This week I was in NY and stayed with one of my greatest friends Laura. It was a weekend of shopping, eating and yes, learning!
We went on two tours (I am not a huge fan of tours I must say, but these were both really good). The first was a food event. We went from place to place tasting foods from the different restaurants on the list. If you want amazing Indian street food, and you aren't in India or London, check out Aamchi Pao. Between restaurants we got a little lesson in the history and culture of the Central and West Village. Did you know that the Central Village (new area being coined...its just next to West Village but to the east) was once a ghetto where people lived who were escaping slavery and finding a home as a new immigrant? Today its one of the most desirable areas in NY to live.
The second tour was at the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side. A tenement is basically co-op or shared apartments. Back in the 1850's tenements where built with no electricity, no running water and housed many people in one small space. The tenement still had the original architecture, ceilings, floors, etc. It was so cool to hear the stories the museum uncovered about the families who lived in those homes. Mostly immigrants - Jews, Irish, Italians inhabited the tenements as they came to NY looking for work and a new life.
The garmet industry was born out of the Lower East side as many of the immigrants took up this trade. Women were especially important as they made the clothing and in fact made a decent wage at $20- 30 a month.
In the 1800's about 80% of the NY population were immigrants, and when Ellis Island officially opened as a port of immigration in 1892, 450,000 people entered that year. Over the 1900's millions of immigrants came to NY. I am grateful for my immigrant family who made it to the Island and started a life in NY.
Its no wonder there is so much soul and passion running through the veins of New Yorkers!
