The blog of the Museum Of The City Of New York has a nice examination of the Bowery since the days when it was known as “Bowerij Road” and thought of as “an idyllic countryside.” Photos from the late 1800s through 1946 capture the thoroughfare’s oft-romanticized days as skid row, when a bar nicknamed Paresis Hall referenced the symptoms of late-stage Syphilis. The blog notes that the Bowery of today bears little resemblance to the 20th century version, but that’s shouldn’t come as a shock: “Even as early as 1905, the New York Times was lamenting the death of the Bowery.” The one thing missing from the post? A soundtrack provided by Poor Baby Bree.
