Introducing Lower East Side

Once heavily populated by European immigrants, the Lower East Side beautifully melds 19th century history with 21st century appeal. Long renowned for its gritty integrity, today the 'LES' is famed for the art, food, shopping, music and nightlife scenes that are shaping Manhattan below 14th Street.

Like its hipster brethren across the Williamsburg Bridge, the LES is a veritable haven for the skinny-jean wearing and unkempt-beard-sporting set. The downtown denizens mix in their natural habitat with wandering tourists still seeking the designer deal on Canal Street or checking out how the working classes lived at the Tenement Museum.

Although gentrification has taken a stronghold from the Bowery to points East, some long-standing hold outs of the neighbourhood remain firmly intact – the Dominican bodega or the old school men’s clothing store run by Orthodox Jews, who aggressively pan the streets for customers.

Those with an artistic bent should head to Orchard Street to visit one of the many galleries, a destination starting to rival Chelsea for art openings per square mile.

For the culinary-inclined, trendy restaurants abound from esteemed members of the NYC foodie set. On the weekends, the under-30 crowd takes to the many bars and nightclubs lining Essex, Ludlow and Rivington Streets, the cacophony of the intoxicated teeming out into the night to remind you that you’re decidedly in the city that never sleeps.