Old New York in Colour - Part III - Lower East Side

Peter: 7th Apr 2010 - 14:11 GMT

priceless, indeed... looking at these is like taking a ride in a time-machine...

Shirley Z: 7th Apr 2010 - 15:08 GMT

Stan: How the heck do you remember. I can't picture any one of these places. They lived on Delancey Street and Cannon St. Eastern Parkway, yes, Lower East Side, no. Bye.

jack: 8th Apr 2010 - 11:15 GMT

it's easy to remember. it was the same in 1948 and i and probably stan were 6 years old and i remember the streets and the people that way.

maria: : 9th Apr 2010 - 02:47 GMT

awesome pictures. yep my poverty was in the bx too.

Scott: 9th Apr 2010 - 14:25 GMT

Amazing photos. It's great for people who weren't around in 1942 to look up those addresses and intersections using Google Maps (technology that wasn't even fathomable to the New Yorkers in the photos) and see how they've changed. They're not even recognizable in some instances! Thanks for sharing!

Joe Sanchez [ Picon ]: 10th Apr 2010 - 02:32 GMT

great photos of yesteryear. Arriving from Puerto Rico in 1951-52 and living in the Lower East Side, 2nd Street A & B, at the age of 5, and then a few years later moving to the Bronx, I can appreciate these photos. God bless America and our troops.

GAYNOR: 12th Apr 2010 - 11:45 GMT

Amazing - what an insight into New York life at that time. Real, Real people who experienced real, real life.

Michelle: 13th Apr 2010 - 14:04 GMT

This is such a great post! Wow, what a piece of history!

Tony: 13th Apr 2010 - 15:12 GMT

Awesome historical pictures!!! I absolutely LOVE them!!!

McSoreleys!: 13th Apr 2010 - 19:01 GMT

Wonderful photos. Loved McSoreley's when I lived there.

Roger: 13th Apr 2010 - 19:06 GMT

Totally enchanting,the photographers captured the life and soul of the place in a very compelling and moving way.Wonderful.

Roadhouse Vic: 14th Apr 2010 - 01:42 GMT

Magnificent. I really enjoyed this. Thanks for posting them.

william ( blackie ) mazzeo: 14th Apr 2010 - 02:16 GMT

great pics, i drove a bus in 1954 the ave B & east broadway line also the grand street line .

Randall: 14th Apr 2010 - 02:18 GMT

I have quite a few photos from the mid 70's of demolitions and abandoned tenements in this area, and yes, it's changed dramatically, I'm amazed in google streetview.
In the 70's this area was a horrible drug infested slum of the worst kind,it was a war zone!

Randall
http://www.urbansculptures.com

Randall: 14th Apr 2010 - 02:21 GMT

Here's a sample, 127 & 129 Pitt st, demolished circa 1979. 129- the taller building was built in 1901, 127 dates to a few years before then.

Will S: 15th Apr 2010 - 02:36 GMT

What memories to see 2nd Street and 2nd Ave (N/E corner) and the famous Moscowitz and Lupowitz Restaurant. I can remember running to the corner on a Sunday just before 5 pm. to await the arrival of a VIP. At 5 o'clock a limousine would pull up (and this was when a limousine meant someone very important/rich) and out would step Duncan Rinaldo in full costume. If you don't recognize the name then shame on you. Duncan Rinaldo was "THE CISCO KID". I must have had 10 dozen of his autographs.

Moving on to the next tearjerker is McSorley's where the Giants use to show up frequently after a game. Again, I must have had a few hundred autographs of those heroes.

Someone pass the tissues.

Masha Chaya Mastin: 15th Apr 2010 - 09:41 GMT

Seeing the pictures of the Lower East Side brought back memories when I was little and lived in New York.Especially the old Jewish section.It is good to see where my American roots came from.As I said before it brought back memories when my parents took my sister and myself to get the monthly supplies of underwear,pajamas,and other stuff when we were small.My two late cousins had their jewelry businesses there.It has changed and everything had to move somewhere else.

