New_York_City_2012_-_Fodor_39_s

TOP EXPERIENCES

Browsing boutiques in SoHo and NoLIta

Architecture-ogling along Greene Street

Engage in some gallery hopping

Grazing at Little Italy’s Grand Street grocers

Doing brunch at Balthazar

SOHO: TOP TOURING EXPERIENCES

SHOP ’TIL YOU DROP

The stretch of Broadway between Houston and Broome streets is a flurry of pedestrian traffic with retail giants like H&M, Banana Republic, and Victoria’s Secret, as well as local city favorites such as Scoop NYC (532 Broadway |

212/925–2266) and Pearl River Mart (477 Broadway | 212/431–4770).

To the west or east in SoHo are boutiques from established contemporary designers such as Catherine

Malandrino, Kate Spade, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Anja Hindmarch, and Vivienne Tam, just to name a few. If the crowds of fashionistas and tourists start to become too much, head a few blocks over to West Broadway—also lined with mostly chain stores—where the action is less interesting but the sidewalk is also less trafficked.

In NoLIta, on Elizabeth, Mulberry, and Mott streets, mix with models and magazine editors at one-off shops by young designers just starting to make their marks. There, amid lingering remnants of the neighborhood’s Italian immigrant past, custom-designed jewelry, hand-sewn dresses, trendy home furnishings, and high-concept lighting fill the storefronts.

When you’re shopped out and ready to drop, hit Bliss SoHo (568 Broadway, 2nd Fl., between Prince and Houston Sts.) for a muscle-soothing Ginger Rub massage. Just be warned, this type of pampering isn’t the “walk-in” variety, so book at least a month ahead on | www.blissworld.com or just enjoy the spa store with its lotions and potions to cart back to your hotel.

MODERN ART AND DESIGN

Even if you’re not in the market for a $1,000 skirt, the 23,000-square-foot Prada design store (575 Broadway | 212/334–8888) is worth a stop to check out the Rem Koolhaas design. TIP Try something on just to experience the drama of the dressing room, just as hyperdesigned as the rest of the space. A showcase of everything wired, the Apple Store (103 Prince St. | 212/226–3126) is a tech-head’s Nirvana.

Edgy in the ‘70s and ‘80s, SoHo still retains some of the artists’ galleries that brought the neighborhood to the forefront of the city’s art scene at the time. Several of SoHo’s better exhibition spaces, including Deitch Projects and the Drawing Center, are clustered in the vicinity of Greene and Wooster streets near Grand and Canal. Many a rainy day can be spent enjoying the often outré collections inside, no purchase necessary.

19TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE

SoHo has the world’s greatest concentration of cast-iron buildings, built in response to fires that wiped out much of Lower Manhattan in the mid-18th century. It’s hard to single out any one block, as almost all have gorgeous examples of the various cast-iron styles (Italianate, Victorian Gothic, Greek Revival), but Greene Street has two buildings that are architectural standouts: the Queen of Greene Street and the King of Greene Street.

Other notable buildings are the Beaux-Arts Little Singer Building and the Haughwout Building on Broadway, and the 1885 Romanesque Revival Puck Building (295 Lafayette St.), a former magazine headquarters and now a busy event space. Lastly, the “Look down, look around” admonishment need not apply only to commuters in Penn Station. In SoHo you’ll notice lights in the sidewalk along Broadway and neighboring streets. Starting in the 1850s, these vault lights were set into sidewalks to permit daylight to reach basements.

TOP ATTRACTIONS IN SOHO

Fodor’s Choice | King of Greene Street.

This five-story Renaissance-style 1873 building has a magnificent projecting porch of Corinthian columns and pilasters. Today the King is painted in high-gloss ivory and houses a boutique on the ground floor with an array of fashion-forward international labels and an espresso bar that among other things, serves mochas, affogatos and green tea lattes. | 72–76 Greene St., between Spring and Broome Sts., SoHo | 10012 | Subway: R to Prince St.

THE BEST ITALIAN AMERICAN EATS

Around Grand Street near Mulberry and Mott are a number of fine family-run Italian grocers, including the fifthgeneration DiPalo’s Fine Foods (200 Grand St. |

212/226–1033), known for its amazing cheese and cured meats (ask for a sample!), and fourth-generation Alleva (188 Grand St. | 212/226–7990), where the mozzarella and fried rice balls are among the best in the city. Although it’s technically NoLIta, newcomer Torrisi Italian Specialties

(250 Mulberry St. | 212/965–0955), with former cooks from Babbo (a Mario Batali enoteca in Greenwich Village), has brought high-quality Italian-American food back to the area. Try to avoid visiting before dinner, when locals hit them after work, and have a much less frenzied experience and more of a chance to taste the goods. (DiPalo’s in particular has long lines most days.)

