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Lower East Side

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File:NewGateayLES.JPG
Mural on Orchard Street and Houston Street by artist Marco
L.E.S. redirects here. For the music producer, see L.E.S. (producer).

The Lower East Side is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of New York City borough of Manhattan. It has traditionally been an immigrant, working class neighborhood, but it has undergone gentrification in recent years and is increasingly populated by young professionals, artists, and students.

Boundaries

Current boundaries

While the exact eastern and southern boundaries of the neighborhood are open to debate, the Lower East Side today refers to the area of Manhattan south of East Houston Street and west of the East River.[1] [2]

The Lower East side 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.

Historical boundaries

File:OrchardandRivington.JPG
The corner of Orchard and Rivington Streets, Lower East Side (2005)

Originally, "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.

Although the term today refers to the area bounded to the north by East Houston Street, parts of East Village are still known as Loisaida, a Latino pronunciation of "Lower East Sider."

This point of land on the East River was also called Crown Point under British rule. It was an important landmark for navigators for 300 years. On older maps and documents it is usually spelled Corlaers, but since the early 19th Century the spelling has been anglicized to Corlears. It was named after Jacobus van Corlaer, who settled there prior to 1640. The original location of Corlaers Hook is now obscured by shoreline landfill. It was near the east end of the present pedestrian bridge over the FDR Drive near Cherry Street.

Immigrant neighborhood

Famous Katz's Deli, symbol of the neighborhood's Jewish history, is dwarfed by the development occurring around the Lower East Side

One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been known as a lower-class, working neighborhood and often as a poor slum. The Lower East Side once was and, in a few parts, still is a center for Eastern European Jewish immigrant culture. Vestiges of the area's Jewish heritage exist in shops on Hester Street and Essex Street and on Grand Street near Pike, and there is still an original Orthodox Jewish community, with yeshiva day schools and a mikvah. Kosher style delicatessens and bakeries are present in the region, and until recently, the famous Second Avenue Deli operated in the neighbourhood (now closed).Downtown Second Avenue in the Lower East Side was the home to many Yiddish theatre productions 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. More recently, it has been settled by immigrants from Latin America and elsewhere.

In what is now the East Village, a preexisting population of Poles and Ukrainians has been significantly replenished 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.

This diverse neighborhood also contains many synagogues and a great variety of churches, both in terms of denomination and ethnic and linguistic makeup. In addition, there is a major Hare Krishna temple and Buddhist houses of worship.

The Bowery, though no longer a largely deserted place save for the legendary Bowery bums, remains the location of the famous Bowery Mission, serving the down-and-out since 1879. Another notable landmark on the Bowery was CBGB, a nightclub that presented live music – including some of the most famous figures in rock 'n roll – from 1973 until it closed on October 15, 2006. A bit further north and east is McSorley's Old Ale House, a famous Irish bar that opened its doors in 1854.

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.

East Village split and gentrification

East Village was once Lower East Side's northwest corner alongside Greenwich Village. However, in the 1960s, the demographics of the area above Houston Street began to change, as hippies, 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-60s. As 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 that the former being part of the latter.[3][4]

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. Clinton Street and Orchard Street, despite its "Bargain District" moniker, are lined with upscale restaurants and boutiques.

In late 2004, a boutique hotel, The Hotel on Rivington, or THOR, opened on Rivington Street. The glass-walled, 22-storied hotel towers over the neighborhood and provides a sharp contrast to the surrounding lowrise brick tenements.

In recent years, the gentrification that was previously confined to north of Delancey Street has continued south. Several restaurants, bars and galleries have opened below Delancey Street since 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 THOR, the Blue Moon used an existing tenement building and its exterior is almost identical to neighboring buildings.

Tenement buildings on the Lower East Side


Nightlife and live music

As the neighborhood gentrified and has become safer at night, it has become a popular late night destination. Clinton Street and Ludlow Street between Rivington Street and Stanton Street become especially packed at night, and the resulting noise is a cause of tension between bar owners and longtime residents.

Also, the Lower East Side is home to many live music venues. Up and coming alternative rock bands play at Bowery Ballroom on Delancey Street and Mercury Lounge on East Houston Street, while lesser known bands play at Tonic (closed 4/13/07) on Norfolk Street and Rothko on Suffolk Street. There are also bars that offer performance space, such as Pianos and the Living Room on Ludlow Street.

Noteworthy Lower East Siders

Remaining Jewish Lower East Side Culture

See also

References

  1. ^ "New York Nabes". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
  2. ^ McEvers, Kelly (2005-03-02). "Close-Up on the Lower East Side". Village Voice. Retrieved 2007-01-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Mele, Christopher. "Selling the Lower East Side - Geography Page". Selling the Lower East Side. Retrieved 2007-01-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Mele, Christopher. "The 1960s Counterculture and the Invention of the "East Village"". Selling the Lower East Side. Retrieved 2007-01-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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