"Grand Finale"

1st stop: Delancey Street:
As a kid, I used to come here with my family to shop til we dropped. While it is still a great shopping destination, today it lacks the abundance of mom and pop stores that were once the soul of Delancey. All things considered though, the Lower East Side is definitely gentrifying at a slower rate than many other urban communities. "Writers of the late 19th Century considered Hester Street, site of the neighborhood's push cart market, the quintessential ghetto street" (BG, p.120). Much like Hester Street, Orchard Street also had a large push car market. "The push carts represented one of the few ways for unskilled immigrants to eke out a living" (BG, p.120). Professor Mike explained that Mayor LaGuardia had Essex Street Market built to house the push cart peddlers. I enjoyed visiting this market. It offered many different types of food. I ate delicious spanikopita and a delectable dulce de leche cupcake.
As we walked through China Town, we visited interesting art galleries, and attracted the attention of the local residents. They thought we were tourists, how embarrassing!

                                                                                         

Next Stop: 97 Orchard St.
Visiting the Tenement Museum was an awesome experience."This museum, a former tenement, was
founded in 1988 to preserve the heritage of the nation's immigrants, honoring the millions who lived on the Lower East Side and other immigrant ghettos"(BG, p.122). Although I knew that tenement had been terrible places to live, it was not until I researched them for paper 1 that I truly understood how horrid they were. Many of them built before housing laws and building codes existed, they lacked plumbing and lighting. They were unsuitable for human inhabitants. Poor immigrants had no alternative, and these tenements quickly became terribly overcrowded. These tenements met the housing need for many immigrant families, but it did so without any regard for their self worth or physical well being. As I walked through the museum, I imagined the Katz and the Moores, and the hundreds of others who called this place home. Without the ruckus, the crowds, and the smell, it is difficult to truly capture the tenement experience. Our tour guide, Ruth, stated that the absence of plumbing coupled with the lack of a sanitation system, made life in a Lower East Side tenement "lousy from day 1." She explained that after the Civil War, newly appointed sanitation inspectors were highly concerned with the deplorable conditions. Really? Unlike most tenements in the Lower East Side, 97 Orchard Street's outhouses and privies were connected to the sewer system. Imagine that at 97 Orchard the toilets actually flushed! Well this certainly explains New York City's 3 huge cholera epidemics during that time. "On Gotham Court one cholera epidemic, that scarcely touched the clean wards, killed tenants at the rate of one hundred and ninety-five to the thousand of population" (Riis, 1971, p. 6). Yikes! The New York City Tenement housing system degraded immigrants and stripped many of their self worth, but luckily it did not eradicate their strong sense of clan and community. In the face of adversity, they stood strong, and their ethnic enclaves have created a city that is 
greatly diverse in character.

http://www.tenement.org/ has great tenement information.

3rd stop: Tom & Jerry's in NOLITA.

It was delightful! Ruby was an awesome guide. She explained that this bar was a community pub and compared it to Cheers. "where everybody knows your name." In a city where apartments are tiny, bars like these are nice for hanging out with friends. Ruby mentioned that in the last few years, the clientele has changed.Yuppies, young urban professionals are continually encroaching. Ruby briefly discussed the bartenders "moral dilemma." Deep right? As I sipped my Sangria, I tried to empathize. Ruby has made connections with many members of this community. She knows their life stories and their drama. She listens with all of her senses, cares, and gives advice. She reads her clients and plays shrink! Sounds a whole lot like nursing!! Before leaving Tom & Jerry's I had a Pickle Back, LOVED IT! 

Lunch was DELICIOUS! We were all very hungry, and it was nice to sit and indulge with our classmates and professors. I felt like I was home surrounded by family. I enjoyed the tea and every Chinese dish I tasted. My favorite was the eggplant and tofu. As we ate, we walked down memory lane. It was great to sit and discuss all of our New York experiences. We all agreed that this was the best school experience ever! I doubt there will ever be a course that will top this one.





"Seward Park (opened 1903) is named after William H. Seward (1801-72), governor of the state of New York, US Senator, and Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln" (BG, p.124). As we followed our tour guide through the park and I pictured little immigrant children playing here. Our tour guide brought us to the Forward Building and explained that it was built in 1912 for the influential Jewish daily newspaper. At the corner of Baxter and Worth, we discussed the notorious 5 points. Looking at the government buildings across from Columbus Park, you'd never believe that this was once a crime ridden slum, with wicked gangs, and a terribly high murder rate. As written in the Gangs of New York, "The New York City police made a gallant gesture late in 1910 against several of the gangs which had incurred their displeasure, or had operated with such boldness that public sentiment made even the politicians fearful of protecting them; and when the smoke of battle cleared away, half a score of the most noted figures of the underworld had been imprisoned"(Asbury, 1927, p. 321). Kudos to those New York City Police Officers!

Just as the others, Day 7 was a great adventure! Saying goodbye to my group
was sad, but tiramisu and cappuccino in Little Italy made me feel a whole lot better.