In the Shadows of the Bowery: The Old Bow’ry Fades Away
source: http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/in-the-shadows-of-the-bowery-the-old-bowry-fades...
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For years, New York City's Bowery was the place for men with nowhere else to go, thousands and thousands of them, from war veterans to failed grandiose would-be architects of a new universe. Large numbers of the lost souls sought comfort from their dismal feelings of personal defeat in the deadening effects of alcohol and, later, drugs. These abject cast-offs from society found cheap beds, chicken-wire cubicles and brotherhood in the flophouses that masqueraded as hotels.
And the flophouses remained a mainstay of the Bowery for decades, even as wholesale restaurant suppliers and lighting-fixture stores moved onto the street. However, beginning in the late 1970’s many of the flophouses began to disappear, as the ever-encroaching spread of gentrification claimed loft space and constructed a number of sparkling residential buildings for wealthier residents.
Now, the raucous sounds of a boulevard peopled by swaggering sailors, working-class laborers, fresh immigrants and predatory con men have grown increasingly faint. In the new urban morning light, the boisterous old sounds have become ghosts receding into the walls. A new day has dawned on the Bowery.
This piece includes a number of color and vintage photographs, music audio and a short video presenting a pictorial history of the Bowery.
Please visit my website to view these photographs, and to watch this touching, engaging 3-minute short film:
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/in-the-shadows-of-the-bowery-the-old...
And the flophouses remained a mainstay of the Bowery for decades, even as wholesale restaurant suppliers and lighting-fixture stores moved onto the street. However, beginning in the late 1970’s many of the flophouses began to disappear, as the ever-encroaching spread of gentrification claimed loft space and constructed a number of sparkling residential buildings for wealthier residents.
Now, the raucous sounds of a boulevard peopled by swaggering sailors, working-class laborers, fresh immigrants and predatory con men have grown increasingly faint. In the new urban morning light, the boisterous old sounds have become ghosts receding into the walls. A new day has dawned on the Bowery.
This piece includes a number of color and vintage photographs, music audio and a short video presenting a pictorial history of the Bowery.
Please visit my website to view these photographs, and to watch this touching, engaging 3-minute short film:
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/in-the-shadows-of-the-bowery-the-old...
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