New York City Chinatown > Storefronts > The Bowery > 291 Bowery. 293 Bowery. 295 Bowery. New York, NY.


Storefronts > The Bowery > 291-295 Bowery

Germania Assembly Hall
291 Bowery
293 Bowery
John McGurk Suicide Hall
295 Bowery
New York, NY.
05 April 2005
img_3794.jpg
© 2005 Robert K. Chin.
High-resolution images may be available, licensing info.
291 Bowery. 293 Bowery. 295 Bowery. New York, NY.

John McGurk was a saloon owner who opened a place on 295 Bowery in 1897. The saloon was really a brothel "raines law hotel" [1,2] many girls tried to commit suicide there because of poor working conditions hence the nickname. the saloon was forced out of business in 1902.
295 Bowery was recently the subject of a gentrification battle [3]. The buildings were torn down and Avalon Bowery was built in it's place in 2006.

references:
1: Raines Law
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207793-2,00.html
2: "When I'm bad, I'm better: Mae West, sex, and American entertainment" 1997. by Marybeth Hamilton. p. 109
http://books.google.com/books?id=uoFm-2TZCPQC
3: " Oh, to Be Down and Out Living on the Bowery; Artists' Cheap Lofts, Found Decades Ago, Are Threatened by Development Project"
Monte Williams, May 13, 1999, New York Times.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504EFDE113FF930A25756C0A96F958260