Scott: 15th Apr 2010 - 15:45 GMT

I'm 25 and was told by everyone to go to McSorley's the last time I went to NYC. I'm not a native New Yorker, but it looks exactly the same.

howie: 15th Apr 2010 - 18:16 GMT

Mom born in NYC 1920 then moved to Chicago. I myself lived in Manhattan and Bklyn for some years in late-60s and 70s. Pls. NOTE: the streets and sidewalks and building exteriors in these photos are relatively CLEAN. Very little garbage and crap on streets; no grafitti. The civic ethic has degraded since then, all over America. People let children (i.e., little hooligans) paint on walls, and they throw their trash wherever they wish. Dadao Meiguo.

Halloween Jack: 16th Apr 2010 - 15:13 GMT

The janitor at the Brooklyn Public Library branch that I worked at in the early 90s grew up there, and would tell me that, back in the 40s, they still had horse-drawn carts for deliveries and garbage collection. I thought he was pulling my leg. I shouldn't have doubted you, Frank.

Franny Wentzel: 16th Apr 2010 - 19:11 GMT

Back in the 30s and 40s there was still some of the equine infrastrcuture still left and people who did still to four-legged drive justified it on account of the slow traffic and the necessarily frequent starts and stop.

That and Robert Moses hadn't completely fubared The City with expressways.

Helen: 19th Apr 2010 - 04:41 GMT

love the old storefronts, not a 99cents store in sight !

Rachel de: 19th Apr 2010 - 05:07 GMT

Great photos! Although ten years earlier than I could even vaguely remember, it looks very much like the world as I knew it; pictures still in my mind. I still live here, and have watched it change from year to year to year. If you're a lower east sider... it is a part of your character forever. There is no place like it, and though extraordinarily different... people here still see the world differently. Perhaps because it is a place where people of so many different origins live side by side in such high density, right beside the hub of Wall Street, and the back then the 'port of new york'. It is a place of infinite possibilities.

PS Where was 129 Pitt Street? Nothing was torn down on the east side[ odd number side] of the street between delancey and houston. The block south of delancey is not the 100 block.

Kiyoshi Kanai: 19th Apr 2010 - 12:19 GMT

McSoreley's was still there in mid 60s when I arrived in NYC.

Dolores Grecco: 19th Apr 2010 - 13:15 GMT

Dear Toni: I loved the pics; When are u going to go back to our (ol) neighborhoodI would really love to see your reaction, some of it has improved and yet some of it has really gone down the drain. I would really love to go back to 70 St. icolas Avenue, but I can't seem to fi nd the courage. I always think of you and remem ber when Mr. Fassella used to come to the center just to chit-chat, were those the good ol days? Always your friend D.

Ed Turner: 19th Apr 2020: 19th Apr 2010 - 13:36 GMT

1942:That was the first year of World War Two for Americans. I lived in Michigan then, eleven going on twelve. No air conditioning. People gathered on the stoop or tar beach on the hot days.

anon (dyn-cli-56.montefiore.org): 19th Apr 2010 - 14:28 GMT

There was a sense of community and vibvrabncy.That is missing now. Jay Lefer, M.D.

Paul: 19th Apr 2010 - 23:47 GMT

I have to wonder about all the "rooms to let". This was the tail end of the depression but I wonder if the rooms were available because of all the men going to war.

Chris Shepherd: 20th Apr 2010 - 01:34 GMT

Joseph Mitchell wrote about McSorley's. You can read it in a collection of his work, Up in the Old Hotel.

Gerard Ryan: 21st Apr 2010 - 13:59 GMT

This is McSorleys taken in June 2008. Not much difference eh! Thing is though, the Irish aren't big Ale drinkers so I wonder how this idea came about? Being Irish myself of course I know this through experience. Maybe it should be an English Ale House.

Sheila Michaels: 23rd Apr 2010 - 22:12 GMT

The 127 & 129 Pitt St. must have been demolished for the Boys Club or more likely Pueblo Nuevo Housing. People raised racing pigeons on those roofs. I loved watching those pigeons rising into the sky & wheeling around over the houses & Hamilton Fish Park. At night, in summer, guys came out to the park to play bongos. Of course, mostly you couldn't go in because of the drug dealing at night. But now you can't go in because it's fenced in & closed at night: so it's safer, but still not to be used. It's a wash.

