Posted October 1, 200816 yr This thread is another long annotated walk along ny streets with help as always courtesy of nysonglines: http://www.nysonglines.com/ the length of the colorful bowery is best known the scene of america’s original skid row. As with most of manhattan, today the street is facing many changes brought by gentrification. The bowery runs generally from cooper square on the north down to confucious square on it’s southern end. the bowery was originally the road to Peter Stuyvesant's farm; "farm" is bouwerij in Dutch. The avenue above Cooper Square was renamed Fourth Avenue to try to shake some of The Bowery's gritty associations. The bowery in the 1930’s - this hotel is now the st. mark’s hotel on e8th st (st. marks pl) & the bowery he’s hanging out somewhere under the old bowery elevated train WEST <-ASTOR PLACE / E8TH STREET-> EAST it all starts off well and good with the handsome cooper union (1859). Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Houses the free college founded by Peter Cooper, who ran first the U.S. railroad (the Tom Thumb), helped lay trans-Atlantic telegraph cable and invented Jello. Oldest steel-framed building in United States, using Cooper's railroad rails. Cooper Union's Great Hall, dedicated to the free discussion of public issues, was site of Abraham Lincoln's "Right Makes Might" speech (1860); other speakers over the years have included Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony and every president following Lincoln until Woodrow Wilson--plus Bill Clinton. but it’s new neighbor may be ugliest in nyc? :-P corner (445 lafayette place): Astor Place: Sculpture for Living, a mirror-finished, awkwardly shaped 21-story luxury loft building designed by Charles Gwathmey. The land here is owned by Cooper Union. http://www.astorplacenyc.com/ At this corner in 1679 was the tavern and brewery of Adrian and Rebecca Corneliszen, described by a visitor as a "low pot house" "resorted to on Sundays by all sorts of revelers." In the 1690s it was taken over by John Clapp, who started New York's first cab service. He also founded the John Club, which invited all men named John to the tavern on June 24, St. John's Eve. 82 Cooper Square: Now part of the luxury condo's plot, this was once Walt Whitman's address. on the west side of cooper square below gwathmey’s trash: carl fischer building (1926), formerly sold sheet music, building went condo in 2001 A nice row below the fischer, all I know is webzone is the oldest building on the block. the village voice offices 36: Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher and Norman Mailer, this paper set the template for alternative weeklies across the country. Writers over the years have included I.F. Stone, James Baldwin, Henry Miller, e.e. cummings, Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Ginsberg, Ezra Pound, Tom Stoppard and Lorraine Hansberry. 32: In the late 19th Century, this was Columbia Hall, aka Paresis Hall (a reference to late-stage syphilis). According to police reports, this was a place where "male degenerates," calling themselves "Princess This and Lady So and So and the Duchess of Marlboro," would "get up and sing as women, and dance; ape the female character; call each other sisters and take people out for immoral purposes." 16-20: An impressive building with striking red brick arches. across cooper square to the east side: metropolitan savings bank (1867), it’s french 2nd empire style & was nyc’s 1st fire-proof building, now 1st ukrainian evangelical pentecostal church <-COOPER SQUARE / E7TH STREET-> new $130m cooper union engineering building, designed by morphosis, taking the place of the 1912 hewitt building http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/arts/design/14ouro.html?_r=1&oref=slogin E6TH STREET-> cooper square hotel (aka dubai on the bowery) http://www.thecoopersquarehotel.com/ 35: Dolphins restaurant's north wall had the best September 11 mural I've seen. But Cooper Union, the building's owner, had it painted over because it was time to ''move on.'' Poet Diane di Prima lived here from 1962 to 1964, during which time she had a child with LeRoi Jones. 