It’s practically a crime to visit Little Italy without a stop into

Ferrara (195 Grand St. | 212/226–6150), a fifth-generation business that was started in 1892. Grab a Baba Rum, an espresso, some gelato, and, of course, a cannoli. Because of the restaurant’s popularity, waits for tables—especially on summer weekends—can top out at an hour or more. An alternative is to hop on the to-go line (it’s usually significantly shorter), and have your sweets boxed to go to savor in your hotel room.

Speaking of crime, there’s a bit of food-related mob history at the corner of Hester and Mulberry streets, at what was once Umberto’s Clam House (nowDa Gennaro Restaurant | 129 Mulberry St. | 212/431–3934), where in 1972 mobster Joey Gallo was gunned down by mob hit men during dinner. Although this was Little Italy’s most notorious whack job, there are less-well-known mob spots here, like John “The Dapper Don” Gotti’s former Manhattan headquarters at 247 Mulberry Street in NoLIta.

THE HEART OF LITTLE ITALY

St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral (263 Mulberry St.) was established in 1809, and described by the NewYork Gazette as “a grand and beautiful church, which may justly be considered one of the greatest ornaments of our city.” Step inside this Gothic Revival church, once the scene of race riots, vehement anti-Catholic protests, and other less savory bits of N.Y.C. history, to see a peaceful space with a grandeur that far exceeds what you might expect to find in this neighborhood (once Little Italy but is now technically in NoLIta).

TOP ATTRACTIONS IN LITTLE ITALY AND NOLITA

Most Precious Blood Church.

A replica of the grotto at Lourdes is the high point of the Most Precious Blood Church’s richly painted interior. The church becomes a focal point during the annual San Gennaro festival. | 109 Mulberry St., Little Italy | 10013 | 212/226–6427 | Mass Sat. noon, 5:30; Sun. 9, noon, 2 (Vietnamese) | Subway: N, Q, R, 6 to Canal St.; J, Z to Canal St.

Fodor’s Choice | St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

If you’ve watched The Godfather, you’ve peeked inside St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral—the interior shots of the infamous baptism scene were filmed here.

The unadorned exterior of the cathedral gives no hint to the splendors within, including an 1868 Henry Erben pipe organ. The enormous marble altar surrounded by handcarved niches (reredos) house an extraordinary collection of sacred statuary and other Gothic exuberance.

There’s a maze of mortuary vaults underneath the cathedral (older residents of Little Italy recall playing hide-and-seek in the vaults), and the outdoor cemetery is the final resting place for notable New Yorkers, such as the Venerable Pierre Toussaint, an African-American who was born a slave in Haiti and made his fortune as a New York hairdresser, and whose many charitable works have resulted in his consideration for sainthood. Also interred here is Bishop Hughes—better known during his time as “Dagger John,” a nickname he earned for his fiery temperament and the distinctive pointed cross he always scrawled after signing his name. | 263 Mulberry St., corner of Mott and Prince Sts., NoLIta | 10012 | 212/226–8075 | Hrs. may vary, usually open 8–5. Mass weekdays 8:30 am (Spanish) and 12:10 (English); Sat. 8:30 am (Spanish), 12:10 (English), and 5:30 (English); Sun. 9:15 (English), 10:15 (Chinese), 11:30 (Spanish), 12:45 (English), and 7 pm (English) | Subway: R to Prince St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

WORTH NOTING IN LITTLE ITALY AND NOLITA

New York City Police Headquarters.

Seen in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of NewYork, this magnificent 1909 Edwardian baroque structure with a striking copper dome served as the headquarters of the New York City Police Department until 1973. Designed to

“impress both the officer and the prisoner with the majesty of the law,” it was converted into luxury condos in 1988 and is known today as the Police Building Apartments. Bigname residents have included Cindy Crawford, Winona Ryder, and Steffi Graf. | 240 Centre St., between Broome and Grand Sts., Little Italy | 10013 | Subway: 6 to Spring St.; J, Z to Bowery.

