Lower East Side: What I Saw in NYC:

Formerly home to generations of striving immigrants, factories and industry, the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan has experienced a renaissance of sorts in the early 2000’s.  Grit was replaced by hip and age replaced with youth.  Old buildings were repurposed, rents went up and streets (some) were cleaned up.

Now this has progressed even further into full-on gentrification but it is mixed in with a bit of spunk and artistic flair.  The neighborhood is still alive and kicking and still a place of contrasts, although perhaps more marked than before.

I hope you enjoy these recent photos and that you get to visit the LES- what we locals call  it- if you’re ever in New York.

For more posts of mine about this neighborhood, see:

Quest for Old New York, Revisited

London’s Brick Lane and New York’s Lower East Side

A Whirlwind of Change: Essex Street Market, Revisited

PS- the LES and Chinatown run together, it’s often hard to tell one from other.

dueling florist 1

dueling florist 2

Dueling florists shops, one located one block from each other.

Muralists at Work Houston St. and 2nd Ave

An unrenovated, likely condemned block

Katz’s Deli: Decor- extremely retro Food: extremely oversized Price: ridiculously expensive

And finally for something gentrified: the century old Essex Market as reopened in 2019