The Lower East Side is a 7-layer cake of history.

7-layer cake, coincidentally, was made famous by one of the ethnic enclaves that once lived on the Lower East Side.

There are few better Manhattan neighborhoods where you can actually see and taste each layer of history. This neighborhood has been inhabited by both the richest and the poorest of New Yorkers. It’s been a farm, a port, a ghetto, and a testing ground for many progressive public programs we still use today.

But it’s also been a highly influential multi-faceted hub of New York nightlife with music, bars, and underground performance venues. Some still remain, but many are gone, and the businesses and homes that now stand in their footprints showcase perhaps some of the most visible gentrification in New York City. Everything important that has happened in New York culture has some connection to this neighborhood that is as rich in stories as it is in chocolate babka.