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Planning

The East Village: Top Touring Experiences | Top

Attractions | Worth Noting

The Lower East Side: Top Attractions | Top Attractions |

Worth Noting

Updated by Arthur Bovino

The high concept of “La Bohème meets hipsters in vintage clothing,” better known as the musical Rent, accurately pegs the East Village as a community of artists, activists, and other social dissenters. Spend some time wandering these bohemian side streets, and you’ll be struck by the funky pastiche of ethnicities whose imprints are visible in the neighborhood’s restaurants, shops, and, of course, people.

Another defining point in the neighborhood’s history, American punk was born here at the now-defunct CBGB; the punk rock and indie scene is kept alive at the many small music venues both here and on the Lower East Side.

These days a walk along the lively but somewhat homogenized St. Marks Place barely evokes this oncegritty and counterculture scene. The arrival of Whole Foods, a Trader Joe’s, and the new glass-and-chrome condos signal that a tamer neighborhood has taken hold.

Enter the Lower East Side. Often referred to as simply as LES, the historic “Gateway to America” for many seeking a better life has seen waves of Irish, German, Jewish, Hispanic, and Chinese immigrants. Now it’s their greatgrandchildren who pay top dollar for tiny apartments here, coming in droves to revel in the very place their forebears fought to leave for the greener “suburbs” of Brooklyn and Queens. On Saturday nights the scene can be as raucous as a college town, especially on Rivington and Orchard streets.

But during the day the Lower East Side is a wonderful place to catch of glimpse of the past, especially if it includes a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. And then, of course, there’s noshing the neighborhood is famous for, from pastrami on rye at the age-old Katz’s Delicatessen or Russ & Daughters to the wide selection of top gourmet eats at the fantastic

Essex Street Market.

PLANNING

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME

Houston Street, which runs the entire width of this part of Manhattan, somewhat neatly divides the area south of 14th Street and east of 4th Avenue and the Bowery into the East Village (above) and the Lower East Side (below). So many communities converge in these neighborhoods that each block seems like a new neighborhood unto itself.

The East Village lets loose on weekend nights, when reservations fill up and bar-hoppers converge. Visiting on weekdays makes for a less frenetic experience, when establishments attract mostly locals shuffling on errands and visitors enjoying the mellow shopping and café vibe. (It should be noted that “locals” always includes a large number of students from New York University.) Weekend days see the street life at its most vibrant, with brunch spots like Prune and Back Forty filled with lingering patrons, and boutique shoppers trying on vintage dresses.

The Lower East Side is not an early riser any day of the week. Although there’s plenty to see during the day, nightfall offers a different vision: blocks that were previously empty rows of pulled-down gratings transform into clusters of throbbing bars. When shopping, be aware that a number of traditional food and clothing establishments close on Saturday to observe the Jewish Sabbath, and on Sunday Orchard Street below Houston becomes a pedestrian-only strip where street vendors set up their stands outside the many “bargain district” clothing and specialty shops. On the increasingly trendy streets around Rivington and Stanton, stores, bars, and cafés buzz all week but are less crowded by day.

GETTING HERE AND AROUND

Take the R subway line to 8th Street or the 6 to Astor Place. To reach Alphabet City, take the L to 1st Avenue or the F to 2nd Avenue. Head southeast from the same stop on the F, or take the F to Delancey or the J, M, Z to Essex Street. Driving is not recommended, as parking here is very difficult.

FODOR’S CHOICE

Essex Street Market

TOP EXPERIENCES

People-watching on St. Marks Place

Stopping for a beer at McSorley’s

Strolling through the Strand Bookstore

Wandering around the Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Wandering around the Lower East Side’s funy boutiques

Having a classic New York Deli at Katz’s or Russ & Daughters

EAST VILLAGE: TOP TOURING EXPERIENCES

ASTOR PLACE: ANCHORED IN TIME

Stop for a moment at Astor Place, the triangle formed by the intersections of East 8th Street, Lafayette Street, Astor Place, and 4th Avenue. The area seems frozen in time, in a way, with both a university and an arts community holding on to the idealism of the neighborhood’s past. On any given day there are students from NYU or Cooper Union shooting a film or sketching a scene, political groups soliciting signatures, and punks and rockers boldly evincing the city’s bohemian subculture.

Distinctive architecture and design are also part of this area’s legacy. On East 4th Street off Lafayette is the

Merchant’s House Museum, an example of upscale residential Manhattan life in the 19th century and open for a self-guided tour. Colonnade Row, around the corner along Lafayette Street, is marked by marble Corinthian columns in front of a sweep of Greek Revival mansions once home to millionaires John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt. It’s easy to miss, as they’re above the mix of theaters, restaurants, and other retail establishments that now fill their lower levels.

