Okay, let's leave the tawdry details of demolition for something swanky. The Bowery Hotel is a boutique hotel -- the latest collaboration between developers Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode. Goode's Bowery Bar (which we long ago christened "Tavern on the Gray") is across the street. This new building, taken over from earlier developers who had trouble following the city's zoning laws, looks pleasant enough from the outside. God knows, a brick façade is something to shout about nowadays.

Jim Markowich