Until recently, CBGB, the New York Club often credited with giving birth to American punk rock during the 1970s, occupied a storefront at 315 Bowery that had been a bar as far back as the 1870s. According to research conducted by the Municipal Arts Society and Place Matters, 315 Bowery has been variously inhabited by a saloon, eating house and liquor importer since it was built in 1878.

Even before 315 Bowery was built, there were thousands of drinking establishments in lower Manhattan. In the 1870s, the area below Fourteenth Street that stretches from the Bowery to the East River was known as Kleindeutschland or "Little Germany". There, German-speaking immigrants gathered in the neighborhood’s many saloons. At 97 Orchard Street, Bavarian-born John Schneider operated a lager beer saloon that, between 1864 and 1886, likely hosted entertainment performed by the “honorable musicians” he invited to its opening.

By the mid-20th century, the once vibrant Bowery had deteriorated into New York’s “skid row.” 315 Bowery became home to the Palace Hotel and Bar, a flop-house catering to the street’s transient population. In 1969, Hilly Kristal purchased the bar and in 1973 renamed it CBGB & OMFUG—an acronym that stands for Country Bluegrass Blues & Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers. Before it closed its doors in 2006, CBGB hosted early performances by some of music’s most celebrated bands, including the Ramones, Talking Heads and Patti Smith.