New design-forward buildings are also popping up in the area, including Cooper Union’s Science and Art Building, built in 2009. The Sculpture for Living building, a much-maligned glass-and-steel tower of million-dollar apartments, sits smack in the middle of numerous low-rises in jarring contrast. Its name and shape seem to ironically refer to what had previously been Astor Place’s focal point, the Alamo, a giant spinning cube on the central traffic island. At the entrance to the Astor Place Subway Station is a cast-iron replica of the Beaux-Arts kiosks that

covered most subway entrances in the early 20th century.

TAKING IN LOCAL FLAVOR

Those living in the East Village come from a wide range of ethnicities and sub-cultures. East 6th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues is known as Little India, and spilling around the corners to each of the avenues there are Bangladeshi and Indian grocery stores, boutiques, and restaurants that offer inexpensive dining choices. Two blocks east, the strip between Avenues A and B is a South American enclave, with an eclectic mix of generally affordable eateries as well.

East 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues is dominated by St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, the meeting place for the local Ukrainian community and the site of an annual Ukrainian folk festival in spring. Incongruously, the block also has an odd assortment of brewpubs, including the grizzly McSorley’s Old Ale House, made famous by the writer Joseph Mitchell in his 1945 essay, which has remained unchanged in both menu and decor over its 100-plus-year history (but now allows women to partake in the revelry).

One block north is St. Marks Place, aka 8th Street between 3rd Avenue and Avenue A. Over the years, beatniks, artists, and musicians have congregated at this hub of the East Village scene.

Today the block between 2nd and 3rd avenues feels like a shopping arcade for the vinyl-pants set. It’s crammed with body-piercing and tattoo salons; shops selling cheap jewelry, sunglasses, incense, and caustic T-shirts; and restaurants and bars. And if you’re craving Asian food, there seems to be a new restaurant opening here every day. TIP Many attest that the egg cream was hatched at Gem Spa (131 2nd Ave. | 212/995–1866), a 24-hour newsstand at the corner of St. Marks and 2nd Avenue. Cold milk, seltzer, and chocolate or vanilla syrup combine to make this peculiarly New York drink, $2.50.

One block north in what feels like a world away is Stuyvesant Street, a strip of historic redbrick row houses— and the oldest street in Manhattan—laid out along a precise east–west axis (other streets in the city follow the island’s geographic orientation). Fitting in perfectly is St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, a charming 1799 fieldstone country church that occupies the former site of Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant’s family chapel.

THE CITY’S BOHEMIA

East of 1st Avenue is Alphabet City. The streets of Avenues A, B, and C were once burned-out slums and drug haunts, but the neighborhood started to turn around in the 90s and has managed to hold onto the same young, artistic rawness it established more than two decades ago.

At the center of the crowded tenements is Tompkins Square Park, a popular hangout with playgrounds, green expanses, and active dog runs. The Avenue A side has one of the city’s most interesting arrays of inexpensive ethnic restaurants, Internet cafés, collectibles shops, and low-rent bars.

Contributing to the artistic bent is the popular Friday-night poetry slam at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on East 3rd Street between Avenues B and C. At 151 Avenue B, on the east side of the park, stands a brownstone where jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker lived in the ‘50s.

QUIRKY ARCHITECTURE

The East Village’s reputation for quirkiness is evidenced not only among its residents and sites but also in the many incongruous structures that somehow coexist so easily that they can go almost unnoticed. Keep your eyes open as you explore the streets. You never know what might turn up:

The Hells Angel’s Headquarters tucked into a residential block of 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd avenues, surrounded by a bevy of showstopping bikes.

The architectural “joke” on New York City atop the Red Square building on Houston Street at Norfolk, where a statue of Lenin points to the sky and a clock has lost its notion of time.

The shingled Cape Cod–style house perched on the apartment building at the northwest corner of Houston and 1st Avenue, one of the city’s many unique rooftop retreats. It’s best viewed from the east.

Two privately owned, nearly hidden but airy “marble” cemeteries (New York Marble Cemetery and the New York City Marble Cemetery) established in the 1830s on Second Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets hold the remains of thousands in underground, marble-lined vaults thought to prevent the spread of disease in a time marked by cholera epidemics. The gardens are surrounded by 12foot walls made of Tuckahoe marble and entered through wrought-iron gates. Although rarely open to the public they

can be visited by appointment.

