The Bowery is a notorious Skid Row section of Gotham City. Before Prohibition, and since it's end it is the center for cheap, nasty dive bars and houses of prostitution. The most notorious of the bars are Eddie's High Life, Murphy's Lament and Wang's Last Secret. Each of them dirtier, smellier and grimmer than the last. There are a dozen cheap “hotels” that are really brothels, and of course Madam Lily's Tea Room is the pinnacle of the pox-ridden business.

The Wound Ravens are the primary gang in the Bowery, collecting protection money. They directly run Nine Lives which appears to be a saloon, but hides an underworld swap meet.

The city government pays a social worker named Erma Wood to run and staff Quarter, a soup kitchen and shelter. However, she pockets all the money and has let this abandoned factory become an open flophouse.

All is not dark, however, Captain Wilkins of the Salvation Army runs Soul on the Rocks a successful soup kitchen and homeless shelter.