THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE AND THE LOWER EAST SIDE RENAISSANCE
“In the 19th and 20th centuries, millions of immigrants from around the world arrived in the United States to begin a new life in a new world. Many landed at New York City’s Ellis Island and settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Moving into cramped tenement buildings, families shared a few small rooms that often served both as living and work space for as many as 10 family members and their boarders.
In 1988, New York’s Tenement Museum was founded to commemorate the American immigrant experience and the intertwined histories of New York City and the immigrants who shaped its evolution. “[1]
I had the pleasure of doing the “Building on the Lower East Side” tour at the Tenement Museum with Ali Smith. It was a phenomenal opportunity to get better aquatinted with some of the older and newer structures of the neighborhood and learn about the cultural groups that lived and live in the Lower East Side.
Amazing fun facts like:
Did you know that 80% of the women’s clothes in for the US were once all made in the LES? In fact in the 1960s/70s Orchard Street was known as Underwear Alley, as all lingerie wholesalers were based right here. The final blow to the fabrics and clothing industry to this neighborhood happened in 2001 following the 911 Attacks. Retail was getting less and less foot traffic, and during the security lockdown caused by the terrorist attacks, the neighborhoods industry in ready-to-wear suffered.
Today the Lower East Side is going through a renaissance, with the development of Essex Crossing, the revival of the famous Essex Street Market with an underground extension, plus an an aquaponic dream, the Lowline Park.
Essex Crossing, is finally coming to fruition. A series of tenement houses were cleared in the 1960s at the food of the Williamsburg Brigde, finally give way to new housing inventory, outdoor shopping, and architectural excellence. Delancey Street is the widest street in Manhattan, and during the tenement clearing a parking lot occupied the spaces south of Delancey Street until 2017. Historically the Lower East Side was made of row-houses and tenement houses, now the neighborhood is adding more public parks and new inventory. The new Essex Street Market, which will be located on the ground floor of Essex Crossing’s Site 2, will act as a conduit for visitors of the Marketline, a three-block long underground marketplace. The Lowline Park will be the world’s first underground garden and park using artificial light sources, hydroponics, and mastering of a subterranean ambiance. The Williamsburg Bridge was built in 1904 after the unification of the 5 boroughs of Manhattan. Abandoned trolleys and rail lines under the bridge’s passage ways will turn into an underground world and park.
Walking Tour at the Tenement Museum Passes through the construction site.
As for visiting again, it’s on my radar to do the Then and Now Neighborhood Walking Tour, in addition to signing up for an annual membership pass which is ONLY $85 and grants you access to year long learning! Truly an amazing deal. Learn more here.
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It’s a Renaissance in the midst of chaos down here. Come be a part of it! Learn more through scheduling a property tour with me.
Ali Smith was fantastic as a tour guide pointing out the past and new architectural trends of the Lower East Side,