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TOP ATTRACTIONS IN THE EAST VILLAGE

Alphabet City.

The north–south avenues east of 1st Avenue, from Houston Street to 14th Street, are all labeled with letters, not numbers, which gives this area its nickname. While Avenues A, B, and C are mostly gentrified, Avenue D is still a bit rough around the edges.

Avenues A and B along the park have a wide variety of cafés, bars, and a steadily growing restaurant scene. A close-knit Puerto Rican community makes its home around Avenue C, also called Loisaida Avenue (a Spanglish creation meaning “Lower East Side”), with predominantly Latino shops and bodegas. Avenue C also has plenty of fun

spots for booze and food, ranging from a Bavarian indoor beer garden to local joints serving up tacos to eclectic Australian and Brazilian eateries. | East Village | 10009 |

Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.; L to 1st Ave.; F to 2nd Ave.

McSorley’s Old Ale House.

Joseph Mitchell immortalized this spot, which claims to be one of the city’s oldest, in The NewYorker. Opened in 1854, it didn’t admit women until 1970. Fortunately, it now offers separate restrooms. The mahogany bar, gas lamps, potbellied stove, and yellowing newspaper clips are originals.

Try to visit on a weekday before 7 pm to enjoy one of the two McSorley’s ales and a cheese plate with onions in relative peace. Be warned: on weekends this place is a zoo, and there can be a line to get in day or night. | 15 E. 7th St., between 2nd and 3rd Aves., East Village | 10003 | 212/473–9148 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.

St. Marks Place.

The longtime hub of the edgy East Village, St. Marks Place is the name given to idiosyncratic East 8th Street between 3rd Avenue and Avenue A. During the 1950s beatniks Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac lived and wrote in the area; the 1960s brought Bill Graham’s Fillmore East, Andy Warhol’s the Dom, the Electric Circus nightclub, and hallucinogenic drugs.

The studded, pink-haired, and shaved-head punk scene followed, continuing today, although a little more diluted, with pierced rockers and teenage Goths. The blocks between 2nd and 3rd avenues have time-tested alternativeclothing boutiques and Asian restaurants galore. The cafés between 2nd Avenue and Avenue A attract customers late into the night. | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.

Tompkins Square Park.

This leafy spot amid the East Village’s crowded tenements is a release valve. The park fills up with locals year-round, partaking in picnics, drum circles, the playground, and two dog runs. The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, honoring the former park-side resident and noted jazz saxophonist, packs the park in late August, and since 2003 it has been the site of the annual Howl! Festival, which commemorates Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem.

But it wasn’t always so rosy. In 1988 police followed thenmayor David Dinkins’s orders to clear the many homeless who had set up makeshift homes here, and homeless rights and anti-gentrification activists fought back with sticks and bottles. The park was reclaimed and reopened in 1992 with a midnight curfew, still in effect today. | Bordered by Aves. A and B and E. 7th and E. 10th Sts., East Village | 10009 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.; L to 1st Ave.

WORTH NOTING IN THE EAST VILLAGE

Colonnade Row.

Marble Corinthian columns on the second level front this shabby-but-grand sweep of four Greek Revival mansions (originally nine) constructed in 1833, with stonework by Sing Sing penitentiary prisoners. These once-elegant homes served as residences to millionaires John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt until they moved uptown. Today they house apartments, a lounge, and a restaurant. The northernmost building is the home of the Astor Place Theatre and Blue Man Group. | 428–434 Lafayette St., between Astor Pl. and E. 4th St., East Village | 10003 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.

Astor Place Subway Station.

At the beginning of the 20th century almost every Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) subway entrance resembled the ornate cast-iron replica of a Beaux-Arts kiosk that covers the stairway leading to the uptown No. 6 train here.

Inside, plaques of beaver emblems line the tiled station walls, a reference to the fur trade that contributed to John Jacob Astor’s fortune. Milton Glaser, a Cooper Union graduate, designed the station’s murals. | On traffic island at E. 8th St. and 4th Ave., East Village | 10003 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.

Russian and Turkish Baths.

It’s clear from the older Soviet types devouring blintzes and Baltika beer served in the lobby that this is no cushy, uptown spa. But the three-story public bathhouse, which dates to 1892, isn’t about pampering as much as hearty, Slavic-style cleansing.