Paul G: 25th Apr 2010 - 20:21 GMT

Great stuff. I remember walking thru those lower-Eastside streets (or very near them ) when I was a kid in the 40's to visit an aunt and uncle on E 3rd St. near Avenue A. I also remember my mother taking my brother and I to shop for our winter clothes in that very neighborhood just North of Delacey St. She went there because the neighborhood was renowned for bargains. We lived in the West Village on Thompson St and then Sullivan St between Bleeker and 3rd St. Later, when my parents moved to Grand St in the late 1950's, my father began to hang out in Maxies bar (just south of Delancey St. and a couple of blocks east of Essex St. near the precinct house) where the precinct cops, Jews, and a polyglot of Puerto Ricans, Italians and others hung out. This is a place I will never forget.

Christina: 25th Apr 2010 - 22:35 GMT

if you are Irish. look at "dublin down memory lane" via Facebook. You don't have to register to view photos!

Christina: 25th Apr 2010 - 22:37 GMT

Apologies, forgot to say that these are brilliant photos!

Hermitbiker: 26th Apr 2010 - 11:41 GMT

.... what a fantastic time it must have been back then.... this collection of photographs is priceless !! :)

Patti: 27th Apr 2010 - 12:12 GMT

Loved looking at these pix! They are beautiful to the memories!! I lived uptown 140 W 62nd St. which is now the address of Fordham Law School. Thanks for bringing back warm memories of NYC.

Joe: 27th Apr 2010 - 18:46 GMT

Franny Wentzel's comment: (...Robert Moses hadn't completely fubared The City with expressways") struck a chord. Ah, yes, the almost-forgotten escapades of one Robert Moses and his total destruction of many of the old neighborhoods of the city. Thanks for the comment, Franny, and for the jog to our memories of what the neighborhoods once were.

And thanks for these great photos.

Franny Wentzel: 27th Apr 2010 - 21:41 GMT

I remember from Ken Burns' documentary that the two things that had the greatest negative impact on NYC were Robert Moses' edifice complex and The New Deal. It seems under Roosevelts home mortgage programme, if one Negro lived in a specified neighbourhood, all the Whites would be denied any sort of home loan so that they'd be forced out. After The War, the GI Bill furthered this State-mandated segregation.

anon (cpe-74-69-97-81.rochester.res.rr.com): 29th Apr 2010 - 00:31 GMT

Fantastic photos! Really captured life on the streets of NYC....

Deborah [aka Jackieo] London: 2nd May 2010 - 13:31 GMT

I Absolutely Love New York. There is such a spirit and magic about the place that immediately hits you when you arrive, I still feel it every time I visit -These Pictures are brilliant they have definitley captured the 'spirit' of the early years!

Annie Espinal NYC : 17th May 2010 - 12:36 GMT

Wow these photos are fantastic I actually grew up on Norfolk St between Rivington and Stanton Sts on the Lower East side in the last 60's to mid 90's so many changes I have seen this neighborhood go from drug infestation and prostitution and muggings to a total array of boutiques and bars and art.

Magna Cantinho: 21st Jun 2010 - 01:50 GMT

I was looking for where the guru "Phrabupada Swami" talked about the Vedas, the Krisna Conciousness in the 70's, and I found that amazing photos!! I am brazilian!!!
Thank you !!

Mark Ross August 5 2010: 5th Aug 2010 - 16:57 GMT

Wonderful pictures. I'm trying to upload one taken on Cannon Street, between Stanton and Houston in l941. A corner of P.S. 188 is peeking at the right rear. I'm in the middle of the group of kids

kayla rober: 14th Sep 2010 - 22:18 GMT

Most wonder full pictures now we can see wat it looked lik in the past!! i look my counrtyit is the best!! thank you for posting those pictures!!!!!!!!:)

Andressa BRASIL: 23rd Sep 2010 - 02:39 GMT

everybody hates chris?

saaisuhasusahasuhasuash

zuei!

Lynette Benton: 24th Sep 2010 - 20:57 GMT

What a wonderful trip down memory lane. I want to revisit this site again and again. Thank you so much for these fantastic photos! I know almost every street in them.

anon (pool-108-9-73-122.tampfl.fios.verizon.net): 29th Sep 2010 - 21:38 GMT

Love these pictures, my parents from Italy when first married and where I was raised on Henry street until moving to Staten Island in the mid 50's but many memories

Curtis Thomas: 4th Oct 2010 - 23:03 GMT

I look at these pictures and i'm young again, if only in my mind!

anon (ool-43542503.dyn.optonline.net): 27th Nov 2010 - 01:05 GMT

Great photos..I grew up on Broome Street in the 50s and nothing today can match the neighborhood spirit that existed in those days.

