essay written by Eleanor Heartney.

AS AMERICAN CITIES VIE to transform their waterfronts into tourist attractions and high-end residential com-munities, it becomes difficult to remember that historically, the place where the city meets the sea has been the haven of society's discards and degenerates. Throughout history, the urban waterfront has been the province of grizzled sailors, struggling fishermen, burly dockworkers and corrupt middlemen. Dotted with whorehouses, saloons and other dens of iniquity, it has long existed as a fertile source of tall tales and urban legends.