Schedule a Private Customized Tour
Explore the past and present of New York’s Lower East Side: The Cradle of American Jewish Immigration
For the past decade, The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (LESJC) has offered a unique touring experience in one of New York’s most historically vibrant neighborhoods. Listed below are our popular walking tours. Keep in mind that these walking tours are only possibilities. Would your group like to see specific sites on the Lower East Side? We encourage potential visitors to speak with our staff. They will arrange tours for diverse groups: families, synagogues, schools, religious or women's organizations. They will help you design a tour to reflect the interests and needs of your group. On LESJC tours, landmarks of the Lower East Side are showcased.
Tours are lead by LESJC guides who are professionally trained by author and historian Joyce Mendelsohn, a renowned expert on the history and culture of the Lower East Side. For more information on Joyce Mendelsohn, click here. Tours last approximately 2.5 to 3 hours.
Experience the Lower East Side your way. Celebrate a special occasion and enjoy a memorable day in New York. For more information, call (212) 374-4100, ext. 1 or 2. LESJC conducts tours Sunday through Friday rain or shine!
Price Structure — Private Group Tours
| $125 (1-8 people on weekdays)
$150 (1-8 people on weekends) Each additional person: Save $2 per person on groups of 35 or more! Save $3 per person on groups of 50 or more! |
* If The Museum at Eldridge Street is added to a tour, there will be an additional charge of $5.00 per person. |
Our Popular Private Group Tours
Many of our participants have enjoyed the following itineraries. We welcome your own selections from the many renowned sites of the Lower East Side.
Tour #1: Bialystoker the Beautiful, Shteibl Row and Historic East Broadway
On this tour, you will visit a wide range of sites. From the spectacular Bialystoker Synagogue to a simple shteibl, Beth Hachasidim De Polen, you will see where immigrants went to shul, and how a new generation is carrying on these traditions. Tour Details
Tour #2: Crossing Delancey: Where Old Meets New
Enter two sacred sites that reveal the Lower East Side of the early 20th century and how it has evolved to reflect today’s changing culture north of Delancey Street. Tour Details
Tour #3: The Jewish Community of Colonial New York
Although many landmarks are gone, you will visit and discuss important sites of Jewish settlement during the Colonial era. In contrast to the Jews who came to America from Eastern Europe, the Jewish community of colonial New York was “exotic.” They came from Western Europe and were Sephardic. This represented the first Jewish immigration to America. Tour Details
Tour #4: Jewish Harlem
Let our guides lead you through the sites of Jewish religious life in the remarkable urban settlement of Harlem, once the second largest Jewish community in the United States. Tour Details
Tour #5: O! Multitudes! I: Three Centuries of Domestic Architecture on the Lower East Side
Starting in what is now Chinatown, this comprehensive architectural tour explores housing on the Lower East Side from the federal, pre-Civil War era to the mid-nineteenth century. Tour Details
Tour #6: O! Multitudes! II: Three Centuries of Domestic Architecture on the Lower East Side
The Lower East Side is the iconic New York City immigrant neighborhood. For the past century and a half, immigrants have crowded its streets and tenements, and established cultural, social and religious institutions. On this tour, housing on the Lower East Side will continue to be explored. Tour Details
Tour #7: “Second Hand Rose:” A Journey down the Yiddish Rialto
Second Avenue is rich in cultural history. You’ll stroll down the historic street of the famed “Yiddish Rialto,” and explore the connections between what is now the East Village and the Lower East Side. Tour Details
Tour #8: Synagogues and Sites Renewed
With your knowledgeable guide, you will enter a restored tenement–style shul, and enjoy a stroll down a block teeming with history. Marvel at the Lower East Side’s rich history while appreciating the exciting changes taking place today. Tour Details
Tour #9: Bread and Roses: History of the Jewish Left on the Lower East Side
Your LESJC guides will lead you on a fascinating exploration. You’ll discuss the interrelationships among labor activism, leftist political thought, Yiddish culture/language, and Jewish tradition. You’ll listen, talk, debate, and sing! Tour Details