bowery: seedy or run-down district of a city I have never heard this used. The Bowery, a part of New York City, became notorious for petty crime. There was even a song about it.

the Bowery: a street in New York City, or the surrounding district, center of cheap hotels, bars, etc.

from http://www.melodylane.net/bowery.html:
The Bowery

From The Show "A Trip To Chinatown"
Words by Charles H. Hoyt
Music by Percy Gaunt (1892)


I'm working on getting the words. All I know by heart is one verse and the chorus:

"...Someone said two dollars, I said three.
He emptied the box and he gave it to me.
"Isaid the box, not the socks," said he.
I'll never go there any more."

CHORUS: Oh the Bowery, the Bowery,
They do such things and they say such things
On the Bowery, the Bowery,
I'll never go there any more."

You get the idea of cheap merchandise and underhanded shenannigans.