LES - The Lower East Side

My daughter Lauren is fortunate enough to work for a company that believes in "summer Fridays". Simply put, they get to leave at 1pm on Fridays, all summer long. So we have tried to make it a habit of taking advantage of it.

I leave work at noon and catch the 12:29pm bus to the city and we meet up for an afternoon of culture, food and whatever else happens our way.

I had not been into the city since March. I still find that hard to believe, that is how fast time gets away from us. We had begun to explore the Lower East Side by taking a tour at The Tenement Museum. We had enjoyed it so much that this particular Friday our destination was once again the Lower East Side and doing another tour offered by The Tenement Museum.

Our tour wasn't until 3:15 so I had a few things I had wanted to see beforehand. Our first stop was Kossar's Bialys at 367 Grand St. I had never had a bialy and Lauren didn't even know what one was so it seemed like a good thing to try. Kossar's is the oldest bialy bakery in the United States and a landmark on the Lower East Side. What exactly is a bialy?  I call it a bagel without a hole. Chewy, doughy and a bit of onion in the middle.

Our next stop was Economy Candy on Rivington Street. If you have a sweet tooth, this is the place for you. If you have had a yearning for Bonomo Turkish Taffy, candy cigarettes or a Sky Bar, this is the place for you. Floor to ceiling candy of all types. A kid's dream...

On to The Tenement Museum. It is located at 103 Orchard Street. Its mission is to tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants. They faced challenges we understand today: making a new life, working for a better future, starting a family with limited means. In recognizing the importance of this seemingly ordinary building, the Tenement Museum has re-imagined the role that museums can play in our lives.

They offer a variety of tours in an actual tenement building at 97 Orchard Street. The tour we were doing was "Sweatshop Workers". It recreated the lives of the Levin and Rosenthal families and their roles in the garment industry.

Things to know before you go, the tours are about an hour long and the building is obviously not air conditioned. Don't pick a sweltering hot day to visit. Also, get your tickets ahead of time. If you just show up and expect to get tickets to a tour, you may be disappointed.

By now we were hungry, so our next stop was dinner. We were going to the famous Katz's Deli. The Katz's Deli of "When Harry Met Sally" fame. They actually have the table marked where this famous scene took place and you can sit at it.

When you walk into Katz’s Deli the atmosphere is that of an old time deli. The deli counter is on the right, tables on the left and a myriad of photos on the wall of famous people who have entered the doors over the years.
 
Everyone who enters is handed a ticket. This ticket is gold. You can’t leave without your ticket whether you order or not, so do not lose it. The ordering process was relatively easy, but kind of a pain. We had to order our roast beef sandwich at one counter, get the potato knish from another counter and pick up a drink at yet another counter. The sandwich was not quite as large as I was expecting for $15.95, but it was delicious.

Satiated by the roast beef sandwich, we were ready to begin the journey home.

We had a few more things to see on the list for today.

We walked up to Bowery Street to see this building.

All I will say is google “190 Bowery Street”. You will be amazed by the story of this building.

We then walked past the “Old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral”. Yes, there was one before the famous one on 5^th Avenue.

We found a Blick Art supply store. This was a find for me. I had been ordering from them for years and never knew there was a store right in NYC.

We ended our day at The Strand Bookstore. This has become a favorite bookstore to visit.

A quick subway ride back uptown and Lauren and I parted ways, I headed to Port Authority to catch a bus home and she headed to the PATH train. It was another fine day in the city.