LOWER EAST SIDE

The Lower East Side of the 1800s was a neighborhood of immigrants of many nationalities and cultures including German, Irish, Italian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Rumanian, and among them a large number of Eastern European Jews.  These immigrants lived in overcrowded, walk up tenement buildings, which were unsafe, with little or no light, poorly ventilated, and where the threat and fear of disease always lingered.  Families speaking a large variety of languages -- and even different versions of Yiddish -- were neighbors, lived together, and co-existed.  

In 1890 there were 523.6 inhabitants per acre living on the Lower East Side.  By 1900, the number had increased to 700 persons per acre.  In 1910, the Lower East Side was the most crowded area in the entire world.  There were horses and carriages and pleasant smells of wonderful foods along with the stench from the streets and that of horse manure.  

By 1875, German-Americans made up one-third of the city's population.  They settled in a part  of the neighborhood known as Kleindeutschland (little Germany) a 400 block area east of the Bowery, north of Division Street and south of 14th Street along the East River.   The neighborhood was the largest Yiddish speaking neighborhood in the United States.  It was also home to the Yiddish theater and the Jewish newspaper, The Forward, established in 1897 as a socialist daily Yiddish paper.  Most families lived in this neighborhood until they were financially able to move to a better neighborhood or a different borough.  As one ethnic group moved out of the lower east side, another group moved in.  By the 1920s, the Lower East Side's population had decreased.   

Lower East Side streets were crowded with people and street vendors pushcarts cooking and selling all kinds of food including chestnuts, bagels, pickles, and various kinds of fresh bread.  Oysters were so plentiful in New York Harbor that they were sold on the streets, in saloons, and bars.  German bars and Irish-American music halls were numerous.  In 1905, an estimated 2,500 vendors sold goods on the streets.  In the late 1800, pickles in wooden barrels were sold for one penny on the streets at Pickle Alley (Essex Street) and at storefronts.  The tradition of selling pickles continues today at The Pickle Guys (one of the above photos) on Grand Street.  

A Tenement House Exhibit of 1899 by social reformer, Lawrence Veiller, brought the public's attention to the poverty, overcrowding and sanitary conditions in these buildings.  Tenement buildings were defined as any building in which more than three families lived independently and had their own kitchen where they cooked.  There are a few old tenement buildings that are still standing.  Positive changes were brought about by Veiller, photojournalists Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant himself, and Lewis Hine.  A new Tenement House Law, written by Veiller, was passed by the New York State legislature in April 1900.  New York Police reporter, Jacob Riis, captured the conditions of immigrants' lives in his photo book, How the Other Half Lives, in 1890.  Lewis Hine's photographs of the children of the period were instrumental in bringing about child labor laws.  (Hine later photographed the construction of the Empire State Building.)  

Some residents, especially those employed by the garment industry, worked in their cramped apartments.  The Lower East Side became the center of the country’s garment industry.  There was even a teddy bear finisher.  During the Civil War the New York City's garment industry was producing uniforms for both Union and Confederate soldiers as well as clothing for slaves who worked on Southern plantations.  Immigrants were cheap labor and were often paid by the number of pieces they make (which meant speedy work was essential).  An advantage for some immigrants in the garment industry was that they did not need to know how to speak English in order to perform their jobs.  By 1910, 70% of women’s and 40% of men’s clothing in America were produced in New York City. 

A young Eleanor Roosevelt once volunteered at the Rivington Street Settlement House where she taught ballroom dancing and calisthenics to young children.  A park on Delancey Street was named after Franklin Roosevelt's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, in 1934.

Immigration by the Chinese was unlike any other group.  They first came to America in 1815, but a 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act became the first American law to ever restrict immigration and it suspended immigration from China for ten years.  New York City's Chinatown today is the largest immigrant neighborhood in both the city and the entire Western Hemisphere.     

The Tenement Museum on Orchard Street has done a fantastic job of preserving the history of this neighborhood.  It's dedicated to telling the story of immigrants living in New York from 1860 to the 1930’s.  The museum gives tours of a tenement building at 97 Orchard Street where five different families (German, German Jewish, Irish, Italian, Lithuanian-Russian Jewish) lived.  Virtual tours of the tenements and stories of the families are on their website.  The museum maintains an important archives on the history of immigration and resources for teachers.  The Lower East Side Project also gives tours of the area and offers additional information.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the Lower East Side as one of "the 11 most endangered historic places in America" in 2008.  Too much of the old neighborhood has disappeared as new buildings, luxury apartment complexes, cafes, and bars have been constructed.

Eldridge Street Synagogue and businesses such as Katz Deli, Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery, and Kossar's Bialys still offer a snapshot of the culture and heritage of the old Jewish past.  The Lower East Side is now primarily known for the delicious food that can be found in Chinatown and Little Italy.  Every September Little Italy holds the Feast of San Gennaro on Mulberry Street when restaurants and street vendors offer their best foods.