We're going to take you on a walking tour through New York's Lower East side and the
East Village, including a major dog park.
It's a part of the city that most visitors don't get to, and yet you'll find it's one
of the most interesting places in New York.
On the map.
We will show you a good route heading for Astor Place down Lafayette Street, below Houston
down to Hester, touching on Chinatown, then up to the East Village.
In a separate movie will take you to Soho and the West Village.
Starting out at Astor Place which is a lively intersection of multiple streets, and there's
a subway entrance here.
You'll see Cooper Union, that's one of the best small colleges in the country, especially
for engineering, architecture, and the fine arts.
And a little plaza with furniture – people can sit here and lounge, have a snack, watch
the passing parade of students and workers go by.
There are two major subway lines that cross through here that will take you up Broadway
or Lexington Avenue, and notice the old-fashioned style of that subway entrance.
It's heavily influenced by a Parisian glass canopy style.
Astor Place did not always have this open, spacious feeling.
Back in the 1920s there was an elevated train that ran through the same square, as happened
on many of the avenues of New York in those days.
Heading south into what's called NoHo.
We will be meandering along Lafayette and the Bowery and some of the side streets in
between as we make our way down to Houston.
Were heading for the Lower East Side and we will circle back up into the East Village.
But first a look at this kind of industrial semi-downbeat neighborhood called NoHo, that's
north of Houston.
It's an in-between place that doesn't get a lot of attention, but that makes it fascinating
to explore a little bit.
So much of lower Manhattan has been gentrified with new buildings going in and old buildings
demolished.
It's really quite delightful to see this more authentic presence in the city.
A hundred years ago the Bowery was a place of poverty and squalor, but now it's looking
good.
This sharp angle at Bleecker, Mulberry, and Lafayette brings us to Houston Street, and
the flagship store in New York of REI, a great sporting goods shop.
Two levels and a large floor area have all sorts of clothing and shoes, hiking gear,
hardware and tents - everything you could need for the outdoor life.
Continuing south of Houston on Lafayette Street, we are heading for Little Italy and then on
into the lower East side.
You'll come upon a French Baroque style building with the dome that used to be the old police
headquarters, now it's an upscale condo.
There's not much left of Little Italy anymore, only two blocks along Mulberry Street, most
famous for Ferrara tha, t great bakery with their cannolis.
This neighborhood used to be filled with thousands of Italian immigrants a hundred years ago.
Now it's on the edge of Chinatown.
It still has some Italian restaurants but it's mostly tourist gift shops.
It's very much a neighborhood in transition, a lot of construction going on, revitalization
of the old buildings and everything is going upscale, even down here in the Lower East
Side.
We'll take a walk along Hester Street for a few blocks.
It's one tourist shop after another, it seems, but fun to look at with these open fronts.
As you look down the side streets you'll notice that gridiron of the old fire escapes.
It really is a characteristic and quaint touch of old New York.
Continuing now along Hester, passing a park and busy street, walking along Ludlow, Orchard,
and Stanton and Rivington deeper into the Lower East Side.
Here you can see how Chinatown has really been expanding as more immigrants continue
arriving, making this probably the biggest Chinatown in the world, if you don't count
cities in China.
Sarah Roosevelt Park named after the mother of FDR is a very popular gathering spot for
the locals.
Another popular place along Hester Street is the Meow Parlor.
You've got a make a reservation here to play with the cats.
These are frisky, rescue kiddies up for adoption and ready to play.
The Lower East Side has always been an important place of commerce, since the beginnings of
our nation.
Cargo was unloaded at the docks four hundred years ago and this kind of work is still going
on today in the streets, such as Allen Street, hard-working people unloading wholesale goods
ready for redistribution throughout the city and the country.
It's curious that this Allen Street, a hundred years ago, used to be very narrow and dark
and had a overhead train running through it.
It was like a black canyon, but later it got widened, they got rid of the elevated train,
and now it's a busy street all the way north to where it becomes First Avenue.
It has become a true Boulevard with a wide median, with chairs and tables for people
to have lunch, and bicycle lanes an, d pedestrian thoroughfare with restaurants such as Dirt
Candy, a fine vegetarian place.
Well now we are taking you further north, really into the heart of what is the Lower
East Side today, away from Chinatown and Little Italy and the busy streets, into some wonderful
places for strolling.
We'll take you on a walk north on Ludlow and along Orchard Street.
This has become one of my favorite parts of the city.
Notice how the buildings are original.
