315 The Bowery Pre-CBGBs

CBGBs existed from 1973 to the summer of 2008 as a mecca for punks.

Prior to Hilly Kristal's leasing the ground-floor and basement of 315 The Bowery, the location had served as a The Palace Hotel Bar for the flophouse above it, housing as many as 600 men every night.

There was life at 315 before CBGBs and there is life after as a clothing boutique, but the Palace Hotel remains the same.

A SRO home for the forgotten men on the boulevard of broken dreams.

But not Hilly.

Photo by David Godlis