Bohemian and chaotic, St. Marks Place is just a short stretch of three blocks east of Eighth Street in the heart of East Village. However, much longer thoroughfares could envy its storied past and ever-evolving present. St. Mark’s Place began its existence in 17th-century New Amsterdam as farmland bought in 1651 by Peter Stuyvesant, the…
Category: Lower East Side
Eldridge Street Synagogue
At the turn of the 20th century, the Lower East Side emerged as the most densely populated Jewish community on the planet! Running for their lives, escaping pogroms and prosecution, more than 2.5 million Jews immigrated to America; nearly 85 percent of them came to New York City, with the vast majority settling on the…
Lower East Side – New York’s Tower of Babel
Around the beginning of the 20th century, the Lower East Side could rival the biblical Tower of Babel, accommodating hordes of new immigrants from all over the world. In fact, by 1910, it became the most densely populated place in the world! The statistics are staggering: per 5,000 sq ft, the Lower East Side had 70…
Appetizing on the Lower East Side
Introduced by Eastern European Jews, who typically started their meals with cold appetizers, “Appetizing” is a Jewish contribution to the eclectic world of New York’s ethnic food traditions. Jewish dietary laws dictate that meat and dairy products must be separated. Since they cannot be eaten or sold together, they require separate shops. Stores selling cured…
City Beautiful Blog 