Modernizing the Lower East Side's Reputation

Given the decline in demand for working-class housing, landlords, developers, and planners set out to modernize the Lower East Side. Although the neighborhood was no longer (over)populated by immigrant newcomers, it remained the cultural urban center for numerous ethnicities and religions. The real estate sector concluded that the area's immigrant working-class identity did not match the economic realities of a changing Manhattan where employment patterns shifted away from manufacturing and toward white-collar services. In order to modernize, the real estate sector sought to reinvent the Lower East Side’s reputation.

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____________________________________ The book upon which this web site is based, Selling the Lower East Side, is available directly through or order through Site design © 2000: Kurt Reymers and Dan Webb. (University at Buffalo, Department of Sociology)