Urban historian Barry Feldman updates and expands his popular O! Multitudes! tour to fit into the landscape of 2019. The narrative will cover the historic iconic period of immigrant settlement on the Lower East Side (1880’s to 1924), and discuss demographic changes, housing and social issues, and failed depression era plans for neighborhood rehabilitation. The Lower East Side’s current status as a flourishing popular residential and commercial neighborhood will also be discussed.

This walking tour will visit venerable iconic sites including the Forward Building, Educational Alliance and the new Essex Street Market. Contrast nineteenth century tenements with contemporary architecture, such as Essex Crossing and Blue. We will pass trendy shops and restaurants, while discussing a proposal to designate the area as a historic district, and have the opportunity to navigate what future directions this neighborhood might take.

If you are fascinated by how neighborhoods change, especially one that was once the most densely populated place on the planet, then this NEW tour is for you!!!

Tickets are an additional $3PP when purchased the day of the tour

This tour is a collaboration between the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (LESJC) and the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative (LESPI). The Lower East Side Preservation Initiative: are local residents and preservationists who want to preserve what’s left of the historic architecture and streetscapes of Manhattan’s historic Lower East Side, which includes such neighborhoods as the East Village, Lower East Side below Houston St., Chinatown, Little Italy and the Bowery, extending from East 14th Street south to Fulton and Franklin Streets, and Broadway east to the East River. They are a grass roots not-for-profit organization, formed in 2007.

WE TOUR RAIN OR SHINE!