Bowery

see also: Etymology of Bowery

The Bowery is a famous street of the south of Manhattan to New York, located between Chinatown and Little Italy which gave its name to the district neighborhood. It follows the layout of the old road leading to the farm of Peter Stuyvesant and draws his name from the Dutch word bouwerij , which means firm.

Many varieties had settled there at the 19th century, but Bowery became later on a symbol of the economic depression. During the Years 1920 and 1930, this zone had been impoverished considerably. Starting from the Years 1940, the district gained the reputation to be very badly attended and to attract only the alcoholics and SDF. Between 1960 and 1980, one found there the rents low and the highest rate of criminality of the south of Manhattan. The cabaret CBGB, where many musicians of the scene Folk occurred, is reconverted starting from 1974 into a kind much more revolted, from where emerged from the artists like Patti Smith, Blondie, The Ramones, Talking Heads. It is in this district that one undoubtedly listened for the first time of the music Punk.

In the Years 1990, the whole of the Lower East Side of Manhattan was rehabilitated, and an easier population started to invest this district. In 2004, the tendency is still more marked, one finds there more and more large buildings with the high rents.

Particular sites

the buildings of the Village Voice are located on Bowery, on the level of Cooper Square.

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