When the City Planning Commission formed on January 1, 1938, one of its primary initiatives was to revitalize the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods of New York City. After identifying the Lower East Side waterfront as one of the Big Apple’s neediest… Read More »A Brief History of Public Housing on the Lower East Side
In February of 1917, thousands of local women organized to combat sharply rising food prices. Spurred on by well-known anarchist and socialist leaders, many protesters turned violent and wreaked havoc on local businesses for several days. It is hard for… Read More »The Food Riots of February, 1917
For over a century, the East Side hosted at times the largest concentration of factories, stables, warehouses, coal, lumber and iron yards in the city.
From the ambitious political architects of our fledgling nation to the most powerful heads-of-state of the 21st century, the Lower East Side has hosted some pretty interesting presidential history. Former Continental Army Commander George Washington was inaugurated as the first… Read More »Looking at the Lower East Side’s Presidential Connections
Charles Sears during arrest (NYS Digital Library) On the night of June 27, 1981, a 32-year old man named Charles Sears began targeting Manhattan vagrants in a slashing spree which spanned ten days and claimed fifteen victims — two of… Read More »On this day in 1981, The “Bowery Slasher” begins targeting homeless men