For more than three centuries, 50-52 Bowery has held a place at the crossroads of change.

Today, the parcel of land in Chinatown overlooks a trail of cars and trucks rumbling between Canal Street and the Manhattan Bridge.

In recent years, a Duane Reade and a Popeye’s Fried Chicken operated there. But in headier times, it was a gambling den run by a bare-knuckle boxer and a celebrated beer garden and concert hall that incubated Tin Pan Alley talent and Yiddish vaudeville stars. It served as a meeting place for soldiers and revolutionaries, Chinese Nationalists and a group of workers that was the first to organize a restaurant in Chinatown.

Each successive immigrant group has etched its character into the soil. At times, the spot was a haven for sin and vice. But it almost always hewed to the Bowery’s rough-edged persona.

When it becomes a hotel later this year, the site will have traced a circle of sorts, as travelers and locals again avail themselves of food, drink and amusement there.