Exclusive | Ex-Bowery flophouse gets a stylish redo that features cozy sleeping space and shared baths for frugal tourists

Skid Row has checked out.Down-and-dirty punk music staple CBGB is now designer John Varvatos’ retail space.

Dark and dank Mars Bar has been replaced by a TD Bank.And after years of extensive renovation, the scaffolding has finally come down at 338 Bowery, where the last flophouse on the once-notorious strip — the former Whitehouse — has been transformed into the Now Now hotel, NYC’s first truly chic sleeper-cabin lodgings.President Theodore Roosevelt once wrote an essay comparing the Bowery to hell.But the oldest and previously seediest street in Manhattan has over time become more like a paradise for real estate developers.Now comes yet another grimy downtown institution, washed clean of graffiti and refurbished to exorcise the counterculture — making room for tourists in search of a more elevated experience of the area.The Whitehouse, located between Bond and Great Jones across from the luxurious Bowery Hotel, was built in 1917 as a barebones lodging house for struggling immigrants, artists and more.

For decades, the decrepit building stood near the top of the broad boulevard as a cheap but reliable option for those simply looking for a bed and a makeshift ceiling — made of chicken wire — over their head.As late as the 2010s, guests could book a bed at the Whitehouse Hotel for just $45 — with the few remaining residents paying no more than $8.50.The chicken wire has come down, though actual ceilings did not go up — and prices have definitely been hiked.Dovetail + Co., the team behind the newly opened Now Now, hopes the space will remain an affordable, reliable option — but now 100% more fashionable.On opening day, April 1, about 25 guests stayed in “rooms” featuring “open ceilings” — sharing bathrooms with individual green-tiled toilets and shower stalls, all completely closed and lockable, and shared sinks.Budget, yes — but far from the grimy experience of yore.The last look at the “hotel” most people got was in 2018, when...