Little Italy will always have a special place in my heart because Italian is my favorite food and I have many fond memories there. What does Little Italy mean to me? Home, friends, family, and festivities, and the annual local tradition, The Feast of San Gernarro. We all go, my friends still go with their families and friends. Continue reading
The Eldridge Street Synagogue was built in 1887 and is located on the Lower East Side. This landmarked beauty was a synagogue from the very beginning unlike others that were converted from churches. The building was designed by architects Francis and Peter Herter in Moorish Revival style. Continue reading
My Dad used to take us for long walks around Downtown Manhattan. Whenever we’d pass by Chatham Square, he would bring us to Oliver Street and tell us the story of how he lived there with his family as a kid. Then he would walk us over to First Shearith Israel Graveyard and tell us to look at the sign – this is the first and oldest Jewish Cemetery in Manhattan. Continue reading
Bialystoker Synagogue is at 7-11 Bialystoker Place which use to be known as Willet Street. The building was constructed in 1826 and was the Willet Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1905, the synagogue bought the church. Continue reading
At 18 Bowery in Chinatown (on the corner of Pell Street) stands the Edward Mooney House. It was built between 1785-1789. The land was seized from British Loyalist James Delancy and sold at auction for around $50,000. Edward Mooney was a wealthy merchant and ran a wholesale meat business and was a race horse breeder. He lived in the house until his death in 1800. Continue reading
Doyers Street is an angled, narrow street that runs 1 block at a sharp angle from Pell Street into the intersection of Bowery and Chatham Square. In 1791, Dutch immigrant Hendrik Doyer bought the property and ran a distillery at 6 Doyers, the spot where the post office stands today. It was once known as the Bloody Angle for the many battles of the Tong gangs (On Leong Tong and Hip Sing Tongs) of Chinatown in the late 1800s and lasting into the 1930s. The term ‘hatchet man’ was used in the late 19th century to describe a Chinese assassin who carried a handleless hatchet. Continue reading
I moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn 9 years ago. Hated it for the first few years. It seemed and still seems so suburban to me (we have big houses with lawns) but I grew to love Bay Ridge. I bike most the year by my favorite water view along the Hudson, the food is fantastic, it’s a safe, self-contained neighborhood, and very diverse. Even though it has all this going for it – it still never quite feels like home. To this day anyone who asks gets the full story, “I live in Brooklyn but I was born and raised in Manhattan on the LES.”
What makes the LES so unique is it’s cultural and historical past. It was a place of immigrants dreams and beginnings. The Germans, Irish, Jewish, Italian, Polish, Chinese, Africans, and lots of others…all have legacies here. By LES, I’m talking about the Two Bridges, Little Italy, Chinatown, East Village, Alphabet City, and the LES. So many different people living condensed together. We are/were home to the oldest Jewish cemetery in the USA in Chatham Square, Five Points, Bloody Triangle which is Doyers street, and a thriving slave trade market are amongst a few facts about downtown history. Continue reading
Jebus Mews & Andrea 