Lower East Side

neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, United States

The Lower East Side is a neighborhood in southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is roughly made up of Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street. It is considered to be an immigrant, working class area, but some parts of the neighborhood have been bought, repaired, destroyed, and renovated in recent years. Because of this, The National Trust for Historic Preservation put Lower East Side Manhattan on their list of America's Most Endangered Places At one time, much of the Lower East Side was tenements or slums, but many of these have been torn down or replaced by housing projects. During the late 19th and early 20th century, almost a million people lived on the Lower East Side, making it one of the most densely populated places on the planet. In the early to mid-19th century, many of the people were from Ireland and Germany. In the late 19th and early 20th century, many of the people there were from Eastern Europe, including many Jews. Today, many of the immigrants in the Lower East Side are from the Dominican Republic and China.

Tenements on the Lower East Side in New York City