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6 LOWER EAST SIDE: HISTORY, MEET HIPSTER

BOUNDARIES: E. Broadway, Chrystie St., Delancey St., Norfolk St.

DISTANCE: 2.2 miles

SUBWAY: F to E. Broadway

The Lower East Side has a mythic quality that is cherished by locals and tourists alike. Long known for its importance in Jewish American history, it has also been home base for generations of Latino and Chinese families and institutions. (Puerto Rican residents coined its Spanglish nickname, “Loisaida.”) Lacking the polish and glamour of Midtown, the quaint historical feel of City Hall, the cultural cool of the Upper West Side, or the moneyed elegance of Fifth Avenue, the Lower East Side has long held a reputation as a gritty place where people strive, where kids run the streets, where vendors and businesspeople hustle. It’s certainly more than that, of course, but it retains this essence in many ways.

The Lower East Side still shelters a mix of ethnicities, but with dollops of high style and hipster chic added to that mix. Upscale eateries, art galleries, posh or offbeat shops, and boutique hotels dwell side by side with grungy tenements and modest storefronts. And it seems like one out of five people is sipping a flavored bubble tea.

The neighborhood’s major anchors include Seward Park (which my old assistant principal fondly referred to as “Sewer Park”), Sara D. Roosevelt Park, the stores of Delancey Street, and the Williamsburg Bridge, along with the many houses of worship that have sustained residents over the years.

As architectural evidence of the Lower East Side’s deep Jewish roots, this walk takes you past 6 of New York City’s 250 lost synagogues, which now serve non-Jewish congregations, have been repurposed for nonreligious use, or sit abandoned and in danger of being lost forever.

 Emerge from the F station on Rutgers Street; East Broadway is half a block north. First take a look at the rustic Church of St. Teresa, housed in an old stone building that looks like it belongs in the countryside. Across the street is Captain Jacob Joseph Playground, more interesting for its name than the equipment in it. Joseph was a World War II hero who died in battle, and the great-grandson of Rabbi Jacob Joseph, the first (and only) chief rabbi of New York City.

 Walk the half-block to East Broadway and turn right. On the north side of the street is Straus Square, a triangular plaza named for Nathan Straus, a department store mogul (Abraham & Straus, Macy’s) and philanthropist. Just behind you at 173–75 East Broadway, towering above its neighbors, is the Forward Building (1912). It’s pricey condos now, but for decades it served as the offices of The Jewish Daily Forward, the best-known Yiddish newspaper in the United States. The front entrance, the western outer wall, and other spots have FORWARD emblazoned on them. Peer up at the clock near the roof—here, the Hebrew lettering reads FORVERTS, Yiddish for “forward.” Look for many opulent touches and a few surprises, such as carved heads of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. (Still published in print and online, The Forward was long associated with the socialist movement and continues to espouse progressive views today.)

 Cross East Broadway and walk into the park that’s just north of Straus Square. This is Seward Park, the first permanent city playground in the US, opened in October 1903 and named for William H. Seward, the noted 19th-century statesman. It has benefited from renovations over the years, but some of its pieces are more than 100 years old. (The Jacob H. Schiff Fountain, on the west side, dates to 1895, but it was brought here in 1936 from another park.) Inside the park are play areas, sprinklers, sports fields, a white-and-blue field house, a running-dog statue, and pigeons galore. You’ll often see Chinese senior citizens here working on their Tai Chi.

 Walk just east of the park to pay a visit to the Seward Park branch of the New York Public Library. It’s a handsome old building (1909), heavily used, with artwork by locals festooning the walls. It’s also one of 65 NYPL branches built with funding from Andrew Carnegie.

 Return to East Broadway and cross Rutgers Street heading right (west). At #145 is Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, a prestigious house of learning for Orthodox Jewish men. Its main building has five stories, its annex three. Note the four arches along the ground floor of the main building. Next door to the annex is an apartment building with stores on the street level; while the building looks worn overall, it has impressive window decorations all along the third and fourth floors and roofline, including several Jewish stars. At #125, find a hybrid of Chinese and midcentury New York architecture at the Fukien Benevolent Association of America. Two grinning-lion statues flank the front door, and gilded Chinese characters are inscribed just above it. Even if you can’t read the language, you can admire the style.

