Although the recent influx of wealth has changed the former Dresden-like landscape into a Dubai-like emerald city with its shiny new glass towers, the neighborhood still displays a gritty edge.
Dwarfed between the slick, new buildings remain neighborhood mainstays like the Bowery Mission, which still provides over 200 homeless men and women with food, shelter and clothing each day.
The mission abuts the $50-million dollar Museum of Contemporary Art designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.
Low-income residents and budget-conscious tourists can still obtain a bed for $28 a night in some of the last standing flophouses like the Whitehouse Hotel at 340 Bowery. The Sunshine Hotel at 241 Bowery costs only $10 a night.
New, tony hotels are beginning to dominate the street. The Bowery Hotel – the latest Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson enterprise -- offers basic rooms starting at $495 a night and fancy one-bedroom studios for $1,200 a night.
Up the street, cranes are erecting the Cooper Square Hotel whose developers are in a squabble with Manhattan’s Community Board Three, which has put a moratorium on liquor licenses in the gentrified neighborhood.
"I definitely believe that there has to be a regulation of how many liquor licenses are issued,” says John K. Leo, a 50-year-old member of Manhattan’s Community Board Three. “These establishments can become a real nuisance. This is still a residential neighborhood and too many bars and establishments in the area has an effect on the quality of life.”
The age-old debate on the pros and cons of the urban development carries on in venues ranging from living rooms to coffeehouses to community board meetings with the artists, new restaurateurs and real estate developers.
“Yes, there is more foot traffic – but inspiration is harder to come by,” says Bowery Poetry Club owner Bob Holman. “That’s why we have this beautiful curtain here – once you hit the other side of this curtain, I think the dreams start to filter back into the system.”
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| New Media Newsroom 2007A: In the Nabe 
Biz on the Bowery
Down Bowery Lane