Live Out Your Flophouse Fantasies At The Bowery House

Where: 220 Bowery, New York, NY, 10012

With so many hotel delays clogging up the system these days, it's easy to forget the ones that quietly open without any fuss at all. New York Mag takes a look at the Bowery House, a converted 1940s Single Room Occupancy (SRO) building with single-, twin-, and full-size cabins available.

Funny timing, considering the parallel buzz surrounding the Nolitan, which opens today just three blocks away. But then again, we're talking apples and oranges. Whereas a single room at the Nolitan goes for $305 a night, rates at the Bowery House start at a reasonable $59. Very reasonable.

In keeping with its Bowery flophouse roots, the hotel will have shared bathrooms (not to mention dog-tag keychains that "pay tribute" to the soldiers who once stayed here). In sharp contrast to those roots, the bathrooms have been installed with Carrera marble, heated floors and Red Flower toiletries (interestingly, the same products are being used at the Nolitan).

The renovated lobby is perhaps one of the most appealing photos so far, with its wide leather couch and medieval chandeliers�New York Mag also reports the desk and coffee table were custom-made.

Interestingly, the hotel (which opens officially on August 1) sits above a still-intact wholesale restaurant equipment store (one of many on the Bowery). As a result, it remains quite undetectable from street level.

And just to be clear, when we say "without any fuss," we mean it. The hotel took just eight months for co-owners Sanford Kunkel (former real estate broker) and Alessandro Zampedri (an Italian race car driver) to plan, finance, lease, and renovate the property. How's that for quick?

[Photos: Waseem Ghattas / NY Mag, Jillian Goodman / NY Mag]

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