 Turn left at Pike Street. In the middle of the block is a large, off-white building that houses the Sung Tak Buddhist Association. Ascend the stairs and you’ll see ritual items such as incense urns, statues of animals and deities, paper lanterns, and plaques. If the bright-red doors are open, peek inside to see the temple and its pieces, such as drums, firecracker strands, and bells.The temple building (1904) was originally constructed in a hybrid Romanesque–Moorish Revival style for a prominent Jewish synagogue, B’nai Israel Kalwarie (Sons of Israel from Kalwaria, a Polish town). Better known as the Pike Street Shul, it was the birthplace of the Young Israel Modern Orthodox movement within Judaism. Out on the porch, you have views of the Manhattan Bridge, the grass dividers that partition wide Pike Street, and more.

 Return the way you came on Pike, past East Broadway, and turn left on Division Street.

 Make a right at Eldridge Street. At #12 is the Eldridge Street Synagogue, which opened in September 1887. It was the first purpose-built synagogue in the US for an Eastern European congregation. Look up, down, and all around to see the myriad decorative touches: wood carvings, faux-marble finishes, gilt stars in heavenly domes, and such. The Moorish Revival front entrance is breathtaking, and the windows, from the small east window (2010) to the huge rose window, amply show the artistry of their creators. In addition to the congregation that still davens (prays) here, the building houses a museum and gift shop.

The Eldridge Street Synagogue is chock-full of astonishing architectural detail.

 Back out on the sidewalk, walk to the right to see another religious group’s home, Pu Chao Buddhist Temple at 20 Eldridge. The doors and entrance are red and gold, and the buildings across the street are reflected in the brownish-red marble front.

 Walk north and east on Eldridge to Canal Street, and turn left.

 Just before you make a left onto Forsyth Street, note the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, a grand archway flanked by regal columns. Cars, subway trains, bicyclists, and pedestrians all make their way over this bridge. Walk on Forsyth Street and perhaps you’ll see a few itinerant vendors toiling in the shadow of the bridge during pleasant weather. On the east side of Forsyth—the only side with buildings along it—is St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, with its pretty three-door entrance and false dome. At this point, you may not be surprised to learn that this was also a former synagogue, Kol Israel Anshe Poland.

 Go in the other direction on Forsyth and cross Canal Street, heading north. A sprawling school complex on your right houses a middle school (Dr. Sun Yat Sen MS 131), Pace University High School (public and prestigious), and Emma Lazarus High School (also public, for English-language learners). The early-1980s building is ungainly—think a junior version of the quirky Guggenheim Museum uptown—but it has cheery paintings on the outer walls, as well as an apple statue. Sara D. Roosevelt Park is across the street and extends up to Houston Street in the East Village. It’s a lovely, peaceful place, but it bears mentioning that to create it, the buildings on the west side of Forsyth Street and the east side of Chrystie Street were condemned and knocked down. Urban renewal!

 Turn right at Hester Street to see more of the school complex. At #113 is the Hester Street Collaborative/Leroy Street Studio, encompassing art, activism, and more.

 Turn left on Eldridge Street. This block is typical of the Lower East Side, full of businesses with Chinese, Spanish, and English signs, graffiti in various spots, and old buildings in varying degrees of upkeep. A plain building at #77 houses a Chinese church, but more interesting is #87: The circular multipart windows and the decorations above the top-floor windows are indicators, along with a few old signs in Hebrew, that this was a synagogue long ago. Years after the Jews left, it was a Christian church for a while. Then noted painter Milton Resnick moved in, renovated it, and used the building as his home and studio. The building now houses the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, an art gallery.

 Continue on Eldridge across Grand Street. Make a short detour to the right on Broome Street to #280, Kehila Kedosha Janina. An active synagogue with a museum, this is the only Romaniote (Greek Jewish) congregation in the Americas. The quaint, narrow two-story building has lovely windows and blends Moorish elements with the Judaic.

