1975: First Class Accomodations on the Bowery

"I might be a dishwasher up in the mountains but I'll tell you something...In New York I go strictly first class..."
(Photo by Michael D. Zettler)

The above photo originally appeared in the long-out-of-print book "The Bowery" by Michael D. Zettler (1975). The book is a stunning B&W photographic look at conditions on the Bowery circa 1974-1975.

In the above photo, a man, with suitcase in hand, walks south along the Bowery. Destination: The Palace Hotel - in his mind, first class digs. One wonders what his usual arrangements were if he thought the Palace was "first class." Just beyond the man and above his head is the new, white, graffitti-free awning that hangs over the doorway of the neighboring CBGB, which had been open for just over a year at the time the photo was taken.

Like Moths To A Bowery Flame...

The Bowery - 1973 (Click on photo to see larger version)
(Photo by Photoscream via Flickr.com)

Excerpt from:
"How The Other Half Lives" (1890)
by Jacob A. Riis

The metropolis is to lots of people like a lighted candle to the moth. It attracts them in swarms that come year after year with the vague idae that they can get along here if anywhere; that something is bound to turn up among so many. Nearly all are young men, unsettled in life, many - most of them, perhaps, fresh from good homes, beyond a doubt with honest hopes of getting a fresh start in the city and making a way for themselves. Few of them have much money to waste while looking around, and the cheapness of the lodging offered is an object. Fewer still know anything about the city and its pitfalls. They have come in search of crowds, of "life", and they gravitate naturally to the Bowery, the great democratic highway of the city, where the twenty-five-cent lodging houses take them in.

Bowery History Continues HERE...

When The Deuce Was Still Dirty: The Elk Hotel on 42nd Street at Ninth Avenue

One of the last remnants of seedy old Times Square, the Elk Hotel.
(Image via: Forgotten New York)

We're always on the lookout for stories and photos from the days when Times Square in New York City was not so touristy. Stories from a time when it was dangerous for out-of-towners, or anyone really, to walk there late at night...or even during the middle of the day for that matter! Not much is physically left from that era, but there is one holdout...The Elk Hotel, located at 360 West 42nd Street. You might want to read up on the place a bit before choosing to spend the night, should you find yourself in NYC.

A brief description from a 1999 issue of The Observer: (and you need to read the whole article to really get the full picture.)

The Elk, the last "no-tell hotel" in the area, represents one of the few surviving remnants of 42nd Street's seamy and seedy side, a barely living connection to the gray days when Times Square was the reigning kingdom of sex and sin.

A twin-size bed dominates Room 109-precisely what one would expect from a place charging $25 for a two-hour stay. The ratty, bumpy, mattress features a concave crater directly beneath the semen stains on the once white sheets. With only a little imagination, one can discern the subtle outline of the human form on its surface, where countless numbers of women must have lain, usually paid for the inconvenience of staring at the mold-covered ceiling. Pressed in one corner stands a chipped faux-wood table and underneath it a plastic container with one crumpled napkin, one crusty tissue and one used condom inside.

Sounds positively lovely.

Click on over to Scouting New York (where I recently discovered the story of the Elk Hotel in the first place) and read "A Forgotten Sign In Times Square," for more history and stomach-churning descriptions and photos of the place. Make sure you read the comments there too.

Then go rinse your eyes out with some Vizene when you're done reading...