Marc Ellis, A Year at the Catholic Worker, NY: Paulist Press, 1978, p. 53 
October 8
The Bowery is an intrinsic part of Worker life. Ninety per cent of the soup and clothing distribution goes to Bowery people. The street itself, located three blocks from the Worker, is desolate: a major throughway with warehouses, flophouses and bars. 
Walking a person to a "hotel" at night provides this scenery: perhaps a hundred men walking in groups of two or three on the sidewalk, many times with whiskey flasks in their hands; three or four all male bars, and ten or fifteen men in rags waiting at the lights for cars to stop, then "cleaning" the windshield of the stopped car and asking for a donation in return. Many of the men are so drunk that they meander through oncoming traffic. The median invariably contains one or two men who have passed out or writhe in convulsions. 
I wonder if I can convey the picture of this street at all. Abandoned by the political community in terms of services (garbage collection, police protection, etc.), abandoned by the social community (no permanent residents, no enforcement of laws against public drunkenness, or obscenity -- one can see two men copulating or one masturbating on the street corner), a whole population of wandering half-men drowning in a sea of dark brick, semi-trucks, and disease. 

October 8
The Bowery is an intrinsic part of Worker life. Ninety per cent of the soup and clothing distribution goes to Bowery people. The street itself, located three blocks from the Worker. is desolate: a major throughway with warehouses. flophouses and bars.
Walking a person to a "hotel" at night provides this scenery: perhaps a hundred men walking in groups of two or three on the sidewalk. many times with whiskey flasks in their hands; three or four all male bars, and ten or fifteen men in rags waiting at the lights for cars to stop, then "cleaning" the windshield of the stopped car and asking for a donation in return. Many of the men are so drunk that
they meander through oncoming traffic. The median invariably contains one or two men who have passed out or writhe in convulsions.
1 wonder if I can convey the picture of this street at all. Abandoned by the political community in terms of services (garbage collection. police protection. etc.). abandoned by the social community (no permanent residents, no enforcement of laws against public drunkenness, or obscenity-one can see two men copulating or one masturbating on the street corner). a whole population of wandering half-men drowning in a sea of dark brick. semitrucks, and disease.

From Marc Ellis, A Year at the Catholic Worker, NY: Paulist Press, 1978, p. 53