There are no skyscrapers here.
Not much modernization going on.
It feels like New York back in the 1950s, but it's the Lower East Side, a place that
a hundred years ago was packed with the most crowded population in the country, dirt poor,
but with a vibrant streetlife that must've been exciting.
Now there are galleries and upscale living, making it a wonderful place, but some of the
old charm is gone.
There's no more street markets, even on Orchard Street, that had been famous for its weekend
street markets, dwindled to practically nothing.
Orchard is still fun, lined with some of the old-time shops like this luggage store that
had a tremendous variety for us.
We bought two bags.
How long has your store been here?
Thirty-five years.
Thirty-five years!
You have all a lot of luggage.
(Laughter) These blocks around the north end of Orchard
Street have an authentic urban charm with a lot of character.
You don't see many chain stores here, they're individual, idiosyncratic, they've got grocery
delivery on electric mopeds, for example.
There's a real feeling of neighborhood here.
You'll probably run into some street performers, maybe even a ten-year-old electric guitar
rocker.
(Music) An artistic edge with a Bohemian atmosphere.
Back in the mid-twentieth century it was a popular and cheap place for beatnik poets
and radical artists, along with ordinary poor people.
While back in the nineteenth century it was the center of immigrant life, with millions
of Irish, and Jews, and Germans coming through, along with Italians and lots of East Europeans.
This was the first melting pot in America, the launching pad for our growing country.
Now it's one of the most hip and desirable neighborhoods in the city and it's still somewhat
affordable.
We've traveled north of Houston Street, which means we have arrived in the East Village,
walking north a few blocks along First Avenue and then meandering down 7th Street and St.
Mark's Place, ending up at Tompkins Square Park.
We're also near the edge of Alphabet City which has a lot of middle-class housing developments
along Avenues A, B, and C. You've got health food shops and a cluster
of Indian restaurants as we make our way north, and now walking along E. 7th St., one of the
main routes through the se East Village.
Until about 1960 there was no East Village.
It was all considered part of the Lower East side.
But then as the hippies and beatniks and artist started moving into this area, it took on
an identity of its own.
Since many were refugees from rising prices in Greenwich Village, they dubbed it the East
Village.
Tompkins Square Park is an eclectic centerpiece for this neighborhood and is quite large,
occupying several city blocks.
It's been a park since the mid-nineteenth century, a great place for recreation and
political protest.
It's had its ups and downs.
In the 1980s it was really at a low point, a haven for the homeless and drug addicts
and crime, but that changed in the 90s.
They fixed it up and it's very popular and safe today for the families.
It features the usual park attractions and something very special.
This place has gone to the dogs.
Yes, it features the largest and oldest dog run park in the city, opened in 1990, and
recently renovated and expanded.
You can see this is an extremely popular spot.
Even for a visitor without a dog, it's a great place to stop and watch the fun for
a while.
(Dogs bark) While the park is owned by the city and supervised
overall by the Parks Department, the dog run is managed and funded by the community.
They set up a foundation called Friends of First Run, and they secured funding for renovations
and ongoing maintenance.
These pampered pooches are very well taken care of, and there's a lot of friendly cooperation
here.
Great place to socialize for humans and dogs.
Located between Avenue A and Avenue B, the dog run is open every day of the year from
6 AM until midnight, so you can imagine the millions of Instagram moments that have happened
here.
And they have three little dog pools, there's picnic tables, as well as bath areas and hoses
to spray off your dog before returning home.
The dogs get to run around on a state-of-the-art surface, composed of decomposed granite sand
with underground drainage.
While it's primarily a place for the dogs to run around and have some fun and get some
exercise, you can see that the people are benefiting just as much, if not more, than
the dogs.
It really brings the community together – a place to make new friendships and renew old
acquaintances, catch up on the neighborhood news.
They've established a dozen rules for the dogs to follow, and the owners have that ultimate
tricky task of maintaining order, which happens with everybody looking out for each other
and joining in together to take care of this very special place.
There is a separate enclosure for the big dogs.
They have a wide open space for any dog that weighs more than 25 pounds.
They're welcome to run around on the right side, and they even have a bit of a mini circular
racetrack they can jump into.
It's truly amazing to consider the progress that has been made here in the last forty
years in the transformation from a drug-infested, crime-ridden squalorous camp for homeless,
to one of the most family-friendly and dog friendly parks in the country.
(Dogs bark) We have many more movies about New York.
Look for them in our collection.