October 14

By Al

Today, we went on a walking tour of the Lower East Side organized by the Museum at the Eldridge Street Synagogue.  The Synagogue was built in 1887 and is one of the oldest Synagogues in New York.  It was recently renovated and serves both as a active synagogue and museum of the early years of the Lower East Side.  This area was heavily settled by Jewish immigrants but has transitioned through several other groups since the 1800's.  It is right at the Manhattan end of the Manhattan Bridge, just north of Chinatown and east of Little Italy.  The tour was very interesting.  It is always amazing how much history New York packs into a little over a century.  

The front of the Eldridge Street Synagogue

Inside

The window at the front.

Another window.

The street outside the Synagogue

Another old synagogue that is now a Buddhist temple with a Buddhist book store on the first floor.

This used to be a movie theater.  You can still see the old water air conditioning system on the top of the building.  This was one of the first theaters in New York to have air conditioning.

A pickle store that we stopped at.

This is the store.

We also stopped at a very good candy store.  After the tour, we stopped at a small Chinese restaurant and had a very good inexpensive dinner.  From there, we decided to walk home.  It was about 5 miles, but we took a couple of hours and enjoyed seeing more of New York City.