27: a karaoke bar, Recent construction has torn down its neighboring buildings, but this structure still exists behind scaffolding. Poets LeRoi Jones and Hettie Cohen Jones lived on the top floor from 1962-65. E5TH STREET-> Evelyn & Louis Green Residence on the left, Jewish Association for Services for the Aged. 5: This enclosed park for the old folks home above was the original site of the Five Spot, a legendary jazz club that opened in the 1940s as a Bowery dive. By the 1950s it was regularly featuring the likes of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, David Amram, Billie Holiday, Charlie Mingus, Ornette Coleman, etc. It moved in 1962 to 2 St. Marks. <-E4TH ST-> • in 1949, at the height of The Bowery's role as Manhattan's Skid Row, 14,000 homeless were counted here. at the se corner of e4th st: phebe’s has been home to the beats & the expressionists in the 50’s, sam shepard & the Flower Children in the 60’s, Andy Warhol & the punk crowd in the 70’s,& fratboys today. This one is going up next door: http://www.52e4.com/ an old neighbor in front & a more recent pic here The salvation army residence on the corner of e3rd st <-GREAT JONES STREET / E3RD STREET-> se corner: the new bowery hotel – looks wise I like it – it actually respects the neighborhood http://www.theboweryhotel.com/ 331: Great Gildersleeves, the noted punk rock club, was on the right where the hotel is now http://streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com/2005/08/other-rock-club-on-bowery.html 333: Renewal at Kenton Hall, a bowery mission, next to the bowery hotel back on the westside of the bowery at e4th st 2 cooper square (nw corner), they are currently working hard on the foundation. A nytimes blurb below: Two Cooper Square, a blocky 15-story red brick tower that is rising from a former parking lot in the East Village, at Bowery and East Fourth Street. The 160 units at Two Cooper, which will range from studios to two-bedroom apartments, and from 500 square feet to 1,050 square feet, do not have prices yet. But neighborhood rents for units of similar size average $2,000 to $5,000 a month, according to brokers. Completion of the $81 million project, which is now being excavated, is expected in 2010, Mr. Fine said. Two Cooper will also offer 24,000 square feet of retail space on its ground-floor and basement levels. Tenants interested in the berths include boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses, he said. In an unusual deal with the city’s landmarks agency, Atlantic must also restore a dilapidated 1845 town house on the property, which is a third of an acre. Originally known as the Samuel Tredwell Skidmore House, the four-story Greek Revival structure will ultimately be available as a one-family rental, Mr. Fine said. bowery bar or b bar (sw corner), a former gulf gas station & big hit in the 90’s. it's a pioneer of what i would call austin, texas restaurant/bar-chitecture today. http://www.bbarandgrill.com/ 356: The Marquee, Marion's performance space. Downstairs was formerly The Slide, named after the city's first recorded gay bar. 354: Marion's Continental, old-style cocktail lounge/restaurant. Sinatra hung here. Opened in 1950, closed in 1973, and recreated (by Marion Nagy's son) in 1990. *Columbusites note it has a monthly homage to the kahiki night! http://marionsnyc.com/ 348 (nw corner of great jones street): Downtown Auto & Tire Sw side corner 340: whitehouse hotel - One of the bowery's last flophouses is now a surprisingly spiffy youth hostel. Bouwerie Lane Theatre 330 (corner): A theater since 1963, and since 1974 the home of the Jean Cocteau Repertory, a leading Off-Broadway company. The landmark 1874 cast-iron building, by Henry Engelbert, was originally the Atlantic Savings Bank; later the Bond Street Savings Bank and the German Exchange Bank. <-BOND STREET / E2ND STREET-> Corner (57 Bond): Noho Lofts, described by a reader as an "eyesore of six floors of ultramodern condos sticking out like a big glass-and-steel sore thumb in this historic neighborhood." <-BLEECKER STREET Bouncing back to the eastside 321 (se corner): Otto Maurer's Magical Bazaar was in "the cellar of a grimy old house" here from about 1868 to 1900. It may have been the first such store in New York. Now 1-19 E. 2nd Street. 319: Amato opera, Lower East Side cultural landmark, founded 1948 and moved here in 1964. 317: The Bowery Residents Committee. This was the Arcade, an 1890 lodging house. 315: Formerly the Palace Bar, the bar of the Palace Hotel flophouse, it was later named CBGB&OMFUG for Country Blue Grass Blues & Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers in 1973--but almost immediately began featuring the music that became known as punk: The Ramones, Patti Smith, Dead Boys, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television etc. http://www.cbgb.com/ le classique view :banger: E1ST STREET-> Avalon Bowery Place Corner (11 E. 1st): This 2007 development, associated with the larger Avalon Chrystie Place across Houston, spelled the destruction of two historic structures despite the strenuous efforts of neighborhood residents. (See below.) On the plus side, fears that construction would doom the adjacent Liz Christy Garden proved unfounded; the garden seems to be