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Check out our earlier issues

Operation Special Gift It’s December, the time for all the faithful to go shopping. Our own Rachel Fershleiser has several unusual spots for you to visit, for that truly hip gift.
December, 2006

Gouverneur Gardens Sunrise Last month, before the change to Eastern Standard Time, better known as Winter Clock, it remained dark outside in the mornings well into drive time. We snapped this shot from our living room window. Gouverneur Gardens are the six hi-rise buildings along Cherry and Montgomery Streets whose east-facing windows offered this fall a sweet, lemony reflection of the sun as it was rising beyond the East River.
November, 2006

Macy’s Parade on Montgomery Street Four Hundred volunteers from Macy’s and the 50-piece all-girl marching band of Cathedral High School in Manhattan marched from the corner of Henry and Montgomery north to Grand Street, then made a right and poured into the Abrons Center Harry De Jur Playhouse for speeches. It was part of their first ever “Give Back Day,” and some 3,000 Macy’s volunteers were doing nice stuff for folks all across the nation, in commemoration of the launch of the Macy’s name nationwide last month.
October, 2006

PEACE Dr. Nurur M. Rahman, from the Assafa Islamic Center, and Rabbi Shmuel Speigel, from the 1st Roumanian American Congregation, shared the stage last month, at the 7th Precinct’s annual National Night Out. Dr. Rachman charmed the crowd with his resounding Allah bless America…
September, 2006

The BID has done it! At last, farmers are setting up their booths on Orchard Street each Sunday (through November), sharing fresh produce and a friendly conversation with LES shoppers.
August, 2006

Open Streets Bulldozer piling metal plates to cover new ditches at the corner of East Broadway and Montgomery. Con-Edison has been digging up the neighborhood, replacing old gas pipes with new. Watch your step…
July, 2006

Pardon our Soviet style Men At Work cover, but we couldn’t help ourselves, seeing as this bunch of burly, muscular workers are restoring our East River Park promenade.
June, 2006

Vintage! Evan Ross, of Frock, displaying a vintage dress that would take your breath away, along with about a month’s salary. Vintage shops are raging on the LES, and not just the pricey ones.
May, 2006

Jets’ New Stadium on the Lower East Side Well, those parking lots just stand there, we reckoned we should at least try…
April, 2006

Whole Foods, Bad Neighbors? The arrival of space age grocer Whole Foods Market on the LES has been marred by its turf battle with local wine boutiques and Community Board 3. Will the skirmish taint WF’s reputation? Stay tuned.
March, 2006

Is the Empire Zone Another Name for SPURA? The Seward Park Urban Development Area is comprised of several City owned empty lots, the future of which has been in limbo for four decades. With last month’s announcement of our neighborhood’s inclusion in the new Empire Zone, we asked political leaders if they thought the latter would breathe life into the former.
February, 2006

What If They Poisoned our Neighborhood and Nobody Told Us? New York Senator Hillary R. Clinton waving a photograph of the 9/11 WTC smoke plume, at a press conference last month. Clinton and Congressman Jerrold Nadler blasted the EPA’s decision to set unreasonable limits on its downtown cleanup effort.
January, 2006

Frank’s Window Paradise Each holiday season, bike shop owner Frank Arroyo turns his front windows into a magical kingdom of kinetic playfulness.
December, 2005

Huddled Masses, Now with Gift Shop Nadine Stewart, a former journalist, is one of the Tenement Museum’s educators, conducting public and group tours. She’s also a regular contributor to the museum’s Educator Newsletter. The museum has been rapidly growing in fame and size.
November, 2005

Fashion Flipside on Orchard Street The BID treated us last month to an amazing show of the best and the brightest in New York’s fashion design south of Houston Street.
October, 2005

Odd Year Election It’s been a political summer, leading up to the “real” vote for Democratic candidates for the Council and BP.
September, 2005

