Lower East Side

Lower East Side Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Tenement buildings on the Lower East Side
Neighborhood location in Lower Manhattan (blue)
Location	Roughly bounded by East Houston, Essex, Canal, Eldridge, South, and Grand Streets, and the Bowery and East Broadway, Manhattan, New York (original) Roughly along Division, Rutgers, Madison, Henry and Grand Streets (increase)
Coordinates: 40°43′2″N 73°59′23″W / 40.71722°N 73.98972°W / 40.71722; -73.98972
Governing body	Local (original) U.S. Postal Service (increase)
NRHP Reference #	00001015 (original) 04000297 (increase)
Added to NRHP	September 7, 2000 (original) May 2, 2006 (increase)[1]

The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan, roughly located between the Bowery and the East River, and Canal Street and Houston Street. Traditionally an immigrant, working-class neighborhood, it began rapid gentrification in the mid-2000s, prompting The National Trust for Historic Preservation to place the neighborhood on their list of America's Most Endangered Places.^[2][3] It has become a home to upscale boutiques and trendy dining establishments along Clinton Street's restaurant row.

Boundaries

The Lower East Side is roughly bounded by the Bowery to the west, East Houston Street to the north, the F.D.R. Drive to the east and Canal Street to the south. The western boundary below Grand Street veers east off of the Bowery to approximately Essex Street.

The neighborhood is bordered in the south and west by Chinatown – which extends north to roughly Grand Street, in the west by NoLIta and in the north by East Village.^[4][5]

Historically, the "Lower East Side" referred to the area alongside the East River from about the Manhattan Bridge and Canal Street up to 14th Street, and roughly bounded on the west by Broadway. It included areas known today as East Village, Alphabet City, Chinatown, Bowery, Little Italy, and NoLIta. Parts of the East Village are still known as Loisaida, a Latino pronunciation of "Lower East Side." Avenue C is known directly as "Loisaida" and is home to the Loisaida Festival every summer.^[6]

Politically, the neighborhood is located in New York's 8th, 12th, and 14th congressional districts, the New York State Assembly's 64th district, the New York State Senate's 26th district, and New York City Council's 1st and 2nd district.

History

Delancey farm

James Delancey's pre-Revolutionary farm east of post road leading from the city (Bowery) survives in the names Delancey Street and Orchard Street. On the modern map of Manhattan, the Delancey farm^[7] is represented in the grid of streets from Division Street north to Houston Street.^[8] In response to the pressures of a growing city, Delancey began to survey streets in the southern part of the "West Farm"^[9] in the 1760s. A spacious projected Delancey Square—intended to cover the area within today's Eldridge, Essex, Hester and Broome Streets—was eliminated when the loyalist Delancey family's property was confiscated after the American Revolution. The city Commissioners of Forfeiture eliminated the aristocratic planned square for a grid, effacing Delancey's vision of a New York laid out like the West End of London, and established the resolutely democratic nature of the neighborhood forever.

Corlear's Hook

This point of land on the East River was also called Corlaers Hook under Dutch and British rule, and briefly Crown Point during British occupation in the Revolution. It was named after the schoolmaster Jacobus van Corlaer, who settled on this "plantation" that in 1638 was called by a Europeanized version of its Lenape name, Nechtans^[10] or Nechtanc.^[11] Corlaer sold the plantation to Wilhelmus Hendrickse Beekman (1623–1707) founder of the Beekman family of New York; his son Gerardus Beekman was christened at the plantation, August 17, 1653. The projection into the East River that retained Corlaer's name was an important landmark for navigators for 300 years. On older maps and documents it is usually spelled 'Corlaers' Hook, but since the early 19th century the spelling has been anglicized to Corlears. The rough unplanned settlement that developed at Corlaer's Hook under the British occupation of New York during the Revolution was separated from the densely populated city by rough hills of glacial till: "this region lay beyond the city proper, from which it was separated by high, uncultivated, and rough hills", observers recalled in 1843.^[12] As early as 1816, Corlaer's Hook was notorious for streetwalkers, "a resort for the lewd and abandoned of both sexes", and in 1821 its "streets abounding every night with preconcerted groups of thieves and prostitutes" were noted by the "Christian Herald".^[13] In the course of the 19th century they came to be called hookers.^[14] In the summer of cholera in New York, 1832, a two-storey wooden workshop was commandeered to serve as a makeshift cholera hospital; between July 18 and September 15 when the hospital was closed, as the cholera wound down, 281 patients were admitted, both black and white, of whom 93 died.^[15]

The original location of Corlears Hook is now obscured by shoreline landfill.^[16] It was near the east end of the present pedestrian bridge over the FDR Drive near Cherry Street. The name is preserved in Corlear's Hook Park at the intersection of Jackson and Cherry Streets along the East River Drive.^[17]

