Men On The Bowery: A Research Report

My interest started with a walk through the Bowery of New York in the summer of 1974. The Bowery at that time was a fresh air mental health ward, a skid row nursing home, and a dumping area for the city’s undesirables. It was like a small town where everyone had debilitating life problems. With institutions for the Mentally Ill starting to empty, many patients were discharged into the Bowery with its low-cost rooming houses and government-run shelters. Nothing was normal - you could walk just a few streets away and there would be students attending the local colleges; meanwhile, nearby on the Bowery, men crusted with dirt and blood were lying on the sidewalk - are they dead? How many, not one or two, but half a dozen. Should an ambulance be called? No, this was normal for the Bowery; everyone walked by, and the police drove by.

What follows is a description of the Bowery of NYC in the Fall of 1974 by a new doctoral student in the Department of Family and Community Relations at Columbia University, New York. A few months before this, I was a live-in house manager in a group home for adults with severe mental illness, which likely colored my perceptions and interest.

This paper describes fieldwork in the Bowery of New York City in 1974 and gives the reader a snapshot of the 1970s Bowery. The language of the time and the streets is used, slightly toned down. No offense is intended toward any individual, organization, or group.

This study is about selected aspects of the lives of Bowery men and the environment they live in. These men reside in the immediate Bowery area and are usually described as ＂homeless＂ or ＂indigent＂ or, more likely, ＂bums＂ and ＂drunks.＂ I will tell the story and let the reader form their own view of the men.

The study evolved from a curiosity about the area and its residents. From here, it took form from the people I talked to and the incidents I witnessed.

This book is dedicated to the men on the Bowery who shared their lives: Sammy, Tim, Dave, Larry, Pete, and the unnamed.