Lower East Side

It’s time to revisit the old East Side, that improbably upscale part of New York that is historically the quintessential immigrant landing pad, immemorially poor until yesterday. At the turn of the century, part of the Lower East Side was very likely the most densely populated community on earth. We will look at the succession of immigrant groups–Irish, German, eastern European Jewish, Chinese–that have occupied this part of the city, at the architecture (with some emphasis on tenements), literary associations, philanthropy (e.g., settlement houses) and misguided do-gooderism (the campaign to get the Jews to stop eating pickles), and much more, with special attention to one of your guide’s favorite topics, the City Beautiful principles that guided the reform of the “slums” in the early 20th century (e.g., the Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonnade, Seward Park, etc.).