East Village split and gentrification

The East Village was once considered the Lower East Side's northwest corner. However, in the 1960s, the demographics of the area above Houston Street began to change, as hipsters, musicians, and artists moved in. Newcomers and real estate brokers popularized the East Village name, and the term was adopted by the popular media by the mid-1960s. As the East Village developed a culture separate from the rest of the Lower East Side, the two areas came to be seen as two separate neighborhoods rather than the former being part of the latter.^[18][19]

In the early 2000s, the gentrification of the East Village spread to the Lower East Side, making it one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. Orchard Street, despite its "Bargain District" moniker, is now lined with upscale boutiques. Similarly, trendy restaurants, including Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant, wd~50, Cube 63, and Falai are found on a stretch of tree-lined Clinton Street that New York Magazine described as the "hippest restaurant row" in the Lower East Side.^[20][21]

In November 2007, the Blue Condominium, a 32-unit, 16 story luxury condominium tower was completed at 105 Norfolk Street just north of Delancey Street, the pixellated, faceted blue design of which starkly contrasts with the surrounding neighborhood. Following the construction of the Hotel on Rivington one block away, several luxury condominiums around Houston, and the New Museum on Bowery, this new wave of construction is another sign that the gentrification cycle is entering a high-luxury phase similar to in SoHo and Nolita in the previous decade.

More recently, the gentrification that was previously confined to north of Delancey Street continued south. Several restaurants, bars, and galleries opened below Delancey Street after 2005, especially around the intersection of Broome and Orchard Streets. The neighborhood's second boutique hotel, Blue Moon Hotel, opened on Orchard Street just south of Delancey Street in early 2006. However, unlike The Hotel on Rivington, the Blue Moon used an existing tenement building, and its exterior is almost identical to neighboring buildings. In September 2013, it was announced that the Essex Crossing redevelopment project was to be built in the area, centered around the intersection of Essex and Delancey Streets, but mostly utilizing land south of Delancey Street.^[22]

Culture

Immigrant neighborhood

One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been a lower-class worker neighborhood and often a poor and ethnically diverse section of New York. As well as Irish, Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups, it once had a sizeable German population and was known as Little Germany (Kleindeutschland). Today it is a predominantly Puerto Rican and Dominican community, and in the process of gentrification (as documented by the portraits of its residents in the Clinton+Rivington chapter of The Corners Project.)^[23]

The Lower East Side is perhaps best known as having once been a center of Jewish culture. In her 2000 book Lower East Side memories: A Jewish place in America, Hasia Diner explains that the Lower East Side is especially remembered as a place of Jewish beginnings in contemporary, impoverished Ashkenazi American Jewish culture.^[24] Vestiges of the area's Jewish heritage exist in shops on Hester Street and Essex Street, and on Grand Street near Allen. There is still an Orthodox Jewish community with yeshiva day schools and a mikvah. A few Judaica shops can be found along Essex Street and a few Jewish scribes and variety stores. Some kosher delis and bakeries as well as a few "kosher style" delis, including the famous Katz's Deli, are located in the neighborhood. Downtown Second Avenue on the Lower East Side was the home to many Yiddish theatre productions in the Yiddish Theater District during the early part of the 20th century, and Second Avenue came to be known as 'Yiddish Broadway', though most of the theaters are gone. Songwriter Irving Berlin, actor John Garfield, and singer Eddie Cantor grew up here. More recently, it has been settled by immigrants, primarily from Latin America.

In what is now the East Village, the earlier population of Poles and Ukrainians has been largely supplanted with newer immigrants, and the arrival of large numbers of Japanese people over the last fifteen years or so has led to the proliferation of Japanese restaurants and specialty food markets. There is also a notable population of Bangladeshis and other immigrants from Muslim countries, many of whom are congregants of the small Madina Masjid (Mosque), located on First Avenue and 11th Street.

The neighborhood also presents many historic synagogues, such as the Bialystoker Synagogue,^[25] Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, the Eldridge Street Synagogue,^[26] Kehila Kedosha Janina (the only Greek synagogue in the Western Hemisphere),^[27] the Angel Orensanz Center (the fourth oldest synagogue building in the United States), and various smaller synagogues along East Broadway. Another landmark, the First Roumanian-American congregation (the Rivington Street synagogue) partially collapsed in 2006, and was subsequently demolished. In addition, there is a major Hare Krishna temple and several Buddhist houses of worship.

Incoming Chinese people have also made their mark on the Lower East Side in recent decades. The part of the neighborhood south of Delancey Street and west of Allen Street has in large measure become part of Chinatown, and Grand Street is one of the major business and shopping streets of Chinatown. Also contained within the neighborhood are strips of lighting and restaurant supply shops on the Bowery.

