skid row
Where vagrants gather
Skid row is a run-down urban area where homeless people, alcoholics, and others in extreme poverty congregate.
The term originated in the Pacific Northwest, where skid roads were routes for dragging logs to sawmills—rough areas that attracted transient workers and cheap lodging.
Now any district characterized by flophouses, missions, and destitution: He ended up on skid row after losing everything.
Temporary military or refugee settlement
- shelterProtected place or structure
- unhousedLacking stable housing
- panhandlingSoliciting money from strangers
- transientTemporary, soon departing
displaced · streetlife · sidewalk · cardboard · vagrancy · begging · outcast · survival
Central business district
- inner cityDense central metropolitan zone
- tenderloinPremium, exceptionally soft cut
- boweryDutch colonial farm
- red-light districtZone of sex commerce
slum · ghetto · back alley · seedy · gritty · underbelly · streetwise · mean streets
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- privationLack of necessities
- impoverishmentState of extreme deprivation
want · neediness · hardship · unemployment · dispossession · insolvency · pauperism · broke
State without hope
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
- desolationState of complete emptiness
- bleaknessQuality of being dreary
- rock bottomLowest possible level
desperation · suffering · woe · lost cause · forgotten · forsaken · downtrodden · dejection
Plant disease causing decay
- dilapidationState of ruin
- disrepairPoor maintained condition
- neglectFailure to provide care
- squalorDirty, degraded living conditions
abandoned · rundown · derelict · crumbling · condemned · rubble · graffiti · broken windows
encampment
Temporary military or refugee settlement
- shelterProtected place or structure
- unhousedLacking stable housing
- panhandlingSoliciting money from strangers
transient · displaced · streetlife · sidewalk · cardboard · vagrancy · begging · outcast · survival · dispossessed
downtown
Central business district
- inner cityDense central metropolitan zone
- tenderloinPremium, exceptionally soft cut
- boweryDutch colonial farm
red-light district · slum · ghetto · back alley · seedy · gritty · underbelly · streetwise · mean streets
destitution
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
impoverishment · want · neediness · hardship · unemployment · dispossession · insolvency · pauperism · broke · penniless
hopelessness
State without hope
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
- desolationState of complete emptiness
- bleaknessQuality of being dreary
rock bottom · desperation · suffering · woe · lost cause · forgotten · forsaken · downtrodden · dejection · gloom
blight
Plant disease causing decay
- dilapidationState of ruin
- disrepairPoor maintained condition
- neglectFailure to provide care
squalor · abandoned · rundown · derelict · crumbling · condemned · rubble · graffiti · broken windows · vacant lot
alcoholism
Addiction to drinking
- withdrawalAct of taking away
- detoxSubstance removal process
- overdoseHarmful excess intake
substance abuse · relapse · sobriety · methadone · recovery · binge · junkie · needle · drunk · wino
- homelessnesshomeless, homeless shelters, unhoused, homeless veterans, houseless
- slumsslum, slums, shanty, shanties, shack
- urban historycity walls, urban renewal, ancient cities, landmarks, city gates
- hellholeshellhole, dungeons, dungeon, dump, dumps
- logging townslogging camp, sawmill, lumber mill, loggers, logging roads
- rough neighborhoodsslums, ghettos, ghetto, inner city, projects
skid rowBeverly Hills
Affluent Southern California city
Park Avenue · Mayfair · Fifth Avenue · Rodeo Drive · Knightsbridge
skid roweasy street
State of financial security
lap of luxury · high society · the good life · penthouse · on top of the world
skid rowdowntown core
Central business district
business district · prime real estate · uptown · commercial hub · suburb
row, skid, rowing, rows, rowboat, rowed, rower, skidding, skidded