Thursday evening I was in the Bowery, New York's last down-trodden neighborhood, which has been gentrifying for the past several years, with highrises and million-dollar condos supplanting the weekly hotels, lighting and restaurant supply stores.
But now we've reached the bitter end, for sure. Subway (as in food, not public transit) has come to the Bowery. Across the street is Chase Bank and as you move further down toward Houston Street, more and more generic brick boxes and unimaginative architecture is supplanting the charm of the former drug addicts and needles on the sidewalk. Oh, sigh...
Liz D. and I attended a book signing party for a new Mick Jagger biopic at Bowery Electric... while several doors down newly minted designer boutiques had countless beautiful people lined up for Fashion Week events. Talk about discordant crowds.
At left is a generic new condo, while on the right a beautiful old bank building remains—although converted to million-dollar residences.
On the left, as creative as oatmeal... the same generic architecture that has stripped the Chelsea nabe of its charm... on right, a new highrise flanked by an old factory that is now the uber-swank Bowery Hotel.Fashion Week takes over the Bowery... note the "mannequin" in the window is alive!Signs of the old... the seedy Arcade Hotel... and a hipster!
Liz D. and meese at Bowery Electric. Just old.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note that because of Spam, comments are now approved by The Smoking Nun, within a day of posting. Please feel free to smoke here all you want!