May 20, 2009--Recession Chic: From CBGBs to DBGBs

Nothing illustrates better the last gasp of the recent gilded age than the continuing metamorphosis of New York City’s fabled Bowery.

Manhattan’s oldest thoroughfare, it tracked along an old Indian footpath and by the end of the 18th century became New York's most elegant street, lined with fashionable shops and the mansions of the wealthy.

But by the Civil War the mansions and shops had given way to honky tonk concert halls, brothels, beer gardens, pawnshops, and flophouses. It had also become the turf of one of America's earliest street gangs, the anti-immigrant Bowery Boys.

More recently, it has been reverting back to its 18th century days—all but one flophouse have either been transformed into expensive condos or torn down and replaced by chic hotels, multi, multi-million dollar residential-lofts, and restaurants. When once if you said that you lived on the Bowery it meant you were down on your luck, for the past few years it has meant--how lucky can you get.

The Amato Opera is gone, for decades home to a noted family-run opera company that drew upon volunteers as well as professional performers; the Bowerie Lane Theater, home to the Jean Cocteau Repertory Company is no more, replaced by a chic clothing store; and CBGB’s has also been priced out of existence. The home of American punk and venue to bands such as the Ramones, the Patti Smith Group, Blondie, the Talking Heads and Sex Pistols, that grungy venue for an era’s subversive sound is gone, no longer able to pay its many thousands of dollars a month rent.

In its place there is a John Varvatos high-end men’s boutique. The only thing encouraging about that is Mr. Varvatos’ pledge to “do justice” to CBGB’s legacy. I suppose that where thong sandals go for $225 and leather jackets from the JV Collection set you back upwards of $2,500, in such a shop the fact that he claims his clothes are inspired by rock n roll is what he means by paying homage. Or, that in September, at the store on the Bowery, the former site of CBGB’s, he will sponsor Free the Noise, something his website proclaims will be “a global search for the next great rock n roll band.” Sort of American Idol meets $100 a bottle cologne. Though God knows Joey Ramone back in 1974 was not know to ever use any.

And also on the New Bowery, not to be outdone, and also clearly ripping off the legacy of CBGB’s, über-restaurateur, Daniel Boulud in a few months will be opening DBGB’s (get it) right up the street from CBGB’s. I mean, from the John Varvatos store. Sorry, I mean boutique.

In a bow to Recession Chic, Monsieur Boulud, who charges $305 a person (not including tax and tip) for the eight-course tasting menu paired with wine at his eponymous restaurant Daniel, his four-star Upper Eastside establishment, down on the more proletarian Bowery, at DBGB’s, you will be able to get your hands on a hamburger for only about $25. This I assume includes cheese. (See New York Times article linked below.)

I can’t wait to call and make a reservation, assuming of course that their telephone number is listed. Though if I have to wait overnight to get in, I can always stay at the new Bowery Hotel, right across from the one remaining flophouse, the White House (can you believe it?) where rooms for the night range from $7.16 to $9.61. A room with a king size bed at the Bowery will run you a cool $575.

I walked by the other night and they were packed. No wonder the Dow Jones Average is feeling happy.