The baths have five saunas and steam rooms, an aromatherapy steam room, a Finnish sauna, a Turkish room with a pull chain shower, and a Russian room for dousing yourself with cold water. You’re encouraged to alternate cooking in the hot rooms with plunges in the cold pool to stimulate circulation, a bathing cultures staple.

Traditional massages and scrubs are offered without appointment. Except for a few single-sex hours per week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, the baths are coed, with bathing suits or shorts worn, and felt hats (alleged to decrease lightheadedness) for the seriously old-school. |

268 E. 10th St., between 1st Ave. and Ave. A, East Village | 10009 | 212/674–9250 | www.russianturkishbaths.com | $30 | Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. noon–10, Wed. 10–10, Sat. 9 am–10 pm, Sun. 8 am–10 pm | Subway: L to 1st Ave.

St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery.

This charming 1799 fieldstone country church stands on what was once Governor Peter Stuyvesant’s bouwerie, or farm. St. Mark’s is Manhattan’s oldest continually used Christian site, and both Stuyvesant and Commodore Perry are buried here in vaults.

Be sure to check out the gorgeous modern stained-glass windows on the balcony, which replaced the more traditional windows like those on the ground level after a fire in the late ’70s.

Over the years St. Mark’s has hosted many progressive arts events, including readings by poet Carl Sandburg and dance performances by Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. The tradition has continued with Danspace, the Poetry Project, and the Incubator Arts Project, which give performances throughout the year. | 131 E. 10th St., at 2nd Ave., East Village | 10003 | 212/674–6377 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.; L to 3rd Ave.

Sculpture for Living.

A few steps down from the Public Theater near Cooper Union sits this residential skyscraper, an anomaly among the predominantly low-rise, traditional architecture of this neighborhood. The curving-glass building was designed by postmodern architect Charles Gwathmey (known for his addition to the Guggenheim Museum), who passed away in 2009. | 445 Lafayette St., at Astor Pl., East Village | 10003 | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.; R to 8th St./Broadway.

Stuyvesant Street.

This diagonal slicing through the block bounded by 2nd and 3rd avenues and East 9th and 10th streets is unique in Manhattan: it’s the oldest street laid out precisely along an east–west axis. Among the handsome 19th-century redbrick row houses are the Federal-style Stuyvesant-Fish House (21 Stuyvesant St., East Village | 10003), built as a wedding gift for a great-great-granddaughter of the Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant, and Renwick Triangle, an attractive group of Anglo-Italianate brick and brownstone residences that face Stuyvesant and East 10th streets. |

Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.

LOWER EAST SIDE: TOP TOURING EXPERIENCES

GATEWAY TO AMERICA

Directly south of the East Village, on the other side of Houston Street, is the traditional Lower East Side, a juxtaposition of old and new worlds, where a hot nightlife scene is growing amid aged businesses that hark back to the area’s immigrant heritage. The historic heart of the Lower East Side is Orchard Street, the center of New York’s fabric and garment district at the turn of the 20th century.

At the Lower East Side Tenement Museum different tours draw you into Irish, German, Polish, Jewish, and Sicilian family life of the period. Some of the old building fronts remain, as do discount shops (the so-called Bargain District), but younger fashion-furious boutiques and other cool shops have moved in as well.

THE LIVES OF JEWISH IMMIGRANTS

Several historic synagogues, their gorgeous facades squeezed among the tenements, are still in use. The

Eldridge Street Synagogue was the first Orthodox synagogue erected by the large number of Eastern European Jews who settled on the Lower East Side in the late 1880s. A glorious restoration of its main sanctuary has just been completed, allowing the synagogue to become a permanent museum and home to its practicing Orthodox congregation.

The only Romaniote (Greek Jewish) synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, Kehila Kedosha Janina also functions as a museum to this obscure branch of Judaism. The city’s oldest synagogue, dating to 1850, is now the funky Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, named for the sculptor who purchased the synagogue when it fell into disrepair. This originally German synagogue was modeled after the Cathedral of Cologne, and now hosts exhibits and dramatically lighted events such as the wedding of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.

The busiest of the Lower East Side synagogues today is the Orthodox Bialystoker Synagogue, with its dramatic blue-sky-clouds-and-stars ceiling; scenes from the zodiac; and “hidden” balcony door (you can open it), which was once used by the Underground Railroad to hide slaves during the synagogue’s former days as a Methodist church.

Starting on Houston Street and heading south along Essex, Allen, and Orchard streets, munch on traditional pickles, bialys, knishes, and strudel as you walk by buildings with