In history and folklore, skid row has been a street of broken men, broken dreams, and broken hopes. Skid row was established sometime in the 1870s, decreased somewhat during the 1920s, but increased enormously during the early 1930s when the Great Depression made transience almost a national way of life. As a place, skid row presents a sociological irony: although skid row is often located in the heart of the city, the social distance separating it from the mainstream of urban life is so great that its people and institutions remain effectively isolated. The effects of urban renewal have made the central city almost unrecognizable in but a short time. Social and economic changes have had a profound influence on skid row populations. If skid row is to vanish, replaced by office building and parking structures, all the needs of its former inhabitants will have to be met by available alternatives. Therefore, the demise of skid row may signify not the extinction of a social problem, but its evolution.