By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — The Bowery's bygone days as a gritty thoroughfare known for commerce, corruption and creativity will go on display Thursday in a new exhibit opening in one of the stretch's more controversial new arrivals.
Popular supermarket Whole Foods — whose opening nearly four years bolstered the Bowery's move toward upscale gentrification — will host an opening-night reception for "On the Bowery," an exhibit looking back at more than two centuries of the notorious avenue's history.
"Especially in coming into a neighborhood that does have so much history, certainly some people weren't welcoming a huge store like ours," acknowledged Elly Truesdell, marketing team leader for the Bowery and East Houston Street location, of the irony of having Whole Foods host the event.
"It was more an issue when we were opening and before we came into the community, because I think people had an idea of what a big store and corporation could mean for the Bowery," she added. "Now that we've been here for coming on four years, people I hope have seen the kind of work we do in the community."
The exhibit, held in Whole Foods' second-floor auditorium space, traces the Bowery's early days as a hub for theater, nightlife and politics through its transition into New York's skid row, housing both the indigent and a crop of rising artists.
The exhibit seeks to educate viewers about the Bowery's rich past as a way to draw attention to forces of development that are currently threatening to erase its history, said organizers, which include the Lower East Side History Project and Bowery Alliance of Neighbors.
In addition to the historical and cultural information on display, Thursday's event will also feature foods hearkening back to the Lower East Side's early days, from pickles and pretzels to smoked salmon and various kosher selections, Truesdell said.
She added that the Lower East Side History Project, a nonprofit preservation group, approached Whole Foods with the concept, and that the store was more than happy to oblige.
"We try to work with [local groups] and try to recognize what used to be here and try to uphold those traditions," Truesdell said, despite the fact that Whole Foods has been seen as a harbinger of a newer, cleaner, more development-friendly Bowery.
"I think people have been very happily surprised since we opened because of events like this."
The exhibit opens Thurs., Oct. 28, at Whole Foods, 95 E. Houston St., second-floor, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
