Two-Bit Hotel (Colorized): 1921

Colorized from a Shorpy original.

The Lanier Hotel & Fuerst Bros. Restaurant, 15 Bowery NYC
Colourisation from a black and white photo
Tuesday, July 5th, 1921, New York, United States of America, by George Grantham Bain's Bain News Service

Proprietors Alex and Sigmund Fuerst stand outside their hotel and associated restaurant in what is now modern day Chinatown in New York City, opposite the old Bowery Theatre. The Fuerst family, consisting of five brothers, owned several restaurants along the popular theatrical strip along the Bowery, including the now demolished address at 15 Bowery, 109 Bowery and 221 Bowery, which has very similar architectural detailing to the buildings on 15 Bowery.

The surrounding area in what is now Chinatown attracted residents and transient visitors at the lower end of the economic ladder, staying in numerous lodging houses, or the more pejorative 'Flop House', where for 5 cents, one could literally 'flop over' in quarters about the size of a standard office cubicle. The Lanier Hotel as pictured was more expensive (although very cheap by modern pricing), offering a small private room with clean sheets, somewhere between a capsule hotel and a bed and breakfast. The Lanier Hotel eventually closed down, although the Fuerst brothers remained in the substantially more profitable restaurant business.

With thanks to the Fuerst family for detailed information regarding this image. View full size.