Any street scenes of kids at play???

Eddie Goldberg

Maria Clara: 15th Dec 2010 - 20:55 GMT

Love these pictures are beautiful, a New York not so different in modern times until today there are neighborhoods like that.

Eu: 15th Dec 2010 - 21:13 GMT

It is the loveliest city, my dream is to meet you, enjoy everything that she can offer me. I dream of this trip since sempre.Correr of the avenues, you smell, taste, see its colors, lights, sound. New York, I love you.

iman: 16th Dec 2010 - 02:01 GMT

Eu: My family and I are from NY, and my brother moved to Sao Paulo from there. He said the exact same things about Sao Paulo as you say about NY.

ARTHUR PEISNER: 29th Dec 2010 - 22:55 GMT

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. ALTHOUGH BORN IN BRONX IN 1919, MY MOTHER WAS BORN IN LOWER EAST SIDE 1888 AND GREW UP THERE. NOT ALL THAT MANY CHANGES. VERY EMOTIONAL FOR ME. ONE PICTURE IS OF A BRIDGE THAT MY UNCLE TOLD ME HE OWNED. I AM NOW 92 AND INTENDING TO RUSH DOWN FOR A VISIT.

Alita Merino : 7th Apr 2011 - 15:40 GMT

I am amazed with old NY and my husband found these photos and sent me the link. Thank you to whomever posted them... they are wonderful. It's good that people still share their memories with the newer generation... it helps us to appreciate what we have now and the struggles our parents and grandparents lived.

Thank you for sharing :)

GARY FRIEDLAND: 5th May 2011 - 22:52 GMT

I took black and white photos of the lower east side in the mid 90's around the same areas, not that big a difference back then compared to 1942. (some push cart pictures and Houston street pictures). very interesting.

GARY FRIEDLAND: 5th May 2011 - 22:52 GMT

I took black and white photos of the lower east side in the mid 90's around the same areas, not that big a difference back then compared to 1942. (some push cart pictures and Houston street pictures). very interesting.

anon (mobile-166-137-138-239.mycingular.net): 17th May 2011 - 19:33 GMT

Beautiful pictures here

James Barnett:28th May 2011-22:56 Gmt: 29th May 2011 - 03:02 GMT

I group on Mangin St between Broome & Grand St. Played stick ball in front of Pewee's
candy store at 26 Broome St. Nothing but a great neighborhood and great people.

Dr.D: 10th Jun 2011 - 06:59 GMT

"Above river side drive just north of George. Washington Bridge"

Wow, my grandparents moved into one of those buildings in 1955. Third one from the front. I don't remember ever seeing them so clean and new looking.

VINCENT GAGLIARDI: 22nd Jun 2011 - 00:55 GMT

Does anyone have photos of the area of Pearl, Frankfurt, Hague, Cliff,& Vandewater Streets? My father used to work at a company called the Brooklyn Bridge Freezing and Cold Storage Company. This was located at the end of Cliff St. The building went through the block to Vandewater St. They also had the space under the bridge -- Arches 3,4,5,6. The side of Arch 6 was Cliff St. Cliff St. ran under the bridge and came out where the one-block street -- Hague St. ended.

Fran from E. 5th St. bet Ave C & D: 25th Jul 2011 - 20:17 GMT

I loved the pictures, I wish I could see more of East 5th St. E 4th St. & E.3rd St.
between Ave C & Ave D. Thanks.

Dynese from Broome Street: 26th Jul 2011 - 23:19 GMT

The things I remember and the block I came back to after 42 years is not the same, funny how life moves on and we remain the same. God Bless.