 Walk back to Eldridge Street and go right. At #133 is the Woodward Gallery, which houses modern art in a red-and-white tenement … that was originally a synagogue for Sephardic (Spanish–Portuguese) congregations. At 139 Eldridge is LMAK Projects, another modern-art gallery.

 Turn right onto Delancey Street to see more galleries such as #55, Brennan & Griffin, and James Fuentes next door (and if they’re open, go in to visit).

 Turn left on Allen Street, called Avenue of the Immigrants here. At 133 Allen stands the white-painted Church of Grace to Fujianese, which was originally a public bathhouse—used back when many local tenement buildings lacked their own showers or baths. (Look carefully at the sign to see PUBLIC BATH in faded letters.)

 At Rivington Street, turn left. At #61 is the Lamb’s Nazarene Church, but years before this was the Rivington public library. Across the street, at #60, is a peculiar building: It once housed two synagogues, first Adath Yeshurun of Jassy and later Erste Warshawer, and it was designed by Emery Roth, best known for his iconic apartment buildings along Central Park West. It’s now owned by an artist who retained much of the Judaica outside but changed part of the Jewish star, removing a few metal bars of it so that it resembles a camera’s lens.You’ll notice by now that the Lower East Side is one of those split-personality places: working-class folk and their a-bit-grimy buildings and stores side by side with hipster specialty shops and eateries, art galleries, and fashion. The old and the new accept each other, at times grudgingly. With that in mind, reverse direction on Rivington.

 Turn right on Orchard Street, long a haven for clothing bargains. Check out #140, The Orchard, an apartment building with its name emblazoned in golden paint. The walls of #130 are an advertisement for, and testament to, S. Beckenstein Inc. Woolens, Rayons, Silks, and Draperies. And a dangling street sign reminds everyone that on Sundays, Orchard Street is pedestrian-only for most of the day. (This was very exciting to me and my brother when we were kids and our parents brought us here—even if just to shop for clothes.)

 Now make like the romcom, carefully crossing Delancey Street along Orchard Street to the Tenement Museum, which tells the story of immigration through the real-life experiences of people who settled in the neighborhood. Besides the main museum building, you can take a tour of 97 Orchard, a tenement that was home to immigrant families from many different ethnic groups. Some rooms are carefully designed to resemble the cramped, spartan accommodations these families lived in at the turn of the century. The fact that people could live so humbly yet make their mark and (mostly) thrive is a big part of the American story. Perhaps some of the local chichi galleries are owned or frequented by descendants of the old-timers.

 Walk to 84 Orchard to see the gallery Artifact.

 Make a left at Grand Street, taking note of Shin Gallery at #322.

 Make a left at Ludlow Street. This whole block is taken up on the right by the Seward Park High School campus. This 1929 building stands on the site of the long-gone Ludlow Street Jail; the school itself had an earlier site as well. Today five smaller schools share the E-shaped campus.

 Check out stores and buildings along Ludlow (including the slightly funky Esther apartment building at #126–128) until you reach Rivington Street; then make a right. This block has one of the best candy stores in Manhattan, Economy Candy at 108 Rivington. Forget restraint—go here for candies you rarely find elsewhere, cute T-shirts, and fun collectibles. Across the street is the high-rise, so-glassy Hotel on Rivington. How do they clean all the windows? Walk to Essex Street to see the large wall mural for Schapiro’s Wines, the last of the Lower East Side’s kosher wine companies.

 Make a right on Essex and enter the Essex Street Market on your left. Roam. The building, which dates to 1940, was Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s effort to get food carts off the streets to relieve congestion. In recent years this outpost has become a mix of ethnic food and supply shops (Latino mostly) and hipster food stalls (artisanal meats, cheeses, and more), as well as Cuchifritos Art Gallery and a barber.

 Turn left on Delancey Street. On the left, at Norfolk Street, you can’t help but gawk at the shades-of-blue-glass high-rise known as Blue Condominium. Built in 2007, it has an unconventional sculptural shape that’s hard to describe—you just have to see it. A few blocks ahead in the distance is the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn.