thriving. http://www.avalonboweryplace.com/ Site of McGurk's Suicide Hall 295: Advertised itself as the roughest joint in town (1895-1902) after at least five backroom girls killed themselves by drinking carbolic acid. Later the Liberty Hotel. Torn down in 2005, after residents fought a losing battle to save the historic building from demolition. More: http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/mcgurks_suicide_hall_the_bowery/ Site of Volksgarten 293-291: In the 19th Century, a gathering place for the German-American community that once dominated this neighborhood. Later Wesley Hall, a notable Bowery mission, which was renamed Hadley Hall after Samuel Hadley, the Civil War vet who ran the mission for many years. A venue for labor meetings. For the past 40 years it has housed Stanton Trading, a restaurant supply company. It too was demolished in 2005--respresenting a failure of the Landmark Commission to preserve New York's historic buildings. a pre-avalon development shot of mcgurk’s & the volksgarten prior to 2005 Liz Christy Garden ne corner (at Houston st): This beautiful sanctuary, is named for one of the founders of the Green Guerrillas, helped inspire the community garden movement in NYC when it was started in 1973. Features a rare dawn redwood and a turtle pond. Recently saved from being paved over for an unnecessary extension of 1st Street, it survived the construction of Avalon Bowery Place and actually got some funding from the developers to expand into unused space all the way to 2nd Avenue. A look at liz christy garden and avalon from feature gallery, cater-corner across houston A few more shots of the westside of the bowery here before we cross houston for real Getting into the bowery’s shakey current claim to fame here, restaurant supplies & lighting 302: Favorita Espresso Machines is now Patricia Fields, glam clothing 300: Once was Bat's Hats, a factory; later the Excelsior Hotel, a flophouse. heath ledger & keith haring (nw corner of bowery and houston). more info about the haring mural re-creation: http://www.deitch.com/projects/sub.php?projId=239&orient=h <-HOUSTON STREET-> Avalon Chrystie Place A long-vacant lot transformed into a residential development that also provides space for the Chinatown YMCA and a University Settlement community office. At the corner with Houston used to be Fred Bunz's hash house, which Jack Kerouac called "the great bum's Howard Johnsons of the Bowery." Pig brains were 15 cents. Do they have those at whole foods? :laugh: http://www.avaloncommunities.com/avaloncore/nfloor.asp?comm=178 Across Houston, a look at the eastside below the Avalon development, more colorful bowery history 275: Was The Nassau, aka The Star, 1890 lodging house 267: Site of Sammy's Bowery Follies, where tourists could see ''a collection of old-timers, eccentrics, geeks and the more presentable of the bums'' (Low Life). Earlier was John McGurk's The Mug, where the drinks came with knockout drops. 263: Site of the Hotz Assembly Rooms 257: In the 1850s, this was the address of the Bowery Concert Hall (later the Melodeon), which offered "Music for the Million." It was also the Palace of Illusions, featuring Lady Mephistopheles. STANTON STREET-> back to the westside 280: corner - Was the Uncle Sam Hotel and Eureka House, two 1890 lodging houses 276: Feature, Inc. art gallery is nestled in here http://www.featureinc.com/ 270: Was Majestic House 264: Kos, a members-only club owned by Lenny Kravitz and Denzel Washington. The name is Persian slang meaning ''p*ssy.'' 262: Was Schirmer's Hotel 258: Home of the performance space Dixon Place http://www.dixonplace.org/ 250: was paragon restaurant world, since 1933. now being replaced by an eight-story hotel. <-PRINCE STREET Interesting historic public transit history here: • In 1832, the world's first streetcar ran from this intersection (prince st & the bowery) to Union Square. this same line still exists today above e42nd street as metro north. jumping again back cross the street on the eastside, south of stanton street. 241: Sunshine Hotel, flophouse that was once the residence of 1980’s cannibal Daniel Rakowitz. New Museum of Contemporary Art 235: Former SoHo institution opened in 2007 in a stylish stack of zinc boxes designed by Sejima + Nishizawa, Tokyo museum specialists. Once the address of the London variety Theater. http://www.newmuseum.org/ Bowery Mission 227-229: A Christian relief effort started in 1879. The building on the left of the mission buildings below was taken over by the new museum next door for office and storage (all funded by bjork & her artist boyfriend matthew barney). 