anon (pool-72-89-203-199.nycmny.east.verizon.net): 3rd Aug 2011 - 04:59 GMT

a walk back in time too only show how one would love to go back there for a day~

a.g.g.a.: 6th Aug 2011 - 07:42 GMT

-Came upon these absolutely amazing photos while looking for some pictures of my husband from the 60's and 70's a rather well known figure in Greenwich Village and the Ease Village. But being a Lower East Side girl, born and raised,(Knickerbocker Village)with my parents also LES born and raised, these pix really took me back. We really didn't have much, and my parents as children far less than that. However, I always felt lucky that I grew up in that neighborhood and could understand and appreciate all the hardships and struggles my immigrant grandparents and first generation A

a.g.g.a.: 6th Aug 2011 - 09:09 GMT

(continued)American parents went through without any help. As confounding as it may seem, there is a secret and hidden richness and wealth in all those tenement scenes that belie the decrepit buildings and poverty ridden streets- a wealth far greater than that found in the pictures of the Financial District. Even now, to me, nothing could taste as good as a Galishoff's takeout knish shared with my sister.(Takeout cost less.) In winter, we ate inside the building across Rivington Street. Our father rubbed our feet to warm our toes. The knish warmed our fingers and noses. Our mother was often busy taking up or letting down hems of dresses handed down from older cousins. She'd also knit both of us 2 sweaters a year from patterns and yarn we chose from Sun-Ray knitting store on Grand Street. We couldn't wait for them to be completed! And I loved when my grandfather took me to Isaac Gellis. The counterman always called me to the far side of the store and handed me a couple of those tiny miniature salamis. My school, PS 177, was built in the 1800's. Life was good! Except for the polio shots...
Franny, thank you so very much for all the pictures! It was wonderful figuring out where things were and remembering how they looked. Time waits for no one- except in pictures-

m.lloyd: 20th Aug 2011 - 04:13 GMT

Wonderful photos!, Hello,im looking for a photo/s of a Bar/restaurant owned by the father of the Las Vegas Legendary Card-player Stu Ungar, his father was called IDO ungar (*ISADORE, his full first name*), the restaurant/Bar was Called Fox's Corner and was literally on the Corner of 2nd avenue and E.Seventh street in Manhattans East village, the shop was open from 1949 to closure in spring 1966, the place was also used as a bookies and frequented by the local wiseguys/mafia figures, Isadore was an immigrant hungarian jew, his wife was called Fay, the shop had a neon-lit Fox sign outside, their children Stuart(*stuey*) and Judy lived with them, I would love to see a foto of this establishment and would appreciate any fotos or help in finding them or info regarding this,Please contact me at " microego@hotmail.co.uk " Thankyou.

Guillermo : 26th Aug 2011 - 15:55 GMT

awesome photos, would anyone have photos of the LES, east houston street. Avenue D, Alhabet city

Diane: 9th Sep 2011 - 00:55 GMT

These photo's are great. I am desperately looking for a photo of James Street circa 1900.(the parts of James St that no longer exist. Please contact me at Dmacente@aol.com

anon (pool-71-163-58-117.washdc.fios.verizon.net): 30th Sep 2011 - 17:10 GMT

Unforgettable, even for someone born in 1942!

Art Davidson: 8th Nov 2011 - 00:04 GMT

As a stickball and egg cream New York City street kid who's lived on the West Coast most of my life, these pictures brought back wonderful memories. In the 40s and 50s we had incredible freedom to move about the City for the cost of 5 (later 10) cents for a subway ride. Or we would occasionally hitch a ride on a working horse and wagon. The settlement houses and Police Athletic League got us in for free to Yankee, Giant, or Dodger games, where we got to meet kids from all over the City. Most of our parents though working, didn't bring home much money, but that didn't get in the way of our fun. On my occasional visits to New York City with my wife, we do the ordinary round of museums, theaters, and sights, but nothing gives me more enjoyment than walking the streets of my New York City childhood. Thanks for these photos.

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anon (28-72.35-65.tampabay.res.rr.com): 16th Nov 2011 - 20:24 GMT

Can anyone tell me when PS 177 lower east side was built and demolished? I am also seeking any info on a school PS 26 that was at 16 Albany St. ( down by the south ferry and east river) when that school was built and demoished as well.
Thanks
Karen

MikeL: 16th Nov 2011 - 22:38 GMT

These are wonderful, wonderful photos. Thanks so much for posting. I have lived in NYC all my life and on east 7th Street since 1976. It's great to walk to these corners now and see the change, imagining the way they looked years ago, with the help of these great photos.

RonB: 17th Dec 2011 - 11:52 GMT

I lived at 129 Pitt Street around 1940 when I was five years old. As I recall, it was across the street from Hamilton Fish Park. I have very fond memories of Pitt Street and the park.

charles prynne: 31st Dec 2011 - 01:07 GMT

I live here in england. Back in the 1960s I lived in the United States and worked in Wasington D.C.and Los Angeles.However ,New york city has always been my spiritual home. I have always loved it and have always had a yearning to have been there in the 1930s and forties. These wonderful pictures will stay on my computer for a long long time.

