Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) the poorest area of a town.

1893		Amer. Anthropologist 6 32: [Get] rid of the abominable names which now disgrace our city directory, and which are derogatory to the dignity of manhood, for though good may come out of Nazareth, it is hard to imagine it as coming out of Bedbug alley.
1899		Times (Washington, DC) 24 July 8/4: The main street [...] known as ‘Bedbug Row‘, will be purchased and the buildings burned.
1901		Pioneer Exp. (Pembina, ND) 12 July 3/5: Six houses belonging to the notorious ‘Bedbug Row’ and a section of the elevated railroad were consumed [by fire].
1907		Sun (NY) 30 Mar. 5/2: Leader of a Gang of Boy Bandits Gets Eighteen Months [...] Bedbug Row had a faerwell to Stitch Connolly yesterday and [...] there will be peacve for eighteen months.
1914		Day Book (Chicago) 22 July 2/1: The Jim Colosimo-Johnny Torio [sic] faction and the ‘Jew band’ on Bedbug Row.
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 1000: I wish I’d met you before I got in on the dough, when I was livin’ in bedbug alley.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 133: You can’t walk three blocks in any direction without running into another bums’ bedbug row.