A Disastrous History of Housing the Poor: A Walk of New York's 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.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Foley Square, 111 Worth St Apt 4G, New York City, NY 10013-4017

We lay the groundwork for what we will see on the tour here, where the history of housing the working class immigrant poor begins with the location of The Five Points, the most notorious slum in New York City's history.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Columbus Park, 67 Mulberry St Baxter St, New York City, NY 10013-4331

We don't have to go too far to find a later era slum after the Italian immigrant waves of the 1870s on, known as Mulberry Bend, today's footprint of Columbus Park.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Lower East Side, New York City, NY

The heart of the tour is along the blocks of the Lower East Side and the plethora of tenement buildings left standing. You'll learn how to identify different tenements from different eras, and witness the decades-long process of providing adequate housing for the working poor in history.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Pass By: Manhattan Bridge, South Street and FDR Drive, New York City, NY 10002

We will have a stunning view.

Pass By: Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge St Between Canal and Division Streets, New York City, NY 10002-6204

One of the most beatiful edifices in the city.

Pass By: Seward Park, Canal St and, Essex St, New York, NY 10002, USA

One of the first parks in the neighborhood. So crowded when it first opened it was standing room only.

Pass By: Forward Building, 173 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002, USA

A newspaper that was an institution for the Jewish community.

Stop At: Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard St Lower East Side, New York City, NY 10002-3102

We pass the back of the museum where they replicate tenement life. Outhouses and clothes line help transport one back in time.

Duration: 5 minutes