 Go one block on Norfolk Street to your right. At the corner of Norfolk and Broome Street is a very old synagogue, Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol. Built in 1850 as a Baptist church, this was the first Eastern European synagogue established in New York City. The congregation was led by Rabbi Jacob Joseph, the city’s chief rabbi—a post only he ever held—from 1888 to 1902 (this tour began at the playground named for his great-grandson). The building, beautiful but worn, sits unused as of this writing because of storm damage in 1997 and further storm-related damage in later years, as well as minor acts of vandalism. Its future is being debated as it grows more dilapidated. Very sad, but it deserves to be seen.

 Walk back on Norfolk Street to Delancey Street, where you can get a train at the Essex Street subway station.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Captain Jacob Joseph Playground Henry Street at Rutgers Street

Straus Square nycgovparks.org/parks/straus-square, bounded by Canal Street, Rutgers Street, and East Broadway

Forward Building 175 E. Broadway

Seward Park nycgovparks.org/parks/seward-park, bounded by Canal Street, Essex Street, Jefferson Street, and East Broadway

Seward Park Library nypl.org/locations/seward-park, 192 E. Broadway, 212-477-6770

Sung Tak Buddhist Association (Congregation B’nai Israel Kalwarie) 13 Pike St., 212-513-0230

Eldridge Street Synagogue and Museum eldridgestreet.org, 12 Eldridge St., 212-219-0888

St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church stbarbaragoc.com, 27 Forsyth St., 212-226-0499

Hester Street Collaborative/Leroy Street Studio hesterstreet.org, 113 Hester St., 917-265-8591

Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation resnickpasslof.org, 87 Eldridge St., 212-226-1259

Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum kkjsm.org, 280 Broome St., 212-431-1619

Woodward Gallery woodwardgallery.net, 133 Eldridge St., 212-966-3411

LMAK Projects lmakprojects.com, 139 Eldridge St., 212-255-9707

Brennan & Griffin brennangriffin.com, 55 Delancey St., 212-227-0115

James Fuentes jamesfuentes.com, 55 Delancey St., 212-577-1201

Tenement Museum tenement.org, 103 Orchard St., 212-982-8420

Artifact artifactnyc.net, 84 Orchard St., 212-475-0448

Shin Gallery shin-gallery.com, 322 Grand St., 212-375-1735

Seward Park High School Campus sewardparkhs.com, 350 Grand St., 212-673-2650

Economy Candy economycandy.com, 108 Rivington St., 212-254-1531

Essex Street Market essexstreetmarket.com, 120 Essex St., 212-312-3603

Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space artistsallianceinc.org, 120 Essex St.

ROUTE SUMMARY

1 Walk north on Rutgers Street to East Broadway, and turn right.

2 Cross Canal Street and walk into Straus Square and Seward Park.

3 Head west on East Broadway after visiting the parks and the library.

4 Walk left on Pike Street.

5 Turn around on Pike Street, cross East Broadway, and walk left on Division Street.

6 Walk right on Eldridge Street.

7 Go left on Canal Street.

8 Stroll left on Forsyth Street for about a block; then double back on Forsyth, cross Canal Street, and continue on Forsyth to Sara D. Roosevelt Park.

9 Walk right on Hester Street.

10 Go left on Eldridge Street.

11 Make a brief right on Broome Street, then return to Eldridge Street and turn right.

12 Walk right on Delancey Street.

13 Stroll left on Allen Street.

14 Walk left on Rivington Street, then double back and head in the opposite direction.

15 Walk right on Orchard Street.

16 Go left on Grand Street.

17 Walk left on Ludlow Street.

18 Take a right on Rivington Street.

19 Walk right on Essex Street.

20 Go left on Delancey Street.

21 Stroll right on Norfolk Street.

22 Double back to Delancey Street for the train.

CONNECTING THE WALKS

With the Williamsburg Bridge behind you, walk on Delancey to Allen Street, make a right, and cross Houston Street to arrive at the start of Walk 8 (East Village). To start the next tour, (The Bowery, Little Italy, and Soho), walk about seven blocks west on Delancey from the Essex Street station, turn left on Chrystie Street, and walk two blocks to the corner of Chrystie and Grand Street.

Historic Seward Park and its fountain