In the early s, The Bowery had become a bustling thoroughfare with elegant theaters, and taverns, and shops. But by the late s it had become a much seedier place, full of saloons, and dance halls, and prostitution. Now, of course, the Lower East Side affords no room for a skid row. The Bowery, like the rest of that area, is full of expensive places to live, and fancy grocery stores.
But back in , before the last of the flop hotels closed their doors, David Isay and Stacy Abramson spent months documenting one of the last of these places: The Sunshine Hotel. The Sunshine Hotel opened in Roomsβor really, cubiclesβwere 10 cents a night.
The Sunshine, like other flop houses, was always a men-only establishment. In , the hotel had raised its rates to 10 dollars a night and it was managed by resident Nathan Smith [above]. He sat behind a metal cage at the front desk, answering the phone and doling out toilet paper to residents for 35 cents. Smith had once worked in a bank until he was injured and then fired.
His wife left him and he ended up in the Bowery, and eventually at the Sunshine Hotel. The Sunshine could accommodate residents, and it was nearly always full.
Residents stayed in cubicles measuring four by six feet with no windows and chicken wire ceilings. He did errands for the other residents for tips. Some residents of the Sunshine stayed for a few days, others, for years. Anthony Coppolla [above] lived in the hotel for years. Vic [above] was the front desk relief clerk. He grew up with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father in Ohio, where he always felt like a misfit. He read philosophy and poetry, and followed his dreams to The Bowery, where rent was cheap.
