Untapped Cities

Listening to the Lower East Side: The History of Yiddish Spoken Newspapers in NYC

Does newspaper have a sound? Is it the rustling of paper? The pop-up ads of the digital world? The short films on the New York Times website? Or might it also be articles and editorials read aloud to ...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Why a historic hotel on the Lower East Side has a mural depicting 2,000 years of Jewish tragedies

Artist Randy Settenbrino is the owner of Orchard Street’s Sweet Dreams Cafe and the adjacent Blue Moon Hotel, both homages to the area’s deeply Jewish history. Tucked away on a crowded stretch of ...
Spectrum News NY1

Helping save an archive from the Godfather of the Lower East Side

Visitors wandering past 161 Essex Street on the Lower East Side may wonder, what’s in there? The door is covered with stickers and graffiti, and every once in a while, a bearded man may walk out the ...
The Forward

In place of a proud emblem of Jewish immigration in NYC, million-dollar condos and a private garden

When the Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged opened on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on June 21, 1931, more than 25,000 Eastern European Jews came out to celebrate. The distinctive Art Deco tower ...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

These 16 Jewish businesses are redefining Orchard Street for a new era

The former home of pushcarts, pickle peddlers and textile wholesalers welcomes a new crop of Jewish spots to the Lower East Side street. For a trip through New York City’s Jewish history and a glimpse ...