Essex Street is a north-south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, and south of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street.
Essex Street was laid out by James Delancey just before the Revolution as the east side of a "Delancey Square" intended for a genteel ownership; Delancey returned to England as a Loyalist in 1775, and the square was developed as building lots.[1]
Long a part of the Lower East Side Jewish enclave, many Jewish-owned stores still operate, including a pickle shop (The Pickle Guys), a packaging supply store (Crystal Packaging and Tape, Co./Big Apple Boxes), many Judaica shops (Zelig Blumenthal, Rabbi Eisenbach, Israel Wholesale Judaica, Nat Weisberg & Sons), a furniture store (M.Katz & Sons), electronic store (eTronics) and a sporting goods store (G & S Sportinggoods). It is also home to the Essex Street Market.
South of Hester Street it is bordered on the east by Seward Park.
The IND Sixth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway runs under Essex Street and has a station at Delancey Street (F J M Z trains).