Lower East Side Tour & Enjoying the Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanada Festival!

RSVPs begin Wednesday, June 3rd at 9:00pm. Space is set aside for new group members and first and second timers. If you are in one of these categories and you land on the waiting list email me at hankorenstein@gmail.com to request a spot.

This tour is free with a welcome donation to your organizer/guide at the end via cash, venmo or zelle.

To Bring: Sun protection, water to drink, cash (may come in handy).

Arrive early to use the restroom inside the Essex Market. It is also fun to check out the various food purveyors and to get coffee and a bite to eat.
https://www.essexmarket.nyc/

During the tour we will visit the legendary annual free Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanada Street Festival which is celebration of the neighborhood's diverse communities. More info and to RSVP here:
https://www.eldridgestreet.org/eee-festival
We'll resume our walking tour and end where we began.

Tour Schedule:
1:00pm - Tour Begins (arrive early for restrooms)
2:30pm - 3:30pm: Enjoying the Festival (outdoors)
3:30pm - 5:00pm: Walking tour resumes (restroom stop at the Tenement Museum bookstore)
5:00pm: Tour ends at the Essex Market

TOUR OVERVIEW
When my paternal grandfather's family arrived in New York from Eastern Europe in 1905 they settled in the Lower East Side among the countless numbers of other immigrants who came to New York in search of economic opportunity, political and religious freedom. They worked as street peddlers selling clothing off of pushcarts.

The Lower East Side historically was the center of immigrant life for hundreds of thousands of people starting with people from Germany in the 1840's and then Italians, Jewish people and others from all over Eastern Europe, Greece and Russia. While the neighborhood has certainly changed and has attracted young people from all over the world in recent years, the area has maintained its diversity and remnants of its past which can be experienced by walking past the many tenements, religious buildings and businesses that have been in operation for 5 generations or more.

The Lower East Side is where New York's garment industry began in the 1800s and where the public health movement in the United States was born, arising from the devastating living conditions among the poorest immigrant families.

Stops during the tour include synagogues that are still in use, those that have been converted to other functions such as art galleries, churches, and event spaces as well as bathhouses, restaurants, movie theaters, and many more as we discuss the transformation of the neighborhood.

We'll be sure to pass the extraordinary Lower East Side Tenement Museum and store, where you can pick up information about the tours and educational programs offered there. We'll also experience vibrancy of the "new" Lower East Side -- and its expanding visual art scene, restaurants night life and new housing.

The tour ends where we began at the Essex Market.

Cheers from your organizer and guide!

Hank
646-596-3005
hankorenstein