Lower East Side - Example of Far Place

• The lower east side is located in New York City, New York on the East Coast of The USA, in the South-East of the island of Manhattan, bordering the East River. The Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge are both in the area.
• Early Settlement:

  • Occupied by members of the Lenape tribe, who were organised in bands which moved from place to place according to the seasons, fishing on the rivers in the summer, and moving inland in the fall and winter to gather crops and hunt for food.
• 17th Century:

  • Dutch settlers arrived from Europe and began farming the area from the 17th Century. During the 17th Century, much of the land was consolidated into the Delancey Farm.
• 18th Century:

  • Mostly Farmland
  • Small settlement developed at Corlears Hook
• 1840s-70s:

  • Migrations from Ireland and Germany
• 1880s:

  • Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe and Russia
• 1883:

  • Corlears hook was the location of some of the first tenements built in New York City
• Early 20th Century:

  • Tenements and Garment Factories
• 1930s:

  • Slum Clearance
• Post 1945:

  • The Lower East Side became New York City's first racially integrated neighbourhood with the influx of African Americans and Puerto Ricans.
  • Areas, where Spanish speaking was predominant, began to be called Loisaida.
• 1950s-90s:

  • Beatniks, hippies, punks; Chinese immigration
• 1960s:

  • The influence of the Jewish and eastern European groups had declined as many of these residents had left the area, while other ethnic groups had coalesced into separate neighbourhoods, such as Little Italy.
• 1980s:

  • The Lower East Side had begun to stabilise after its period of decline, and once again began to attract students, artists and adventurous members of the middle-class, as well as immigrants from countries such as Bangladesh, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Poland.
• 1990s:

  • Early gentrification in nearby areas of New York City
• Early 2000s:

  • The gentrification of the nearby East Village spread to the Lower East Side proper, making it one of the trendiest neighbourhoods in Manhattan.
• 21st Century:

  • In November 2007 the Blue Condominium, a 32-unit, 16 story luxury condominium tower was completed, contrasting with the surrounding neighbourhood.
  • Several restaurants, bars, and galleries opened below Delancey Street after 2005. The neighbourhood's second boutique hotel, Blue Moon Hotel, opened in early 2006.
  • Used an existing tenement building, and its exterior is almost identical to neighbouring buildings.
• Representations of LES - The Bowery Boys

  • The children of the different ethnic immigrants found common interests and formed friendships, despite their parents cultural and religious differences.
  • Showed family businesses ran for generations still in business.
  • The decline of popular businesses leaving space for big hotels, usually seen as out of place compared to the surrounding area.
  • Portrays the lower east side as one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse places in America.
• Representations of LES - Historical Maps

  • One of the main key differences between 1776 and 1847 is that, in 1776 most of the land was being used for agriculture with little evidence of formal streets or buildings. In contrast in 1847 the land was now urbanised with streets and buildings organised into blocks with no use of the land for agriculture.
• Key Flows of People:

  • Immigrants from different countries and ethnicities.
  • This meant that bars and music venues opened due to people not wanting to be in their apartments.
  • People mixed/mingled with other people.
• Key Flows of Money:

  • Growth and sale of crops.
  • More people moving in causing less farmland and more commercial sites from being developed.
• Key Flows of Resources:

  • Ethnic immigration influenced imports of goods e.g. Polish immigration and Polish shops selling imported Polish products.
• Population change in LES between 1840-1870?

  • 650,000 Irish immigrants arrived in New York due to the widespread potato famine.
  • Many Germans then also arrived in New York as a result of a revolution and crippling economic conditions.
  • Nearly 2 million Jews fled eastern europe for America, many of whom settled in the Lower East Side.
• How did Jewish Immigrants transform the LES?

  • Overcrowded tenements were all but bursting at the seams. More than 500 synagogues were built to accommodate the new religious residents.
  • The independent Kletzker Brotherly Aid Society opened its doors in 1892, providing aid and assistance to Jewish Immigrants, who needed help with medical care and burials.
• Industry dominating the LES in 1900s:

  • The garment industry.
  • By 1900 almost a million New Yorkers worked in the garment industry, which was situated in the Lower East Side.
  • People worked away in sweatshops for up to 15 hours per day, earning only a few cents per hour.
  • Women were paid less and around 60,000 children worked in the garment industry.
• Impact of Slum Clearance in 1930s:

  • Better quality housing meant that the standard of living improved and there was more space for the development of businesses to flourish.
• Population change in LES between 1950s-60s:

  • Led to the decrease of the Italian and Jewish populations in the Lower East Side respectively.
• Forward Building:

  • Shows how an influx of immigrants, particularly Jewish, makes the population of an area rise.
  • This meant that the demand for housing rose and tenement housing like this was full.
  • There was also a newspaper from the building which campaigned for better housing and education for immigrants.
• Kletzker Brotherly Aid Society:

  • Assisted Jewish immigrants in poverty with medical care and burials.
• Jarmulowsky Bank:

  • Private bank for residents and immigrants in the Lower East Side.
  • Also, a representation of beaux-arts architecture
• How did the landscape change as a result of newcomers:

  • Tenement apartments had suffered severe neglect and even abandonment underwent substantial renovation as developers began to target this growing population of potential renters.
  • The installation of new windows, furnaces, boilers, renovated hallways, brick facing, and intercom systems were encouraged by city initiatives.
  • While historic tenement buildings were being renovated, new luxury apartment buildings were being built, and a landscape of hip shops and cafes began to appear.
• How did landscape change affect low income and Hispanic Residents?

  • Due to the rising cost of housing in the Lower East Side, hundreds of low-income families have been displaced.
  • A particularly vulnerable group are the Hispanic residents, who have experienced the most dramatic decline in population.
  • According to experts, the trend of gentrification has worsened since the events of 9/11, as increased real estate speculation prevents city and community organisations from addressing the housing needs of these low-income families.
• Historical Lived Experience:

  • In the early 20th century the majority of the Lower East Side was occupied by Jewish immigrants.
  • The Lower East Side was still incredibly densely populated with 700 people per acre, as the most crowded neighbourhood on the planet (half of NYC deaths because of fires in LES).
  • Disease was also very common, which meant that clean water was hard to come by, leading to frequent cholera outbreaks.
  • Due to the limited skill set of Jewish immigrants they would often work as street vendors or manual jobs (garment industry).
• More Recent Lived Experience:

  • There has been a change in the types of immigrants coming into the Lower East Side.
  • Immigrants coming in now are younger and are ‘college educated’.
  • Although these people coming in have changed there is still the same desire between them to work hard and succeed.
  • The change in the tennants of the commercial spaces seems to change rapidly as people chose to start up businesses, but due to the increasingly high rent and the influence of larger chain stores most of them are forced to close down after only a few short months.
• Social Inequalities in LES compared to NYC:

  • 23% of residents were living below the poverty line, with approximately 36% of children under the age of 18 and 33% of seniors also living below the poverty line.
  • The median asking rent has increased by 26% since 2010, as well as the median household income declining from $48,070 in 2010 to $40,340 in 2017.
  • Community healthcare and social services face a lack of funding, which hinders their ability to carry out their work effectively (decline of available services).
  • Vulnerable to coastal hazards.
• Social Inequalities between the LES and NYC:

  • In 2019 the poverty rate of the Lower East Side was 24%, compared to the city wide rate of 16%. A difference of 8%.
  • The average rent in the Lower East Side was $1100, whereas the average for the rest of New York City was $1560. $460 cheaper in the Lower East Side.
  • The crime rate of the Lower East Side was also higher than the city average. Property crime being 12.5 per 1000 crimes for the Lower East Side, and 7.6 per 1000 as the city average.
• Historic Economic activites in LES:

  • Historically, there were lots of secondary and tertiary industry workers.
  • There were less primary and quaternary industry workers.
• Economic changes in 21st century:

  • There is a shift from the secondary industry (factories) to the tertiary industry (retail and service).
• Current economic activities in LES:

  • Nowadays, there are more cafes and shops in the neighbourhood so there are more jobs relating to these.
• Representations of LES - Census Data:

  • The representation of this data is quantitative and intended for outsiders mainly but could also be beneficial for CEOs of MNCs if launching a new product in the area or considering starting a business in the area.
  • This can influence the price of the product as well as ruling out different products that people in the Lower East Side don’t need (from the census, demographics and age).
  • It does not tell us about how people earn their money and it cannot tell us, for example, why the median age has increased along with the average income.
• Representations of LES - Photos:

  • Photos of life within the tenements are represented to be unsanitary and cramped as a result of the large number of families living in them.
  • The buildings also appear unstable. I feel as though these photos were intended to present to people of a higher wealth and social class how those below the poverty line live.
  • Contrastingly the Lower East Side today is shown to be an area of diversity and character.
  • This is shown through having varying cultural shops and restaurants present in the area.