Where's the flavor on the Lower East Side?
by Ann Binlot and Rosalyn Menon
Three new upscale hotels, luxury condos on every other block, and the largest Whole Foods market in the Northern U.S. have all arrived in the unlikeliest of places. Say hello to the new Lower East Side.
Manhattan's Lower East Side is filled with businesses that have
been there for several generations. The businesses reflect the Jewish heritage of many of the neighborhood's former residents. But many family-owned businesses that have contributed significantly to the flavor of the Lower East Side (both literally and figuratively)are being displaced or shut down to make room for new businesses that cater to the neighborhood’s new upper class residents.
However, owners of four Lower East Side businesses that have managed to remain open -- Katz's Deli, Yonah Schimmel's Knishery, Economy Candy, and Guss' Pickles. The owners, peering through the prism of their specialty businesses, have seen a dramatic shift in the neighborhood. They've witnessed the neighborhood residents change from Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe to young, wealthy hipsters. They've watched their blocks turn from havens for drug use and the homeless to doorman-guarded, gleaming glass towers.
They've managed to stay open for different reasons. For Katz's Deli and Yonah Schimmel's, their owners believe their products transcend the neighborhood.
"We're a neighborhood staple," said Alan Dell, owner of Katz's Deli. "But we're also a destination. People come from all over New York and tourists from all over the world because there's no one like us."
Katz's has slipped into the popular zeitgeist by being featured in many movies that have filmed on location in the deli when looking for a slice of New York authenticity. During a famous scene in "When Harry Met Sally," co-star Meg Ryan faked having an orgasm at a deli table. Another woman dining at Katz's tells her waiter, "I'll have what she's having."
For Yonah Schimmel's, a movie scene to endorse your product isn't necessary when you have the most authentic voice backing your product. According to Ellen Anistratov, co-owner of the unique bakery, Barbra Streisand herself once delayed a concert because she was craving a taste of New York. "She started the concert by saying to her audience 'I'm sorry I'm late but I had to go to Yonah Schimmel's to get a knish,'" said Anistratov.
The uniqueness of businesses like Guss' Pickles and Economy Candy have helped their businesses remain open when all around them their neighborhood is changing. "It does look kind of silly, our pickles near all this chichi stuff," said Pat Fairhurst the proprieter of Guss' Pickles.
To understand the history of the Lower East Side, one has to look to the history of New York City. The Lower East Side was largely a Jewish neighborhood, mainly comprised of immigrants from Eastern Europe. By 1915, over 60 percent of the Lower East Side's neighborhood, more than 300,000 people were Jewish immigrants and their families. Businesses that catered to Jewish tastes, traditions, and culture became the staple of the Lower East Side economy.
The Lower East Side, like much of Manhattan, went through a long, dark period from the 1950's through the mid 1990's. It was filled with crime, drugs, and violence. The neighborhood became a heroin haven, and the Lower East Side's reputation for drugs and violence took a long time to shake-off.
In the late 1990's, as the East Village was rapidly gentrifying, nightlife began to stake claim on the Lower East Side. Long-running businesses, many delis and bakeries and tailor shops--- the businesses that were the livelihood of much of the Lower East Side, began to be replaced by bars and nightclubs. The Lower East Side became a place for Manhattanites to go out at night, and as the neighborhood became safer, younger people began to move there.
Today, a walk through the streets of the Lower East Side is a walk through a changing neighborhood. You have the almost century old Katz's buttressed between a brand new luxury condo currently being built, and the gleaming Whole Foods Market, the temple of upper-middle class grocery shoppers. Turn the corner, and on a neighborhood once dotted with mom and pop shops, you have chain banks, coffees and drug stores. The Duane Reades, Chase Manhattan's, and Starbucks have begun to make the Lower East Side begin to look a bit more like many other neighborhoods in Manhattan.
Some remaining older businesses on the Lower East Side feel the pressure of one day too, being bought and torn-down to make way for another condo or chain store. Real estate prices, rents and leases are rising rapidly, and the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying. But all have a resolve to remain on the Lower East Side.
"It's our home," said Anistratov. "What I'd like to do, is become a chain ourself. Hopefully there will be Yonah Schimmel's Knish's all over Manhattan. |
