autobiographical play set in New Orleans. Although he began writing it shortly after moving to New Orleans in 1938, it wasn't completed until nearly forty years later.- Plot synopsis :...
, Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
makes reference to flophouses, generally in New Orleans, as places favorable for short-term usage for homosexual encounters. - The affluent fashion photographer in BlowupBlowupBlowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
(1966) claims to have spent the night in a "dosshouse". - The film Staying AliveStaying AliveStaying Alive is the 1983 film sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as dancer Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso, and dancers Viktor Manoel, Kate Ann Wright, Kevyn Morrow and Nanette Tarpey...
(1983) features its lead character living in a flophouse. - The character Elwood BluesThe Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...
lives in a flophouse next to the elevated trainChicago 'L'The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...
tracks in Chicago at the beginning of the film The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers (film)The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
. - A slang meaning for "flophouse" was referenced in the film KidsKids (film)Kids is a 1995 drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark.The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Harold Hunter, and Rosario Dawson, all of them in their debut performances...
. The definition is a house or apartment (usually apartment) where substance abusers stay to party and abuse drugs or alcohol. - They Might Be GiantsThey Might Be GiantsThey Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
's song The Shadow Government, mentions a flophouse -- Crawling out of the flophouse/I saw the mayor stealing my junk/I doth protest, citizen's arrest/Now my body's in his trunk - Johnny 5 refers to his new home as a flophouse in the movie Short Circuit 2Short Circuit 2Short Circuit 2 is a 1988 comedy science fiction film, the sequel to 1986's film Short Circuit. It was directed by Kenneth Johnson, and starred Fisher Stevens as Ben Jahrvi , Michael McKean as Fred Ritter, Cynthia Gibb as Sandy Banatoni, and Tim Blaney as the voice of Johnny 5 Short Circuit 2 is a...
. - In Ayn RandAyn RandAyn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
's Atlas ShruggedAtlas ShruggedAtlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...
, Dagny finds the eldest Starnes heir living in a flophouse. - "At the Flophouse" is the title of a song co-written by Pete DohertyPete DohertyPeter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
and Dot AllisonDot AllisonDot Allison is a Scottish singer and songwriter, who has made significant inroads in electronic music circles, most notably as a result of her tenure fronting the band One Dove in the early 1990s...
and released by Doherty's band BabyshamblesBabyshamblesBabyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...
. - In the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", Kirk told Spock, "We have a "flop", a place to sleep".
- The skaSkaSka |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
band Smash MouthSmash MouthSmash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell, Greg Camp, Paul De Lisle and Kevin Coleman as lead vocals, guitar, bass and drums respectively...
in their song "Heave-Ho" tell of being accused of running a flophouse by their "whiney neighbor." - In an episode of the British sitcom TV series The Good Life, snooty neighbour Margo apologizes to Lady Truskett for her having spent time in the Good home. Tom shouts, "Oi! It's not a dosshouse, you know!"
- In the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City StoriesGrand Theft Auto: Liberty City StoriesGrand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a 2005 sandbox-style action video game developed by Rockstar North and Rockstar Leeds. It is the ninth game in the Grand Theft Auto series...
, after Donald Love lost his entire fortune he moved into a flophouse. - In the video game Back to the Future: The GameBack to the Future: The GameBack to the Future: The Game is a graphic adventure video game based on the Back to the Future film franchise. The game was developed by Telltale Games as part of a licensing deal with Universal Pictures. Bob Gale, co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the film trilogy, assisted Telltale in...
, a flophouse is present in 1931 Hill Valley. During episode 2, Doc stays in that flophouse. - Meridel Le SueurMeridel Le SueurMeridel Le Sueur was an American writer associated with the proletarian movement of the 1930s and 1940s...
discusses flophouses during the Great DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in her 1932 short story "Women on the Breadlines". In this story, the inclusion of flophouses is connected to the larger issue of the limited resources available for women in cities during this era.