I was born at the Lying In hospital on 2nd Avenue in1929. I lived and worked on the lower east side for 31 years. I went to PS 177,PS 1, PS 165 and Seward Park: 1st Jan 2012 - 19:02 GMT

High. I lived on PIKE, Madison,Market, Henry,J.T.ames,and finally moved to 4th street between Ave A and B. My final move was to Albuquerque NM. I have been here many years, but I can't forget my childhood memories. Thankyou for the memories. The person who attended PS 177 I would like a contact with. thankyou

Elizabeth Santiago: 3rd Jan 2012 - 19:24 GMT

WOW! I really enjoyed these pictures.I wasnt around or even thought of then,LOL.I was born in June of 1964 @ Bronx Lebanon Hospital but I grew up on the Lower East side.And I walked these streets many times with my mom, dad n brothers n even as a teenager n adult.I went to PS 137, PS 110 and then I had to go to a special school cause I got sick.It was on the corner of Montgomery St. Dont remember the other Street it crosses with but it was close to the highway.I lived on Henry St and then on Jackson St which is off of Madison St.My H.S. was Washington Irving n Sattlelite Academy.I live in Rochester, N.Y. now but I still visit. My brother still lives there. My mom enjoyed some of the pictures as well. It brought back good memories. Thank you for sharing. God bless

Elizabeth Santiago: 3rd Jan 2012 - 19:35 GMT

I also lived @ 230 Clinton St. My grandfather was the genitor of the building. Lots of places have changed. Really love these pictures. Thanks again :-)

Roberta: 24th Jan 2012 - 21:19 GMT

My parents were born & raised on The Lower East Side of New York...while enjoying these wonderful photographs on this Website, I was wondering if you had additional photos of Roosevelt Street ( that no longer exists) and Cherry Street from this era... the 1940's? Thanks for this posting!

Roberta, again...: 24th Jan 2012 - 21:32 GMT

~Also, I understand that the City of New York took photographs of every building in the great City of New York for 'tax' purposes in the 1930's! For a fee, the Bureau of Vital Records will actually mail you a copy of any picture taken ( of any building) you are interested in having for your very own. Just contact: NYC Department of Records/Municipal Archives, 31 Chambers Street, New York, New York 10007~

Me, again: 24th Jan 2012 - 21:37 GMT

You must have the exact address of the site you want a picture of.. Or The NYC Department of Records will be unable to help you in your search for a precious old photo...

stan kwasnik: 4th Feb 2012 - 17:51 GMT

wonderful still miss old new York especially in 1980 tru 2000.thanks

sam stein: 13th Feb 2012 - 17:27 GMT

I grew up on the lower east side during the 50's and 60's. Looking for pictures of my old neighborhood before the massive construction. AttorneyStreet and Grand Street. Clinton Street between East Broadway and Delancey Street. Pictures of the Clinton Paza and the Apollo theater. Delancey street with the Lowes Delancey still in operation. Orchard and Essex.
Does anyone out there have any pictures or know where I can find some???

Elsie Torres: 22nd Feb 2012 - 04:58 GMT

amazing. I was born and raised in the lower east side, way back in the 60, and now I am living in upstate new york. What a big difference . I just find it hard to see and believe these beautiful picture. I was born in ludlow street and then moved to forsyth st.,then broome st. It was amazing. thanks

Kansco: 28th Feb 2012 - 02:57 GMT

My great grandparents lived on 129 Pitt Street. They came from Budapest Hungary.
I really wish I could go back in time to when these pics were taken. Simple times when less was more and families gathered on " stoops" and kids played outside. Thank you for posting these great photos.

