Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) pertaining to tramps, thus impoverished, poor.

1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 60: I’ve seen those yaps come to town an’ throw up their hands at sights that a Bowery kid wouldn’t drop a cigarette snipe to see.
1915		O.O. McIntyre Day By Day in New York 22 Feb. [synd. col.] Huff is a bowery boy and graduated from the corner gang to the role of bouncer in the old McQuirck’s Suicide hall.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 47: The munie is a good place, if you are a stranger in town, to meet the wise guys, the ‘bowery barometers,’ the hobos who know the ropes.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 206: I used [...] to steal change off the newsstand for bowery beef stew.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 145: Why all the bowery moves?