A report by New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy finds the Lower East Side is among the neighborhoods in New York that experienced the most dramatic increases in housing prices between 1996 and 2006.The Lower East Side and Chinatown had a homeownership rate of 12.6% in 2007 (23.1% for all of Manhattan). The median household income in the neighborhood was $32,000 — less than half the median income citywide. The report says the hispanic population in the LES/Chinatown is declining, while the white population is growing. Still, the area remains one of the most diverse in all of New York. You can read more about the study here.
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is reconstructing the rear yard of 97 Orchard. Until indoor plumbing was installed in 1905, residents of the tenement used outhouses, bathed and got water for cooking in the yard. You can read more about the restoration project on the Museum's blog.
Art.log.com sponsors tomorrow night's Lower East side gallery tour. More than a thousand people took part last year. See the details here.
Eater reports "White Slab Palace," the new venture by the owners of the defunct "Good World Bar" owners, is now serving food.
