It would shock no one if New York’s Bowery Hotel, once the next big thing, settles into a position as one of the city’s storied, iconic hotels. A new kind of grand hotel for the new millennium’s guests.
By Manon Tomzig
Journalist and travel writer, Tablet contributor
Book The Bowery Hotel on Tablet Hotels.
In 2007, hoteliers Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode made a crazy bet.
As glass towers began to colonize lower Manhattan, the two New Yorkers, then known for their spectacular transformation of the Maritime Hotel, turned their attention to the Bowery. A neighborhood previously famous for its “bums” and the early punks at CBGB. A place described as “tough… less a boundary than a neutral ‘demilitarized’ zone between neighborhoods” by Japanese architects Sejima and Nishizawa, commissioned at the time to design the New Museum, a short distance away. A dilapidated industrial neighborhood, populated by restaurant supply stores and homeless shelters. A corner where one wouldn’t have wanted to venture at night.
You know where this is going. Like so many New York neighborhoods in the past twenty-five years, the Bowery was revitalized, welcoming its share of trendy restaurants and boutiques. CBGB became a John Varvatos, of all things. That part of the story has become relatively commonplace, but the outcome was far from a sure thing in the mid-aughts, and it wouldn’t have happened as quickly without the Bowery Hotel.
The building MacPherson and Goode set their sights on for their new hotel, a tall tower overlooking the empty Bowery skyline, was no architectural gem, but the hoteliers saw serious potential. And because they didn’t want to do things like everyone else, they chose a concept and design that bucked the sleek, impersonal minimalist trend of the time. The exterior, re-clad with brick and tall industrial-style windows, celebrates the neighborhood’s timeless character. Inside, the Bowery Hotel’s public spaces could make a claim to helping kickstart boho-chic, especially the iconic lobby. Dark wood paneling, oriental rugs, antique furniture, and subdued lighting create a place of character, with personality to rival that of the famous guests that regularly pass through the front doors.
Upstairs, in the rooms, the mood is lighter thanks to those huge factory windows and bright white bedspreads, but the nostalgia for the past is no less powerful. The vintage furniture, fixtures, and textures no less uniquely considered — a far cry from the smooth surfaces and Ikea-inspired bent of some of its contemporaries. A particular highlight is the bathrooms, all marble and brass and subway tile; monumental in the way a classically luxurious New York bathroom should be.
The two hoteliers’ goal was to create something quintessentially New York, where artists, travelers, and locals can mingle and feel the city’s creative pulse. They foresaw the transformation of the neighborhood, which has become one of the city’s most vibrant cultural and artistic centers. “When we first opened, this stretch of street still had that raw, unpolished edge; there were art supply warehouses and music venues just a stone’s throw away,” hotel manager Kirk Wilson told us in a conversation about the evolution of New York hospitality since the Bowery Hotel bloomed.
No matter how the neighborhood changes, Wilson explained, the hotel has been committed to holding onto its avant-garde spirit. “The property attracts a certain kind of guest whose creative energy keeps things authentic.” It helps that it’s located at the nexus of downtown Manhattan culture. “You can check out the New Museum, pick up handmade ceramics in Nolita, do some damage clothing shopping in SoHo, eat at a hidden gem in Chinatown, or catch a play in the East Village all within a 10 minute walk.”
And what about the effect of politics? Tourism to the United States is down in 2025, partly in reaction to Donald Trump’s controversial trade and immigration policies, among other things. Despite that — and despite Trump’s frequent criticisms of the city he had no problem calling home through many much darker decades — New York has a kind of immunity, an ability to stand above the political noise. According to Wilson, “It’s a city that holds space for all kinds of people and viewpoints. It represents freedom, culture, and complexity. Even when national politics shift, New York continues to be a beacon for international and domestic travelers alike.”
In Tablet’s 25 years, we’ve seen the slow then explosively fast evolution of the boutique hotel from niche alternative to mainstream standard. Along the way, we’ve seen hotels open to huge amounts of hype, ride the wave of a few amazingly successful years, lose their cult cachet, and fall by the wayside. The Bowery was a very big deal when it came onto the scene. Now, nearly twenty years and dozens of competitors later, it’s still standing tall. From our perspective, it’s because the hotel has continued to offer what most people are realizing they wanted all along: something real. Wilson agrees. “We’re seeing a big return to analog moments,” he said. “Vinyl records, handwritten notes, thoughtful design choices that resist mass production. People are craving substance and soul, and the hotels that last will be the ones that can deliver both.”
The Bowery Hotel delivers both. It always has.
Book The Bowery Hotel on Tablet Hotels.
