Immigrant tenements and late nights
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Fire escapes stripe the fronts of Orchard and Ludlow Streets, and century-old delis sit next to art galleries and serious cocktail bars. The Lower East Side holds New York's memory: every building has seen wave after wave of newcomers, and the neighbourhood still stays up late — very late.
From the late 19th century to the 1920s, it was one of the most densely populated places on earth: Eastern European Jews, Italians, Irish and Germans crammed into tenements with no running water or light. Pushcarts filled Orchard Street, synagogues and mutual aid societies multiplied. Once the families moved on, low rents drew artists and musicians, then the galleries and bars it's known for today.