Justino Medina: 10th Mar 2012 - 22:55 GMT

The memories...the memories....My wife thinks I still live in the past..We live in NJ..I am thinking of going back to the lower East Side....with a camera to relive my childhood lower eastside I came to the lower east side at the tender age of (2)two with my mom from Puerto Rico & settled in a cold water flat..at 303 east 3rd st between ave C & D no heat or hot water..how did we survive by todays standards but we did.I was even hit by a truck while playing in the middle of the street..can U imagine...we played in the back yards that were full of trash...But we survived....I remember as I got older 6,7,8 my friends on 3rd st were Italian,Jewish,Polish and Irish...I was the only spanish kid...I remember one person on the ground floor of another bldg..on 3rd st...would put thier TV on their window...and all the kids would watch it...we all thought at the time that these people must be rich...I remember when they would deliver coal to some of the homes...and the noise the coal made as it slid down a metal chute..or the sanitation guys pcking up garbage with leather aprons...and the Policemen that walked the beat big giant 6ft or better...as I got older..I noticed more Puerto Ricans moving into the nieghborhood...now I was not called the spanish kid any more..by the Italians,Irish or Polish...Now I was known as the "Spick'....Now as I am n my 60's I realise what the word "spick" meant. When people came from Puerto Rico...they would say with the accent...I no spick to much enlish...God the memories.....at the age of 17 I joined the Navy...and I have been all over the world...have raised (2)two wonderful sons....who I sent to colleges...I think I will take these pictures and maybe try a hand at writting a book...why not...life has been good to me...even if I was called a spik....But the funny thing...I grew up on the lower east side and not in Puerto Rico...So I guess I do "Spick Enlish.

Mickey: 24th Mar 2012 - 00:05 GMT

Lived on Clinton just off Delancey from 1941 to 1954. Slept on the fire escape during the summers which was fun except when people threw out garbage above me. Was sent to summer camps by the Henry street Settlement House and other organizations.
Life was tough but it was the only life i knew.It was always a financial struggle for most families. I had a large and wonderful family and a radio......, what else did i need ?

Monica Boorboor: 3rd Apr 2012 - 18:36 GMT

These photos bring back so many memories as a child growing up in the Lower east side of New York. WE came to America as Displaced persons in 1951 and our first apartment was 257 East 10th Street. A couple years later we moved to 2nd Street between Ave. A and B.I have photos taken in the early 1950's .Our Church was St. Stanislaus on 7th St. Thank you for bringing me back in time.

Jennifer: 9th Apr 2012 - 14:11 GMT

How wonderful to see these great photos! Also love the tenement museum in the LES..fabulous melting pot full of interesting people and families who have great stories to tell.

Jennifer: 9th Apr 2012 - 14:11 GMT

How wonderful to see these great photos! Also love the tenement museum in the LES..fabulous melting pot full of interesting people and families who have great stories to tell.

andrea: 9th Apr 2012 - 17:07 GMT

Love these! My mom's family lived at 339 E 8th st between B & C. Now I know how it looked back then. They didn't have many pictures from then. To them, they lived in a tenement, so they eventually "moved up" to Brooklyn. Their once home has been demolished for a community garden.

STEVE FECKETE: 10th Apr 2012 - 03:21 GMT

I was raised on the lower East Side 1940-1958 when I left for the Marines. I lived at 144 E. 4th St. Attended P.S. 63, J.H. 64 and J.H. 71. I remember the street vendors with push-carts, Horse drawn wagons, The Ice Man, the small A&P stores and good neighbors. When WW 11 was over, even though I was still a little boy, I remember the great street celebrations with dancing and singing. Stores were closed on Sunday, the day we attended church and had great family meals followed by a visit to one of the many movie theaters nearby. The photo's bring back some old memories that I treasure about my youth.

Bb2ru: 12th Apr 2012 - 21:08 GMT

nice to see these old pics, lived at 137 Allen 6 floor walk up next to the public baths then 42 Rivington Street across the street from the school in late 50's.

anon (108-75-5-129.lightspeed.dybhfl.sbcglobal.net): 28th Apr 2012 - 20:45 GMT

Wow, This photos surely preserves the Past for senior people like us whom were little children at that time! You have captured NYC History for everyone!

Manny: 9th May 2012 - 20:50 GMT

I grew up on Clinton St bet. Madison @ Henry Sts during the early 1950's to mid 1960's.
I recently put together a picture book that includes many landmarks of the LES, including the Edgies, Henry St Settlement, The Spot, Cozy Corner & many others, but it's mainly photos of
about 100 guys & girls that grew up between Houston St and Water St east of the Bowery. If you have any pics from the 50's-60's from this neighborhood or are interested in the book, you can contact me- email / olordering7@gmail.com. These photos from citynoise are great!