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For punk-rock pilgrims headed to 315 Bowery, until recently the site of CBGB and the mecca of all things safety-pin and duct-tape, there’s a real shock in store. When I toured the space's reincarnation, I wasn’t fully prepared to see the former puke-and-piss palace converted into…a high-end clothing store.
Designer John Varvatos has leased the space and transformed it into his latest L.A. rocker-chic-friendly boutique. And while Varvatos has succeeded in keeping several of the club’s original elements intact, the space looks – and smells – starkly different from when I was last there, stepping on the carcasses of decades-dead mice drudged up during the move. Varvatos and his people have somehow managed to scour and scrub the dirtiest place in Manhattan – and transform it into a space that, I’ve got to admit, still manages to honor the memory of its former tenants. To his credit, Varvatos didn’t touch what remnants of CBGB were left behind before he moved in – whole sections of wall covered with rock fliers and graffiti remain, almost as headstones to the lore of this musical landmark, and even the crackled paint that covered the club’s walls wasn’t stripped away.
More after the jump.
