"Crossing Delancey" Photo: NYdiscovery

Of all the neighborhoods of New York, none is more evocative of the blood, sweat, and tears that built the city than the Lower East Side. It's one of the oldest neighborhoods in Manhattan, having provided a home to millions of lower class African, Italian, Polish, Irish, Ukrainian, German, Jewish, and Latin American immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Even the name sounds tough. Just hearing the words 'Lower East Side' evokes images of close-knit families, soot-covered laborers, pushcart vendors, overcrowded tenement apartments, and kids playing in the street as dead horses rot in the gutter and bloodthirsty criminals search for their next victim. After all, it was the setting for Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, where gangs like the Five Points, Roach Guards, Dead Rabbits, and Bowery Boys would fight for supremacy in an area that was all but lawless. These were mean streets indeed.

In those days, "crossing Delancey" was a way to say you had succeeded in life, because once a Lower East Side resident crossed Delancey Street and headed north toward the wealthier neighborhoods uptown, they had left their poverty behind for good. These days, however, people cross Delancey in the other direction, as the Lower East Side is now one of the most fashionable parts of the city. A recent afternoon stroll revealed a tantalizing mix of history, culture, and cuisine from what was once one of the most miserable ghettoes in the world.