The Lower East Side
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 |  The first place that we visited was the New Museum.  In this image, it is very clear that the New Museum is, well, new. This museum is located on The Bowery which is 1.5 miles long and is the oldest road in Manhattan. In the 1940’s to the 1990’s, it was known as New York City’s Skid Row. For those of you who do not know what skid row is, it’s an impoverished area inhabited by the poor, the homeless, and others considered disreputable and forgotten by society. However, this area is really becoming more modernized and gentrified.  These two pictures show a before and after of the same few buildings on The Bowery. The Bowery Mission was located at these buildings since 1909 and is one of the last homeless shelters on The Bowery. The Salvation Army next door, which was once a shelter, was recently sold for $30 million which is to become an Ace hotel. These other buildings were sold in 2013 to become businesses. 235 Bowery, New York, NY, United States |
 |   We went to Seward Park, which was the first municipally built park in the United States. It is fairly small, and is named after William Henry Seward.Seward Park, Essex Street, New York, NY, United States |
 | Mark Israel opened the first Doughnut Plant here, at 379 Grand Street, in the year 2000. They sell all sorts of doughnuts, which are all made with fresh ingredients. Here, we enjoyed eating gourmet doughnuts. Doughnut Plant, Grand Street, New York, NY, United States |
 |  We had dinner at Noodle Village, which specializes in Hong Kong style Wonton Noodle Soup. It was voted one of the best noodle soup places in Chinatown by Serious Eats NYC. After working up an appetite, we all enjoyed the food and affordable price at this spot. One characteristic of this noodle shop that is similar throughout most of the Lower East Side is the small storefront. Due to the influx of immigrants to this area and the establishment of tenements, the Lower East Side was, and still is, densely populated. This results in the crowded sidewalks and small business spaces that line the streets. Noodle Village, Mott Street, New York, NY, United States |
 |  The Eldridge Street Synagogue was the first synagogue to be built from the ground up by a group of Eastern European immigrants in 1887. Between 1880 and 1924, there was a large number of Eastern European jews that were migrating to the United states. Of that number, about 85% settled in New York City and 75% of which resided in the Lower East Side. The growing number of the Jewish community created a need for more Jewish institutions; thus the Eldridge Street Synagogue was built and opened on September 4, 1887.  In 1996, the synagogue claimed the status as a National Historic Landmark and underwent a $20 million restoration project which had the stained glass window redone by artist KiKi Smith. The Synagogue is still in function and also houses the Museum at Eldridge Street. While walking along Canal Street, this tall structure with its intricate and large stained glass window can be seen from a block away. Museum at Eldridge Street, Eldridge Street, New York, NY, United States |
 | The Manhattan Bridge connects the Southeastern edge of Manhattan with the Western edge of Brooklyn. The construction of this bridge first began in 1901, and was finally opened to traffic in 1909. This bridge runs right next to the Williamsburg Bridge. These bridges turned much of the Lower East Side into a landing pad because this part of Manhattan was now much easier to access. However, this also helped depopulate an over-populated area of the Lower East Side. These bridges especially benefited the Orthodox Jews who were able to walk over the bridge on Sabbath. This is why the Lower East Side has such a large Jewish population today.   Manhattan Bridge, New York, NY, United States |