225: Salvation Army Chinatown Corps 217: mission; swanky bar offers $200+ bottle service. The irony is a bit curdled. :whip: 201: This was the address of Tony Pastor's Opera House, where vaudeville was invented. Later it was the site of the People's Theater, associated with such Yiddish theater greats as Boris Thomashefsky, Rudolph Schildkraut and Max Gabel. Abraham Goldfaden's 1908 funeral drew 75,000 people here. 199: NoLIta Place; luxury apartments named for the North of Little Italy acronym. On the ground floor is a sprawling club complex called BLVD, which includes a basement music space called Crash Mansion. to the right is a shot of old federal townhouses on the westside across the street. The Bunker Nearby at 222: This 1884 Queen Anne building was the Young Men's Institute, the first YMCA branch in New York City; after the Y moved out in 1932, painter Fernand Leger used it as a studio in 1940-41, and writer William Burroughs used the locker room as his "Bunker" (1975-81), which he shared with painter Mark Rothko. Later the loft was home to abstract expressionist Michael Goldberg, who died here in 2008. The ground floor is Chairs & Stools Etc. 218: Prince Hotel, flophouse whose owners plan to convert it to luxury condos. At the same address is the Pioneer Bar, reflecting the gentrifiers' self-image of brave frontiersmen. :roll: NE Corner of bowery and rivington RIVINGTON STREET-> across rivington on the eastside: 207: Mazer Kitchen Equipment, since 1946. This address was the Comanche Club, the clubhouse of Big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall's boss of the Bowery. Of its 1892 opening, the New York Times wrote: "Among those present were Mr. 'Silver Dollar' Smith, Mr. 'Dry Dollar' Sullivan ...and Barney Rourke, the Napoleon of down-town politics." Earlier it was Bertrand Myer's concert saloon, of which an 1890 guidebook noted, "The place is crowded with women nightly, who smoke cigarettes and drink gin." 197: Andrews Hotel; rooms at this flophouse went for $9 a night in 2002. 193: Was the address of Military Hall 185: was the Savoy Hotel--a flophouse. 183: at the corner of delancey -- The Puritan Hotel, another flophouse-- you could get a room here for 40 cents in 1939. <-SPRING STREET before we cross delancey -- a very funny historic event occurred back here at spring street: • As many as a thousand New Yorkers, victims of an elaborate practical joke, showed up here in August 1824, ready to take part in a project that would saw Manhattan off its bedrock so that the island could be reversed and the "sagging" Battery connected to the Bronx. :laugh: get a load of this place below – i think i caught the owner going inside: 190 Bowery (at Spring st on the nw corner). No, it's not abandoned. It's a "72-room Bohemian dream house," inhabited for the past 42 years by photographer Jay Maisel and his family. Maisel bought the old bank building for $102,000 in 1966, and handled most of the renovations himself. Various brokers now estimate the building to be worth between $30 and $70 million. :-o http://curbed.com/archives/2008/09/22/is_190_bowery_the_best_real_estate_deal_ever.php#reader_comments sw corner of bowery & spring st *** end of part one -- i hope you are enjoying a stroll down the bowery part two is delancey st down to confucious square, below is the link *** http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,17444.msg329692.html#msg329692
October 1, 200816 yr Great set. It's large so i suspect some folks might problems viewing this. Everytime I see a picture of CBGB's i just tear up. That place was the shiznit on Monday nights! The best house music!! And Capital. That place is FAB U LOUS with two snaps a twist and a kiss! It became so popular, they decided to stop meal service and only concentrate on being an "event" location.
October 1, 200816 yr >looking back across canal street at a no-name street where you come off the manhattan bridge Ah yes...the familiar pickup/drop-off point for the New York>Boston Chinatown bus.
October 1, 200816 yr thanks guys -- i split the thread in half. it's still long, but hopefully it's easier to see now. it took several trips and a helluva lot more work than i thought. it's mostly accurate, except by the end i got sick of looking at it & i'm sure i still screwed up a few things (i'm no jeffery, only a wannabe! :laugh: ).
October 7, 200816 yr Awesome pics. I am shocked by how much bad "modern" architecture is in this area. I do, however, loooove the New Museum's building. It's quickly become one of my favorite structures in Manhattan.
October 7, 200816 yr About a third of the photos showed up, but from what I saw, THANK YOU! You're using Firefox, I'm guessing.. Try using IE, or get the IE Firefox patch.
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