Daycare With the school year just around the corner, Sara Spielman provides a thorough guide to daycare facilities in the neighborhood. Is it time to introduce your toddler to the big world out there?
August, 2005

Candidates' Debate Our cover in July, 2005 was an invitation to everyone who got hold of that issue to come over to hear the great multi-candidate debate, Tuesday, July 12, at 7 PM. It may be too late to RSVP at this point...
July, 2005

Squirrel Menace Squirrels roaming freely (photograph by Erik Tischler). Are squirrels just rats with bushy tails and good PR? At least one Lower East Side resident is prepared to challenge the sweet image of these rodents.
June, 2005

Free At Last! In a neighborhood where the scaffold rules our cityscape, what a relief it was this spring, to rediscover the vaguely Mediterranean doorways of our Educational Alliance building, on East Broadway. This miraculous unveiling of lovely early 20th Century architecture revived our hope to some day expose to the sun the highrisers at 410 and 460 Grand Street, and maybe even the thoroughly Christoed Seward Park High School. In the words of the immortal Credence Clearwater Revival: “What comes up…”
May, 2005

Dreaming of an East River Beach The City Planning Commission has been presenting a gorgeous and imaginative plan for the future of the East River waterfront. But do they have the political wherewithal to carry it out?
April, 2005

Promenade Comeback In two years or so we’ll be back to riding our bikes, strolling and picnicking along our bank of the East River, from Jackson to 14th Streets. It’s an $80 million promise from City Hall.
March, 2005

Make CB 3 work for you Susan Stetzer and David McWater are eager to make themselves useful to local residents. But to get things done in those very real aspects of our daily lives, from transportation to recreation and everything in between, we must keep them and our 50-member community board informed. Call and complain, or better yet, show up at committee meetings. Go in groups and get up and speak out.
February , 2005

Manhattan Windmills Some day soon, our neighborhood may be inundated with rooftop wind turbines and solar collectors, and our electricity will be free and clean. These are not idle predictions, but plans, already in place in the city of Toronto and, possibly, in the new Freedom Tower, across this very island.
January , 2005

Hazmat personnel on Grand Street City Council Member Alan J. Gerson shares with us this month his own findings that, yes, the air is back to normal, but the crisis is not over.
December , 2004

Jumbled LES Street Signs Noah Wildman reports on foreign design students who took it upon themselves to change the Lower East Side.
November , 2004

10002, The Vote It’s the month before the presidential election down here, and it’s all pretty much decided. Why, even our local September primary was cancelled for lack of interest...
October , 2004

Taking Back the Streets Officer Rotanz of the NYPD Mounted Unit’s Troup A and a group of children from Baruch Houses took part in our Seventh Precinct’s "Taking Back the Streets" celebration.
September , 2004

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Decent Housing Instead of adding new low-income housing, at the expense of economic prosperity for all of us, we should concentrate on preserving what’s already there. We hope that the spirit of wisdom and generosity will prevail in preserving the city’s most diverse and most peaceful community.
August , 2004

Summer Works in East River East River's gardens received intensive attention: this year the work involved turning over the soil and re-seeding.
July , 2004

Grand Street Doctors Paul M. Koslow, Marc J. Rosenblatt, Andrew Dube, Dr. Maria Cellario, J. Clayton Dye, and Edwin J. Rosenblatt
June , 2004

Hunting Serial Killers in East River Apartment Author Harold Goldberg moved down here last fall. His new book (coauthored with Helen Morrison) will shake conventions regarding the causes of serial-murder
May, 2004

Seward's Steel Magnolia The new manager of Seward Park Coop is a native of North Carolina who learned his trade in Washington DC and Florida. He seems unperturbed by the numerous thorns in his northern garden
April , 2004

Chief He’s been running the Seventh Precinct for a year, and crime stats continues to go down
March, 2004

To Borrow Or Not to Borrow The $100,000 Question
February, 2004

And a Terrace to Kill For... Newcomers fell in love with their 11th floor touch of the outdoors
January, 2004