As more profitable commerce and industrialization of Lower Manhattan pushed homes, theaters, and prostitution northward from the Tenderloin District, Longacre Square became nicknamed the Thieves Lair for its rollicking reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the Olympia, was built by cigar manufacturer and impresario Oscar Hammerstein I.Dunning, Jennifer. "A Walking Tour of the Past and Present on Broadway" , The New York Times, July 13, 1979. Accessed November 1, 2016. "The old stock and repertory company system made way for the Broadway hit and greater profits for the theater manager and owner, which, in turn, led to the rise of such theatrical entrepreneurs as Oscar Hammerstein, who struck out into the wilds of 44th and 45th Streets in 1895 to build his huge Olympia Theater in the 'Thieves Lair' area of Broadway." According to Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, "By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons."Burrows and Wallace 1999:1149.
As more profitable commerce and industrialization of Lower Manhattan pushed homes, theaters, and prostitution northward from the Tenderloin District, Longacre Square became nicknamed the Thieves Lair for its rollicking reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the Olympia, was built by cigar manufacturer and impresario Oscar Hammerstein I.Dunning, Jennifer. "A Walking Tour of the Past and Present on Broadway" , The New York Times, July 13, 1979. Accessed November 1, 2016. "The old stock and repertory company system made way for the Broadway hit and greater profits for the theater manager and owner, which, in turn led to the rise of such theatrical entrepreneurs as Oscar Hammerstein, who struck out into the wilds of 44th and 45th Streets in 1895 to build his huge Olympia Thea,ter in the 'Thieves Lair' area of Broadway." According to Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, "By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons."Burrows and Wallace 1999:1149.