Tenement History and Immigrant Life in the Lower East Side
From the Five Points and Mulberry Bend, through the Italian and Jewish immigrant waves, and finally what is today's Chinatown, this tour explores the development of a rustic landscape of lakes and farms into what became the mostly densely overcrowded neighborhood on earth barely 100 years ago. The incremental step-by-step process of putting the need for adequate housing over the drive for profit to house the immigrant poor, from disease-ridden cellar dwelling in tumble down shanties. to pre-, old- and new-law tenements, this tour uses pictures to show what is no longer there, and finds what continues to stand in the street walls today to tell the immensely rich, tragic and redemptive story of New York's Lower East Side.
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What's included in Tenement History and Immigrant Life in the Lower East Side
(Subject to Option Inclusions)Itinerary
Foley Square
We begin at the former sites of The Five Points neighborhood and Mulberry Bend, one-time notorious slums in New York City's history. The focus is on the "tenement," the early purpose-built housing for the working class, mostly immigrant poor whose history begins not far from this spot.
Columbus Park
Jacob Riis and his seminal work, How the Other Half Lives, helps bring to life the past communities that once occupied the site of today's Columbus Park, between Chinatown and the Court District.
Lower East SidePass-by Only
The heart of the tour is along the blocks of the Lower East Side and the non-stop tenement buildings that proliferated in the Lower East Side from the mid-19th to the early-20th Centuries. Not all tenements were associated with slum communities, though living conditions could be hard. We'll identify different tenements types from different eras, and witness the decades-long process of tenement evolution following advancing laws.
Inclusions
- Local guide
- Professional guide
- Gratuities
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- wear comfortable walking shoes
- snacks and water are recommended to revitalize
Meet
Pickup and Dropoff
You will make your own way to the meeting points
Meeting Points
- Tour starts nearby the sculpture, Triumph of the Human Spirit, at Foley Square
End Points
- We end overlooking the streets we walked from the upper floor lobby of the Indigo Hotel where we will be able to identify the various eras of tenement laws from a birds-eye perspective.
Redeem
Ticket Redemption
• Comfortable walking shoes are recommended