Jewish neighborhood

While the Lower East Side has seen a series of immigrant communities pass through, American Jews relate to the neighborhood in a particularly strong manner, much as Chinatown in San Francisco holds a special place in the imagination of Chinese Americans, and Astoria in the hearts of Greek Americans. In the late twentieth century, the strong pull of the Lower East Side on the imagination of American Jews led to the preservation of a number of buildings associated with the Jewish immigrant community.^[28][29][30]

Landmarks include:

• The Educational Alliance Settlement house – 175 East Broadway
• Henry Street Settlement – 263–267 Henry Street and 466 Grand Street
• University Settlement House 184 Eldridge Street
• Katz's Deli – 205 East Houston Street
• Guss' Pickles – 87 Orchard Street
• Kossar's Bialys – 367 Grand Street
• Gertle's Bake Shop – formerly at 53 Hester Street
• Knickerbocker Village – 10 Monroe Street
• Streit Matzo Co. – 150 Rivington Street
• Yonah Shimmel's Knish Bakery – 137 East Houston Street
• Russ & Daughters – 179 East Houston Street
• Schapiro's Kosher Wine – Essex Street Market

Synagogues include:

• Bialystoker Synagogue – 7–11 Willet Street
• Beth Hamedrash Hagadol – 60–64 Norfolk Street
• Eldridge Street Synagogue – 12 Eldridge Street
• Kehila Kedosha Janina – 280 Broome Street
• Angel Orensanz Center – the fourth-oldest synagogue building in the United States.
• Congregation Chasam Sopher
• Meseritz Synagogue
• Stanton Street Synagogue
• Boyaner kloiz at 247 East Broadway, opened in 1928 by the Boyaner Rebbe of New York

Art scene

The neighborhood has become home to numerous contemporary art galleries. One of the very first was ABC No Rio.^[31] Begun by a group of Colab no wave artists (some living on Ludlow Street), ABC No Rio opened an outsider gallery space that invited community participation and encouraged the widespread production of art. Taking an activist approach to art that grew out of The Real Estate Show (the take over of an abandoned building by artists to open an outsider gallery only to have it chained closed by the police) ABC No Rio kept its sense of activism, community, and outsiderness. The product of this open, expansive approach to art was a space for creating new works that did not have links to the art market place and that were able to explore new artistic possibilities.

Other outsider galleries sprung up throughout the Lower East Side and East Village—some 200 at the height of the scene in the 1980s, including the 124 Ridge Street Gallery among others. In December 2007, the New Museum relocated to a brand-new, critically acclaimed building on Bowery at Prince. A growing number of galleries are opening in the Bowery neighborhood to be in close proximity to the museum. The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, which opened in 2012, exhibits photography featuring the neighborhood in addition to chronicling its history of activism.

The neighborhood is also home to several graffiti artists, such as Chico.

Nightlife and live music

As the neighborhood gentrified and has become safer at night, it has become a popular late night destination. Orchard, Ludlow and Essex between Rivington Street and Stanton Street have become especially packed at night, and the resulting noise is a cause of tension between bar owners and longtime residents.^[32][33] However, as gentrification continues, many established landmarks and venues have been lost.^[34]

The Lower East Side is also home to many live music venues. Punk bands played at C-Squat and alternative rock bands play at Bowery Ballroom on Delancey Street and Mercury Lounge on East Houston Street. Punk bands play at Otto's Shrunken Head and R-Bar. Punk and alternative bands play at Bowery Electric just north of the old CBGB's location,^[35] while lesser-known bands played at Tonic (which closed on April 13, 2007) and Rothko (now closed) on Suffolk Street. There are also bars that offer performance space, such as Pianos, the Living Room, and Cake Shop on Ludlow Street and Arlene's Grocery on Stanton Street.

Parks

The Lower East Side is the home to many private parks, such as La Plaza Cultural.^[36] The Sara D. Roosevelt Park and Seward Park are among the public parks in the area.

Education

The Lower East Side Preparatory High School is a second-chance school that enables students, aged 17–21, to obtain their high school diplomas. It is a bilingual Chinese-English school with a high proportion of Asian students.

The Seward Park Campus comprises five schools with an average graduation rate of about 80%. The original school in the building was opened 1929 and closed 2006.^[37]

Transportation

There are multiple New York City Subway stations in the neighborhood, including Grand Street (B D), Bowery (J Z), Second Avenue (F), Delancey Street – Essex Street (F J M Z), and East Broadway (F).^[38] New York City Bus routes include M9, M14A, M14D, M15, M15 SBS, M21, M22, M103, and B39.^[39]

The Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan Bridge connect the Lower East Side to Brooklyn. The FDR Drive is on the neighborhood's south and east ends.^[40]

There are multiple bike lanes in the area. Bike lanes are present on Allen, Chrystie, Clinton, Delancey, Grand, Houston, Montgomery, Madison, Rivington, Stanton, and Suffolk Streets; Bowery, East Broadway, and FDR Drive; the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges; and the East River Greenway.^[41]

In popular culture

Notable residents

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lower East Side.

• Lower East Side travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Lower East Side – Neighborhood Profile
• A Jewish Tour of the Lower East Side, New York magazine
• Photographs of the Lower East Side and East Village in 1980 and 2010
• Lower East Side History Project
• Lower East Side Preservation Initiative

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